The Giants are the latest team to announce an early wave of cuts before Sunday’s deadline. Here are the eight players moved off New York’s roster Saturday:
Released:
DB Ugo Amadi
TE Josiah Deguara
DL Leki Fotu
WR Isaiah Hodgins
OL Brenden Jaimes
Waived:
RB Damon Bankston
LB Anfernee Orji
WR Kobe Prentice
The players released are vested veterans who do not have to pass through waivers to reach free agency. Some of those names could be practice squad pledges early, though those 16-man units do not become official until Monday afternoon.
Fotu joined a Giants team that is rebooting post-Dexter Lawrence on its defensive line. The G-Men traded their cornerstone nose tackle to the Bengals for the No. 10 overall pick and added veterans Shelby Harris and D.J. Reader. The Giants also drafted Bobby Jamison-Travis in Round 6. Big Blue added Marlon Davidson and Josh Tupou during its overhaul as well, also returning 2025 third-round pick Darius Alexander.
The Giants also reunited John Harbaugh with ex-Raven CJ Okoye earlier today. Fotu, 28, has made 26 career starts but has bounced around since his four-year Cardinals stint ended.
Hodgins, 27, returned to the Giants after short non-game stints with the 49ers and Steelers. The Giants signed him off Pittsburgh’s practice squad in November. A midseason pickup in GM Joe Schoen‘s 2022 Big Blue debut, Hodgins made key contributions for a receiver-depleted playoff team that year. Subsequent Giants moves lessened the need for Hodgins, however, and he has made 12 catches over the past two seasons.
A former Packers second-round pick, Deguara has played in 77 career games and made 12 starts. Playing out his rookie contract in Green Bay, Deguara spent last season in Arizona. Jaimes has logged three career starts, playing 50 games during a career spent mostly with the Chargers. Amadi spent the past three seasons with the Saints as a backup.