Giants set initial 53-man roster: ‘Things I think’

The New York Giants have set their initial 53-man roster for the 2025 NFL season. Initial because by Wednesday at noon, when many of the more than 1,000 players cut on Tuesday can be claimed on waivers, that roster will begin to change.

There were some surprises, like defensive tackle Elijah Chatman getting cut. There were close calls, like Gunner Olszewski winning a job over Ihmir Smith-Marsette. There were no-brainers, like Tommy DeVito being the odd man out in the quarterback room.

Head coach Brian

Daboll would not discuss any of the roster decisions during his mid-day Zoom call with media on Tuesday, saying that he and GM Joe Schoen would discuss the roster during a joint press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Daboll did admit the Giants will continue to look to upgrade the roster wherever possible.

“I think Joe and the personnel staff do a great job of evaluating players. We’ll continue to do that. It’s a fluid situation right now,” Daboll said. “Again, those types of things right now, we’re still having a lot of conversations about a lot of different things. A lot of players will get cut.”

Here is the 53-man roster as of 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday along with some of my position-by-position thoughts.

Offense (26)

Quarterback (3) — Russell Wilson, Jaxson Dart, Jameis Winston

This is how the roster was always going to work out. There were reportedly calls to the Giants about the availability of Jameis Winston, but trading him was never something the Giants wanted to do.

Tommy DeVito was always going to be the odd man out. Based on reps allotted, that has been clear since spring practices began. I thought the Giants might be able to trade him. Perhaps that door closed when the Las Vegas Raiders acquired Kenny Pickett via trade from the Cleveland Browns.

Running back (3) — Tyrone Tracy, Devin Singletary, Cam Skattebo

The cut of Dante “Turbo” Miller was a bit surprising, but understandable. He was clearly RB4, and if he had a game day role at all it was going to be on special teams, where he was inexperienced. The mistake he made vs. the New England Patriots, creating a turnover when he had a punt bounce off of him, might have sealed his fate.

There have been rumblings from some media members that the Giants might be looking to add another running back to the mix. That is a bit surprising. We will see if it happens.

Tight end (4) — Theo Johnson, Chris Manhertz, Daniel Bellinger, Thomas Fidone

I thought perhaps the Giants would keep Greg Dulcich and move on from Bellinger, a player they haven’t fully utilized the last two seasons. Especially since they need cap space, and Bellinger carries a $3.6 cap hit in the final year of his rookie deal.

They held on to the player GM Joe Schoen drafted, though.

I am not surprised at all that Fidone, a seventh-round pick, made the roster. I did not think the Giants would want to expose him to waivers in an effort to get him to the practice squad.

Wide receiver (6) — Malik Nabers, Darius Slayton, Wan’Dale Robinson, Jalin Hyatt, Gunner Olszewski, Beaux Collins

Honestly, I was very surprised to see Ihmir Smith-Marsette let go after he averaged 34.6 yards per kickoff return in 2024. The return job belonged to Olszewski before he was injured last year, and his ability to be used as an extra wide receiver is likely what earned him a chance to reprise that role this year.

All along I figured that an undrafted free agent wide receiver would make the initial roster. Collins did so despite a couple of hiccups in the last two preseason games. Collins received a lot of first-team reps this spring and summer with Malik Nabers sidelined.

Offensive line (10) — Andrew Thomas, Jon Runyan, John Michael Schmitz, Greg Van Roten, Jermaine Eluemunor, Evan Neal, Marcus Mbow, James Hudson, Aaron Stinnie, Austin Schlottman

Stinnie made the 53-man roster, with Josh Ezeudu heading to Injured Reserve. Rather than have Van Roten as the backup center, the Giants are keeping Schlottman in that role. This is one more offensive lineman than I had in my final projection.

Defense (24)

Defensive line (6) — Dexter Lawrence, Roy Robertson-Harris, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, Darius Alexander, D.J. Davidson, Chauncey Golston

The cut of defensive tackle/fullback Elijah Chatman was a surprise, but when you take the emotion out of losing a popular player with a great story as an undersized former undrafted free agent it makes sense.

Chatman is a sub-6-foot, 285-pound defensive tackle with pass rush juice, but his size makes it difficult for him to defend the run. The Giants are placing heavy emphasis on finding run defenders along their front line, and with pass rush from Lawrence and the edge group Chatman’s skills did not match what the Giants decided they needed.

Edge (3) — Abdul Carter, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux

Zero surprise that this is the group, and that both Tomon Fox and Trace Ford were cut. Ford seems likely to land on the practice squad.

Inside linebacker (5) — Bobby Okereke, Micah McFadden, Darius Musau, Chris Board, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles

I wasn’t sure Flanningan-Fowles would make it. He had a quiet summer and dealt with an injury.

Cornerback (7) — Paulson Adebo, Deonte Banks, Cor’Dale Flott, Dru Phillips, Nic Jones, Art Green, Korie Black

The Giants moved on from Tre Hawkins, who showed promise in his first training camp in 2023 but has not lived up to that.

Jones, formerly of the Kansas City Chiefs, had a good summer. So did Green, who made a cameo with the Giants last season.

Seventh-round pick Korie Black also made the initial roster.

Seven is a lot of cornerbacks. One or more of these players may not be on the roster for long.

Safety (3) — Jevon Holland, Tyler Nubin, Dane Belton

I should have seen the cut of veteran safety K’Von Wallace coming. He did not do much this summer. Raheem Layne was waived/injured. I think this is a place the Giants will be looking to upgrade on the waiver wire or in free agency in the coming days.