The New York Giants don't have a ton of long-term holdovers from the Brian Daboll era worth locking up, but wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson has played himself into that tier.
Robinson is fresh off a career year, and it came right before free agency. John Harbaugh may be running the show, but GM Joe Schoen is still in place to make sure deals like this will get done in an equitable way for both player and franchise alike.
Related: Joe Schoen all but decided Wan'Dale Robinson's future in New York
If Schoen strikes out here, and Robinson walks in free agency without a great plan to get this team back on the right track, that could be the first domino to fall in a series of moves that set this partnership up to fail in 2026.
Giants GM Joe Schoen needs to ensure that Wan'Dale Robinson is signed long-term
Robinson has recorded 90 catches in each of the last two seasons. However, after failing to even top 700 yards in 2024 due to a 7.5 yards per catch average that boggles the mind, Robinson managed to top 1,000 yards and four touchdowns. He genuinely stepped up after the Malik Nabers injury.
The Giants don't seem like a team that is going to pay an outrageous price for any of the non-Robinson wide receivers on the market, as that is a thin group to begin with. Darius Slayton and a bunch of also-rans who haven't shown they can handle a starting workload would be the internal replacements.
The logical replacement would be drafting someone to replace Robinson, possibly as high as No. 6 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. However, the lack of an experienced player next to Nabers combined with losing a valuable slot specialist like Robinson and the flaws of many of the top prospects in this class make it a risky proposition.
Ohio State's Carnell Tate will need to answer questions about his deep speed, Arizona State's Jordyn Tyson has some serious medical concerns that could hurt his stock, and USC's Makai Lemon is both a step slow and smaller than the other two. Leaning on one of them along with Nabers may be quite risky for Dart.
It seems hard to envision a world where the Giants are a noticeably better team in 2026 without Robinson on the field. Even though Schoen has essentially been sidelined to let Harbaugh run the show, ensuring Robinson comes back on a fair deal is the kind of thing he should still excel at, theoretically.