The New York Giants brought in veteran Joe Flacco for a free-agent visit on Thursday as they await a decision from Aaron Rodgers. While Rodgers and Russell Wilson are the co-favorites to be the Giants starting quarterback in 2025, a fallback plan has emerged.
New York would seemingly prefer to have Rodgers as its starter for the 2025 season. However, the future Hall of Famer is also being pursued by the Pittsburgh Steelers and has drawn interest from the Minnesota Vikings. With the odds of Rodgers landing elsewhere increasing, New York started exploring alternatives.
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Flacco would be under consideration, providing a proven backup quarterback who could challenge for the starting quarterback job. However, he’s also made it clear that he doesn’t want to mentor a young quarterback with his focus on beating them for the starting job. As of now, though, it appears New York is just evaluating him as a backup plan if efforts to land any of their targets fall short.
In his latest mailbag, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated wrote that if Rodgers and Wilson both land elsewhere then the Giants “probably throw their hat in the ring’ to land Kirk Cousins. Of note, Breer thinks that there is even a possibility New York might prefer Cousins over Wilson.
The Atlanta Falcons have been pretty adamant that they don’t want to release Cousins and are willing to keep him on the roster as a disgruntled backup. Backing up that claim, Cousins will still be on the roster when he is owed a $10 million bonus on March 17 for still being on the team.
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- Kirk Cousins stats (ESPN): 3,508 passing yards, 18-16 TD-INT, 66.9% completion rate, 7.7 ypa, 88.6 QB rating, 28 sacks taken in 14 games
Wilson did recently take a visit with the Cleveland Browns and the Steelers are open to retaining him. There’s a real scenario where Rodgers signs with Pittsburgh and Wilson lands in Cleveland, which would push New York to explore a trade for Cousins. No matter which veteran quarterback is added, the Giants are expected to take a quarterback early in the 2025 NFL Draft.
