Quarterback Russell Wilson is new to the New York Giants, but his status as an NFL veteran justifies him being at the top of the depth chart ahead of rookie Jaxson Dart, backup Jameis Winston and local folk hero Tommy DeVito.
Logical. Right?
Nope, not to three-time Super Bowl champion and current NFL analyst Mark Schlereth, who knows Wilson from his rough time with the Denver Broncos and who is now expressing the belief that Giants head coach Brian Daboll should make a major change in that pecking order.
How major?
"The Giants should cut Russell Wilson and start Jaxson Dart," Schlereth said during a recent appearance on the FS1 "Breakfast Ball" program (h/t NJ.com).
And yes, Schlereth seems serious here.
His logic is Broncos-related. Denver moved on from Wilson after two rough years and then drafted QB Bo Nix as the 12th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Nix guided the Broncos to a playoff berth as a rookie and now seems on the verge of stardom.
"You start your rookie and you go with the growing pains and you understand that you’re not going to the playoffs right now," Schlereth opined. "I think it’s just time to rip off the Band-Aid and say, 'Jaxson Dart, you’re our guy.'"
With all due respect to "Stink'' - who paid his dues in the league and now in the media - we can't see how it's time now to "rip off the Band-Aid.'''
Wilson's one-year salary here is a paltry $11 million ... and if you cut him, you eat a dead-money punishment of $10 million. So cutting him is a brutally harsh take and is absurd.
Starting Dart? Coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen might want to, or might need to, get there eventually. But now? They have virtually no idea what Dart is.
What's really at the core of this? Schlereth's media platform is based in Denver. He won two of his three Super Bowls as a Bronco. His vision of Wilson is therefore shrouded in orange ... which should have nothing to do with whether Russell Wilson should be on the field or on the roster or in the New York unemployment line.