Heading into the 2025 season, a lot of fans feel much better about the quarterback room for the New York Giants—especially with Jameis Winston and Jaxson Dart as the primary backups to new starter Russell Wilson.
With Winston currently serving as the primary backup, some would even argue that the Giants have one of the better backup quarterback situations in the NFL.
At least, you’d think the Giants do. In Cody Benjamin's list of the Top 10 backup quarterback situations for the 2025 season on CBS Sports, he doesn’t include Winston among the ranked backups. Still, the analysis for Winston—who made the honorable mention section—is rather interesting.
”New York Giants: Jameis Winston is a top-10 backup talent, always ripe to play spoiler with his big arm. But he's on a perpetually rebuilding team, with rookie Jaxson Dart also a candidate for snaps behind Russell Wilson.”
Jameis Winston gets horrifically disrespected in 2025 QB rankings
Okay, so Winston is clearly viewed as a top-10 backup in the league, but he’s not actually on the Top-10 list—just in the honorable mention section. Sure, he’s on what many consider a rebuilding team, but don’t be surprised if the G-Men win a few more games in 2025 than they did in 2024—and maybe even more than 2023, too.
The list has several players who are likely never going to see the field unless there is an injury: Jimmy Garoppolo with Matthew Stafford, Tanner McKee with Jalen Hurts, Gardner Minshew with Patrick Mahomes, Marcus Mariota with Jayden Daniels. They have good jobs and situations on winning teams because they aren’t ever expected to play. If they have to replace their starter, though, the level of play is expected to decrease on offense with all of those respective teams.
If you take a look at the list, you’ll see several players who make you wonder if they should really be ranked ahead of Winston. Mac Jones? Winston is more established. Kenny Pickett? Winston is better. Malik Willis? Winston is better, and he also fits into the category mentioned above as someone who isn’t playing unless there’s an injury, which is how he saw the field last year for the Green Bay Packers.
There’s also former Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, now with the Indianapolis Colts, who is on this list. Jones is on a one-year deal with the Colts, but given the current situation in Indianapolis, he probably shouldn’t even be on the list. Anthony Richardson is already dealing with injuries, and Jones might end up being the Colts’ starting quarterback for Week 1.
On top of that, in terms of both play and statistics, ask any Giants fan who they would have rather had as the starter last season between Winston and Jones. Most would say Winston, who was the better quarterback in 2024 even with fewer games played. Yet Jones is listed well above Winston.
Of the list, the one player who makes sense to be ranked above Winston is Kirk Cousins, who has been a well-respected starter and is really only a backup because of his contract situation. In reality, Cousins could always be traded to a team in need of a starter if an injury occurs. But for now, he’s a backup—and probably the most qualified one in the league given his history and track record.
The league might continue to insult New York on these kinds of lists heading into 2025, but if you use your eyes and your brain, you know the Giants’ quarterback situation is miles better than it was a year ago—and they have one of the better backup quarterback scenarios in the league.