Once Eli Manning left the New York Giants, the G-Men thought Daniel Jones could be their next leader under center. They trusted him with their all. Gave him a mammoth contract—made him the undisputed starter. At one time last season, it looked like they desperately wanted Jones to succeed. However, once they realized it’s a lost cause. New York finally benched their 6-season starter. After last year’s horrifying campaign that saw them finish with a 3-14 record, the Giants revamped their whole QB room. And this season, they are rallying their troops behind 10-time Pro Bowler Russell Wilson. With hopes, he can take the Giants out of the slump. Given the colossal task at hand, Russ is wasting no time getting to work—even if it is early morning.

Giants may have other QBs on the roster. Tommy DeVito, Jameis Winston, and Jaxson Dart. But none of them boast the profile that Russ carries. At 36, you could say he is past his prime, or even point out his one-and-done season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, if you look at his stats, your opinion could differ. Starting just 11 games after coming back from a calf injury, Wilson led the Steelers to the playoffs. Finished with a 6-5 record that saw him complete 214 of his 336 passes for 2,482 yards, 16 TDs and just 5 INTs. He even had a 95.6 passer rating.

So, Wilson is definitely not a QB who has lost his touch with old age. Yeah, he may not be as prolific as he was in his early days in Seattle, where he won a Super Bowl in his new home. Still, Wilson has the determination and grit to keep working toward his goal. On Saturday morning, Wilson shared a short clip of himself running with his hoodie and sunglasses on. He even captioned the post, reminding everyone to keep pounding on the door until it opens. “Get up! No better Day than TODAY! Keep Going!!!”

Wilson even added a few of his thoughts on the video for some early morning motivation. “Man, woke up this morning, early morning run, let’s go. Have a great day, man. Everybody, we’re going through some stuff. Get up and keep running. Let’s go, baby, come on. Let’s run. Beautiful day, let’s go. Y’all have a great day. No better day than today.” Wilson obviously needs all the positive energy and motivation ahead of a possible tough season with the Giants. 

Considering how the schedule pans out for the Giants, Wilson for sure won’t get a resounding welcome, at least from his opponents.

Russell Wilson’s Giants tenure faces an early test

Given how the Giants have underperformed in recent years, they must have hoped for an easy schedule. But nah. The NFL by far handed them the toughest schedule out of all the other 31 franchises. Depending upon last year’s win-loss records, the Giants’ opponents have a collective winning percentage of .574. Going by the NFC East division, the Giants have 6 games against the Cowboys, Eagles and Commanders. They combined for a 33-18 record last year while having a clean slate 6-0 against the Big Blues. So, it would be some task for the Giants to turn those abysmal records around.

Yet another thing that would worry the Giants is them matching up against two divisions that had the best winning percentages in 2024. The NFC North finished with a record of 45-23, while the AFC West posted a 40-28 record. The AFC West also saw three teams qualify for the playoffs. Chargers, Chiefs and Broncos. Like, things could get quite rough for the Giants if things don’t go their way. When Wilson was asked about this brutal schedule they have been allotted, he gave a simple solution.

“The only way to win a bunch of games is to focus on right now, and that’s always the case during the season or whatever. We’re looking forward to playing all of these good teams and who we can be,” Wilson mused. Right now, it’s safe to say the Giants’ season depends on how Wilson would fare in New York if he does start. It will be up to his experience and game knowledge to turn around this franchise that hasn’t seen a lot of Ws in recent times.