While we’ll probably never know if John Harbaugh has the moves like Jagger, it feels safe to assume he’s getting pretty close with all the roster shuffling the New York Giants have done over the past couple of weeks.
On Monday, the G-Men signed veteran defensive end Dawuane Smoot to the practice squad after promoting linebacker Malik Harrison to the 53-man roster. They’ve also recently signed Jihad Ward and Kendrick Green to the P-Squad, along with your routine practice-squad promotions and demotions. Quite the dance, indeed.
Some moves have been made out of necessity, while others are your more standard, run-of-the-mill in-season transactions, including Big Blue’s signing of offensive lineman Josh Gesky to the practice squad on Wednesday, as reported by Giants insider Jordan Raanan.
Gesky’s addition to the P-Squad isn’t all that interesting on the surface, but it does come with a fun little college reunion involving Giants sixth-round rookie offensive lineman J.C. Davis.
Giants’ Josh Gesky signing has a fun little J.C. Davis connection
Gesky and Davis spent two seasons together at Illinois (2024 and 2025), with the latter transferring over from New Mexico before his junior year. New York selected Davis with the 192nd pick in the 2026 Draft, while the former spent his entire four-year college career with the Fighting Illini, starting 32 games at left guard next to Davis and apparently doing enough to get the Green Bay Packers’ attention after going undrafted in April.
The Cheeseheads gave the 6-foot-5, 310-pounder $215,000 guaranteed as a priority signing right after the draft, making him their second-highest-paid undrafted rookie.
He backed up the investment with a good preseason, earning a 78.9 overall Pro Football Focus grade, including a familiar 78.9 run-blocking grade. Not too shabby for a guy who didn’t even get a Combine invite.
Speaking of which, Gesky put on quite the show at Illinois’ Pro Day, running a 5.03-second 40-yard dash, benching 225 pounds 30 times, and recording a 33-inch vertical. For a guy his size, those are some pretty ridiculous numbers. It's no wonder his 9.63 Relative Athleticism Score (RAS) ranked 71 out of 1867 OG from 1987 to 2026:
Josh Gesky is a OG prospect in the 2026 draft class. He scored a 9.63 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 71 out of 1867 OG from 1987 to 2026.https://t.co/yVCFg8qz9o pic.twitter.com/E2gIsjFMyM
— RAS.football (@MathBomb) March 31, 2026
Green Bay ultimately released him to make room for cornerback Elijah Culp on their practice squad, opening the door for New York to swoop in.
Gesky isn’t about to crack Big Blue’s starting five anytime soon, but he’s an intriguing developmental piece with some legitimate athletic upside. And with Davis already on the active roster, at least he can skip the awkward first-day icebreakers with a friend already on the team.
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