The New York Giants signed quarterback Jameis Winston to a two-year, $13 million contract extension the week before the 2026 season started.
The Giants obviously believed in Winston. He’s emerged as a leader in the locker room, is charismatic, and is a former first overall pick. The Giants had confidence that Winston was the best player available to step in if something happened to Jaxson Dart.
Then the Giants’ nightmare scenario happened during the first series of their Week 2 game against the Los
Angeles Rams. Dart suffered a significant knee injury and was lost for the year, and in an instant Winston became The Guy.
The early results weren’t pretty. Winston looked unsure of his reads, and didn’t appear to trust his receivers or his protection against the Rams.
Excuses were made and Winston’s performance was blamed on the gutpunch of losing Dart, as well as a jury-rigged game plan that was built for Dart but adapted to the relatively immobile Winston.
It was hoped that Winston would improve with a truncated week of practice with the starters and a game plan tailored to his skill set. The Giants got the win over the Tennessee Titans, but it’s tough to say it was because of Winston.
He once again appeared unsure of his receivers and only had 118 yards passing. He was slow going through his progressions and consistently under-threw his receivers.
Rumors have circulated since the Giants lost Dart that the Giants would bring in a new quarterback.
Giants head coach John Harbaugh said after the game that Winston’s play hasn’t influenced the Giants’ plan at quarterback.
“Not at all,” Harbaugh said. “The plans are the plans. The opportunities that you have are the opportunities you have. No matter what, we’re going to do everything we can to make our team as strong as we can based on what options we have.”
As far as options are concerned, Jay Glazer reported before the game that the Giants are interested in Jimmy Garoppolo and Justin Fields. Garoppolo is a free agent. To get Fields, the Giants would need to engineer a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Giants reiterated that Winston did what was necessary to win.
For his part, Winston was just happy to get his first win as the Giants starting quarterback.
“Every quarterback is really judged off if they won or lost the game. So, I’m grateful that I get to be judged off of a win, not a loss. And I’ve had games where I’ve thrown for 500 yards, right, and the game didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to be. And anytime, any day, I would rather win.
“I am so happy and grateful that the New York Football Giants won the football game. Anything else that is outside of me, it is what it is. I’m grateful that we get to celebrate as a team.”
We’ll see what happens, but it seems like a very likely outcome that the outcome that the Giants add a quarterback soon. At the very least, they probably don’t want to rely on Jake Haener as QB2.
