10 March 2024 , 05:00
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Russell Wilson has met with the New York Giants days before becoming a free agent this offseason.
Wilson, 35, is being released by the Denver Broncos and has been free to hold talks with other NFL teams before free agency officially opens. The veteran quarterback was in New Jersey on Thursday (7 March) before visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers a day later.
Denver's AFC West rivals the Las Vegas Raiders are said to be another team the Super Bowl champion could meet. Talks with the Giants were said to be exploratory, but with Wilson available, the team may move to sign him rather than adding a quarterback through the NFL Draft despite owning the sixth overall pick this year.
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That contrasts with the Raiders and Steelers, who will pick at 13th and 20th in the first round. Only a week ago, the Giants met all the best quarterback prospects during the league's scouting combine in Indianapolis.
Caleb Williams from USC, Jayden Daniels from LSU, Drake Maye from North Carolina, Michael Penix Jr. from Washington, Bo Nix from Oregon and JJ McCarthy from Michigan all had interviews with the Giants.
Williams, Daniels and Maye will likely be off the board by the time the team picks, but general manager Joe Schoen did not rule out moving up in the draft. "Where we are at six, we're going to look at everything," he said. "We're going to look at everything. We're going to look at all positions."
Russell Wilson is one of the top quarterback free agents (Michael Owens/Getty Images)He also spoke about how they intend not to be back in this position next year. "You hope you're not up there again; you don't want to be picking in the top 10, but it's a good draft. It's a solid draft across the board, and we're going to have an opportunity to get a good player, and we're going to evaluate all the positions and take the best player we can."
Schoen extended those compliments to the incoming class of play-callers. "It's a good quarterback draft," he added. "It's not just at the top. There are some guys that are mid-levels that I think will be good number twos. There are some guys that can be number threes in the draft. I think it's a solid draft all over."
But even before meeting with Wilson, the GM did not rule out strengthening the position through free agency. "We're going to need to add at quarterback," he acknowledged. "We'll bring in either a veteran quarterback through free agency... and it doesn't preclude us from doing it in the draft as well."
Whether Wilson is willing to play backup remains unclear, as Schoen repeatedly stated: "I have faith in Daniel (Jones) as our starting quarterback."
But unless another team wants Wilson as its new starter, backing up the injury-prone Jones could be one of the clearer pathways to playing time.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.