The New York Giants are 2-5, short their top wide receiver in Malik Nabers, and hanging on to playoff hope by the thinnest of threads. With the trade deadline less than two weeks away, the expectation was clear: help rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart. Go get a pass-catcher. Add a piece to keep the team competitive.
Related: NFL insider just pumped the brakes on Giants fans' trade rumor dreams
Instead, the receiver move general manager Joe Schoen made is the opposite. It’s not flashy, it’s not all that exciting, and it doesn’t exactly move the needle. On Monday, the G-Men signed 29-year-old wideout Ray-Ray McCloud to the practice squad — one day after he was cut by the Atlanta Falcons.
Giants insider Art Stapleton was all over the news, posting:
The Giants are signing WR Ray-Ray McCloud to the practice squad, physical pending, sources say.
— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) October 22, 2025
McCloud was released by the Falcons yesterday.
The signing likely isn’t the big swing fans were hoping for, and that’s kind of the point.
Giants sign veteran WR Ray-Ray McCloud ahead of NFL trade deadline
McCloud was a healthy scratch the last two weeks in Atlanta and was ultimately sent home from the facility before his release.
He caught six passes for 64 yards this season. That’s who’s joining the receiver room after the team lost Nabers to an ACL tear and with Darius Slayton tending to a hamstring issue.
On paper, this is a low-risk depth add with return value and a built-in Brian Daboll connection from their Buffalo days. But in reality, it feels more like a nothing-burger than any type of solution. McCloud hasn’t made an impact at all in 2025. And his exit from Atlanta is strange at best.
It’s possible Big Blue views this as a warm-up move before something bigger. It's only a practice squad slot, after all.
Schoen just freed up cap space by restructuring some contracts and has been linked to a few bigger-name players in recent weeks. But with this current roster asking Dart to put wins on the board with Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Jalin Hyatt, and Beaux Collins, it’s tough to sell the McCloud signing as anything more than a “better than nothing” option. Did someone say change of scenery?
That might be fine for now. But it also might say more about the front office’s actual plan than most want to admit.