It was a deeply humiliating season for the New York Giants in 2024. They finished the season last in their group and were, in fact, the worst team in the NFC with a pct of .176%. Coming into the 2025 season, the Giants are taking no risks. They have made huge roster changes through free agency and the draft, getting players like Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, and Abdul Carter, amongst others. With the rosters reset and OTAs underway to finalize the roster and determine the starting positions, the Giants had a surprise for their players. The surprise? A gift.

No, not that sort of a gift. It was much more valuable than any watch or phone could be. It was the gift of knowledge and wisdom from a Giants legend himself. Howard Cross. Dropping by the training centre after day 2 of OTAs, Cross addressed the team, especially the newbies. While addressing the team, Howard Cross made a speech that left not just the players but also the fans watching it motivated.

Cross gave them 3 rules that they should always follow. Starting off with the first rule, he talked about the importance of the home field and compared it to the players’ families. “Let’s talk about home field. Never, ever let nobody come in your yard, nobody come in your house, nobody come anywhere. If you’ve got kids, you know, you protect your kids with your life. That’s what this place is, it’s your family. Don’t let anybody come up in here and do nothing,” said Cross, emphasizing the importance of protecting the home field against the opposition teams and never letting them win.

The second rule: Study. Cross talked about his time playing Football in college. He learnt an important lesson about studying the players from the college quarterback. “The way I learned football from this guy named, I would say Dunn Shula, but it was Mike Shula. Mike Shula was my college quarterback, taught me to study film. Became the most important thing I did,” said Cross. He also talked about how essential it was to study the game tapes, how it made him a better player, and how it helped him even when he played pro.

“I know more stuff about more players when I played from the way they stood, what made them move back, what made them move forward. I studied everything about them in college. Did the same thing in the pros. I knew everything about every player I ever played against. Study at all times. If you don’t know your stuff, go home. It’s the most important thing you’re doing right now,” explained Cross.

Finally, Howard talked about the third rule: Have pride in your team. He told the players that they could play for any team across the league. But if they’re in a team, their focus should only be on doing the best for the team. “You can go to a lot of organizations all over the league. Guys, if they chose you, they brought you here, ain’t nothing more important than being here. I played 13 seasons. I missed one game. Nothing meant more to me than putting on my uniform and playing. I graded out at 90% or better every game I played in, and I played against everybody,” said Cross while giving his own example about how he rarely missed a game and always gave his best. No matter what.

While ending the speech, Cross gave the team a motto. Something they should always strive to live by. “My house, my place, my team“. A motto briefly summarizing all three rules, he gave to the players and the leaders of the team. With plenty of newbies in and experienced players like Russell Wilson, coming in with plenty of experience, the rookies will be looking up to them to lead by example.

Russell Wilson touted to be Giants’ starting QB

Russell Wilson came into the New York Giants with the backdrop of a turbulent relationship with the Steelers. While he did not have a great season in Pittsburgh, it wasn’t half as bad. He still managed to get 2,500 yards and 16 yards. While these are decent figures, they are not the type that Wilson would’ve wanted. Now, as he makes his way to New York, it seems that he is upping the ante and cementing his position.

During Wednesday’s OTA, Wilson took the majority of the team’s snaps, according to Jordan Raanan of ESPN. To be clear, Jameis Winston and rookie Jaxson Dart also got a few of them. “They’ll all get reps,” head coach Brian Daboll said, via Raanan, later adding, “We have a detailed plan of how we’re going to handle the quarterbacks,” said Brian while not revealing any of his QB plans.

However, the plans seem to be very evident already. With the Giants signing Wilson for only one year, it seems pretty clear that Wilson will be their starting QB. The Giants will also be using this opportunity to develop the rest of the younger quarterbacks, to take over from Wilson. Whenever that happens. Meanwhile, Wilson will probably be looking to give his best performance this year and secure an extension for maybe another year or two, depending on how his body keeps up.