Giants QB Russell Wilson Aims to Prove Doubters Wrong: ‘I Never Lack Confidence’

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It’s been nearly 15 years since Shea Tierney was a student with Russell Wilson at North Carolina State, and in some ways not much has changed. He still sees Wilson’s cannon arm, his athletic ability and his accuracy. He can tell Wilson’s brain is as sharp as ever, too.

Back then, of course, Wilson was an undersized underdog, trying to prove a legion of doubters wrong. Now he’s got a Super Bowl ring, 10 trips to the Pro Bowl and a résumé that might someday put him in the Hall of Fame.

And as for those doubters … well, in some ways, not much has changed there either. Wilson may be 36 now and in the twilight of a great career, but the 5-foot-11, 206-pound quarterback seems to have something to prove to the world again.

“I think that’s the great thing about Russell is he’s always done that,” said Tierney, who is now the quarterbacks coach for the Giants, Wilson’s latest team. “But I think Russ would be the first to tell you he’s always got high expectations for himself. I think he’s more so trying to prove it to himself.”

It shouldn’t be that way, of course — not after 46,135 passing yards, 350 touchdowns and 121 wins in a 13-year career. But the last few years have been a rickety roller-coaster ride for the five-time All-Pro. He had gone to nine Pro Bowls in 10 seasons in Seattle before the Seahawks traded him to Denver rather than give him a lucrative contract at age 33. The Broncos gave him the money — five years, $245 million with $165 million guaranteed — but the results were disastrous. In his first year in Denver, he had a career-low 60.5 completion percentage and was sacked a career-high 55 times on a team that went 5-12 — just the second losing season of his career.

Wilson bounced back the next season, but the Broncos — and new coach Sean Payton — were so done with him that they ate a record $85 million in dead money to cut him loose. He landed in Pittsburgh, where he played well after recovering from a preseason calf injury, finishing with 2,482 yards, 16 touchdowns and just five interceptions in 11 games. But he and the Steelers faded down the stretch — five straight losses to end their season against a brutal schedule. That left such a bitter taste that, rather than re-sign him, the Steelers chose to go with the enigmatic, 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers instead.

Even worse, their Plan B wasn’t Wilson. They first tried to re-sign his backup, Justin Fields, who eventually landed with the Jets.

And so, Russell Wilson is on his fourth team in five years — not exactly the way a potential future Hall of Famer wants to ride into the sunset of his career. 

“Sometimes in this game, things don’t bounce your way, don’t go the way you want them to,” Tierney said. “You’ve just got to be resilient with that. And that’s the biggest thing that Russ has done. I think he’d be the first one to tell you, ‘Yeah, the last couple of years have not gone the way I really wanted it to.’

“But he’s ready for the next challenge.”

Wilson has been ready for the challenge of New York for a while. The rumors that he wanted to play here, and that his famous wife — Grammy-winning singer Ciara — wanted to live here go back long before he actually left Seattle. And a year ago, a fan snapped a picture of him at Newark Airport at the start of free agency and posted it on social media. Turns out Wilson was in town to meet with the Giants before he headed to Pittsburgh to sign with the Steelers.

This March it finally happened — at least once the Giants decided not to wait for Rodgers to make up his mind. New York gave Wilson a one-year, $10.5 million deal with incentives that could double its value. And he quickly embraced the celebrity side of his new job. He’s been courtside at Knicks and New York Liberty games. He’s hung around the batting cage at Yankee Stadium. He even walked the red carpet with Ciara at the Met Gala.

Of course, it’s all great now. The Giants were 3-14 last season and the expectations are low. The organization and New York fans are still stinging from the collapse of QB Daniel Jones, who crumbled under the weight of injuries after signing a four-year, $160 million contract in 2023. The franchise has been in an offensive desert, really, since Eli Manning retired in 2020. The Giants have averaged an anemic 17.1 points per game over the past five years, finishing in the bottom four in total offense in four of those seasons.

And that’s largely because, while Jones was struggling and battling constant injuries, the team was rolling out a roster of quarterbacks that included Colt McCoy, Mike Glennon, Jake Fromm, Davis Webb, Tommy DeVito, Tyrod Taylor and Drew Lock.

Wilson is an obvious upgrade. Yes, the bar is low, but the anticipation of his impact on the offense is high. Privately, the Giants are absolutely convinced they would’ve been a .500 team at least last season if they had gotten even marginal quarterback play. General manager Joe Schoen has done a remarkable job of rebuilding the rest of the roster after the Dave Gettleman Error, creating some fiscal stability and amassing some impressive young talent, like receiver Malik Nabers, edge rushers Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns, and a professional offensive line that could be much improved.

The Giants face a brutal schedule, but they still believe that the right quarterback could conceivably bring them to the edge of playoff contention.

