Jameis Winston quietly makes plays as Russell Wilson works to justify being handed No. 1 job

NEW YORK — Former Brown Jameis Winston seems like the forgotten man in the Giants' quarterback rotation, with Russell Wilson being handed the starting job and rookie Jaxson Dart being groomed as the future of the franchise. But Winston is not forgotten when they take the field, even on limited reps. Thursday was a perfect example: Wilson's first series with the starters was underwhelming. Dart, stepping in as this day's second QB with mostly backups, found rough sledding, too. Then Winston entered as QB3 with some of the starting skill players and immediately chucked a deep touchdown pass up the left seam to Darius Slayton. Slayton was being guarded by a young backup corner named Nic Jones. Still, this was an appropriate depiction of what the team's quarterback situation has looked like in practice so far this spring: Exactly as everyone expected. Wilson is the clapping huddle leader of the first-team offense who throws the occasional nice deep ball but has struggled with consistency and middle of field throws. Dart is the rookie drinking through a firehose while trying to learn Brian Daboll's offense and apply it in his first series of NFL practices. Sometimes the arrow is pointing up, especially due to his mobility. Sometimes it looks like he will need some time. Winston, meanwhile, is the big-play hunter. The gunslinger. The veteran who likes to let it rip. Sometimes it gets him in trouble. Sometimes it leads to six points. This all describes an imperfect quarterback situation for the Giants, who drove hard after a Matthew Stafford Rams trade in February to avoid this exact kind of uncertainty. They didn't get Stafford, though, or Aaron Rodgers or Joe Flacco for that matter. So they first signed Winston and then Wilson. Then they drafted Dart. Now they have a QB room filled with a bunch of half-positives and hope. If chasing explosive plays is what Daboll and the Giants are after, however, it's hard to understand how Winston won't receive an early call in the bullpen if he remains on the team come the fall. These Giants need to score at a high clip, something they have never done under Daboll. A lot of the offseason "narratives" — as Joe Schoen and Daboll like to say — are about how great the 2025 Giants defense should be given all the talent added to that side of the ball. But the focus needs to be on whether the offense will be able to score and win games for the team, not rely on avoiding turnovers and punting until the defense forces a takeaway of their own. So far this spring, with Wilson at quarterback, the Giants' first-team defense has looked like a much better unit than the offense. Those frustrations boiled over into the fight that ended practice early last week. Granted, Malik Nabers (toe) and Andrew Thomas (possible load management) have not been practicing, but Dexter Lawrence (load management) hasn't been participating in 11-on-11 drills, either. Wilson, in fairness, has completed some downfield throws, including a heave to Slayton down the left sideline last Thursday against an all-out blitz. Still, the Giants offense's operation with Wilson has not been smooth or consistently productive or explosive in any of the open practice sessions yet, and that's coming off a season when they ranked 30th in the NFL scoring 16.1 points per game, having altered almost no personnel from that unit other than the QBs. There are plenty of times at practice where Winston seems like such an afterthought on the Giants' depth chart — with Wilson the obvious No. 1 and Dart being groomed one-on-one by Daboll — that it begs the question whether he'll be traded away before the season. That's an awkward reality that became an obvious possible outcome as soon as the Giants traded up to draft Dart in the first round in late April. The Saints are an obvious fit for a reunion. If Winston remains on this Giants roster in September for whatever reason, though — whether it's because Dart isn't ready or the organization wants a contingency plan to Wilson — his playmaking is too intriguing to leave in the background with his helmet in his hand. Sooner rather than later, if Winston keeps being himself on this team, he'll play.