NFL rosters are far from set at this stage of the offseason, but free agent signings have slowed to a trickle, and things probably won’t pick up again until cutdown days to get rosters from 90 to 53 players begin after the final pre-season games. Thus what you see on the New York Giants’ roster now is probably pretty close to the pool of players from which the 53 for the 2026 season will be constructed.
Most of the interest in free agency centers on the acquisition of new players, but the disposition of players who became free agents at the end of the 2025 season is interesting in its own right. It’s something of a Rorschach test for how the team views its own players vs. how other teams view them, and it’s also a pretty good snapshot of how good a team is right now.
Below is a chart comparing the Giants’ 2026 free agent situation to that of all of the 2025 season NFL playoff teams based on the Over The Cap free agency tracker:
I would like to try to make the case that the patterns in these numbers are a reasonable guide to the state of each team at the moment. For example:
The list of the Giants’ remaining free agents is interesting. Most are marginal players: Chris Board, Victor Dimukeje, Demetrius Flanningan-Fowles, Neville Hewitt, Da’Quan Felton, TJ Moore, and Anthony Johnson Jr. It’s hard to imagine any of them being added to the roster at this point. A step up from them are more recognizable players such as Tomon Fox, Bryce Ford-Wheaton, and Jamie Gillan, not that I expect any of them back either. Then you have veterans Graham Gano, Russell Wilson and Greg Van Roten. Gano’s career is certainly over, Wilson surely will not be back, and at this point it seems Van Roten won’t either, although I ask: If Francis Mauigoa isn’t ready to start at right guard in Week 1, wouldn’t you rather have Van Roten than any of the Giants’ other options?
That leaves Bobby Okereke. I’m not surprised the Giants are not bringing him back; after a great first season in Wink Martindale’s defense it was all downhill after that. Still I’m surprised another team hasn’t taken a chance on him.