And this time, with Wilson, they think they got it right.

“He’s been a guy that, when you look at what he’s done from Seattle to Pittsburgh, it was a mesh and fit for our scheme,” said Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown. “We knew we needed to push the ball down the field a lot more. You guys have seen him do that in practice. That’s an ability and knack that is unique for Russ.”

It’s been clear this summer that Wilson still has the arm to unleash his famous “moon ball,” which could be transformational for the Giants’ strong core of receivers. And it’s not just about Nabers, their young, potential superstar wideout. They have speed and deep threats in veteran Darius Slayton and young Jalin Hyatt who could see their numbers transform, too.

“He has amazing talent with the ball,” Slayton said of Wilson. “Accuracy, great touch on the deep balls. I don’t really know that he’s missed more than one or two deep balls this whole camp. He is really accurate, really smart.”

But what attracted the Giants to Wilson was more than that. After years of dealing with quarterbacks trying to find their way, following more than leading, they are almost relieved to have someone who has already been to the top and back.

“You look at the leadership component,” Brown said. “When you see what Russ has done since he got here: Within the first two weeks, he’s bringing Jalin Hyatt out to L.A. and they’re working out privately. He’s getting all the skill guys together down in Atlanta, scheduling a dinner with the O-line and running backs.

“Remember, our nucleus has been really young throughout our time here. Him having that veteran leadership on the offensive side as well as having the ability to complement what Dabs [head coach Brian Daboll] wants to get done from the quarterback position, we thought it was a really good fit.”

Daboll agrees, and stresses the standard that Wilson sets every time he steps on the field.

“He’s a pro,” Daboll said. “There’s a reason why he has had the career that he’s had. When you look at his work ethic, his commitment to being the best version of himself that he can be, how he’s out here at practice, his leadership traits within the players, his communication — not just with the receivers, tight ends, running backs, but with the offensive line — he’s been a good addition for us.”

For now, that certainly seems to be true. But for how long? 

The unstated reality of Wilson’s deal with the Giants is that he’s very likely a one-year caretaker at the position. Back in April, Schoen traded a second-round pick and two thirds to get back into the first round to draft Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart at No. 25. He is undeniably expected to be the Giants’ Quarterback of the Future, likely beginning next year.

The Giants, according to multiple team sources, are completely fine with the idea of Dart not playing at all in his rookie season. But if they find themselves out of playoff contention in the second half, they might change their minds. Which means Wilson’s quest to revive the Giants and prove he’s still an elite quarterback may not have much time.

Not that he’s bothered by that at this stage of his career.

“And at the end of the day, you got to make plays,” Wilson said. “I’ve been fortunate to be able to make plays for a long time, and it’s on film. A lot of it is just: You study it, you learn it and grow and keep getting better. And you ignore the noise and you keep your head down and keep working. I also work on it, too. I think the last piece of it is that I think my mental aptitude is definitely very strong.”

In other words, he doesn’t care what others think. He’s confident in what he can still do.

“I think you’re always just trying to prove yourself right,” Wilson added. “I know what I’m capable of every day. I never lack confidence.”

The Giants are confident, too. And they’ve gone to great lengths to “let Russ cook” in their offense this season. Even though they agreed to terms with him just four days after they signed veteran QB Jameis Winston, Daboll quickly made it clear that Wilson is his starter. The Giants haven’t even entertained the notion that Dart is looming over his shoulder either. They’ve given Wilson leeway to lead their team.

And he has settled into the job as comfortably as he settled into his new locker at the Giants’ training facility — not coincidentally the same one he used during the week of practice before he led the Seahawks to a 43-8 win over the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium.

If the past five years have weighed on Wilson, he certainly doesn’t show it. He’s embraced every aspect of his new job, from the celebrity to the expectations to the charge to lead his new teammates out of the wilderness. He’s in constant motion during practice, encouraging teammates and celebrating their success. And, in a big change from the Giants’ quarterbacks of the past five years, he provides expansive answers to questions, allows deep dives into his thinking, and never seems to be without his trademark smile.

“Maybe I’m the energizer bunny a lot of the times,” Wilson said. “But I think I’m always constantly working on me. We’re all growing, we’re all learning, we’re all developing. We all have highs and lows. I’ve had a lot of highs, and the lows are just lessons along the way. Not losses. They’re just lessons.”

The core of this Giants team has endured a lot of those lessons over the past few years. Wilson, in a different way, has endured plenty, too. The hope is that they can all learn from them together. The belief is that Wilson can rejuvenate the franchise, while it helps re-energize him.

There won’t be a lot of time to do it, and Wilson knows it won’t be easy. But just like he was as a teenager at NC State, he’s ready for the challenge — maybe more ready than ever before.

“If anybody’s battle-tested, I am,” Wilson said. “I can handle anything.”

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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