Inside: Why the Giants signed Wilson, Patriots added Diggs and mocking the top five picks of the 2025 draft.

Yesterday saw a receiver finally take the Patriots’ money and the Giants add Russell Wilson to a room with Jameis Winston, Tommy DeVito and DeVito’s agent. This deserves a Netflix series titled “Quarterback?”

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Wilson, Diggs: Big names, uncertain ability

Late yesterday evening brought two anticipated but important moves:

• The Giants added Wilson on a one-year deal worth up to $21 million. Full details here.
• The Patriots and Diggs agreed to a three-year, $69 million deal. Full details.

Here’s why I like these deals for both the teams and players:

For the Giants, adding the 36-year-old Wilson reduces their quarterback desperation and gives them a starter capable of throwing deep balls to Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton.

That’s a welcome sight after the combination of Daniel Jones, Drew Lock and DeVito led to a 3-14 season (shocker!), an unhappy Nabers and co-owner John Mara telling reporters that “the number one issue” was “to find our quarterback of the future.”

They still don’t have that, but with just half of Wilson’s contract guaranteed and the remaining $10.5 million available in incentives, there’s still a chance they take Shedeur Sanders at No. 3 or a different quarterback within a round or so. Winston’s $4 million APY suggests he was always going to play the backup role, and Wilson’s one-year deal implies both are stopgaps along the way to a QB drafted in 2025 or even 2026.

During that same discussion with reporters, Mara said he’s “just about run out of patience” with the current Giants’ regime — GM Joe Schoen and HC Brian Daboll have an 18-32 record and the league’s second-worst point differential (minus-289) in three seasons at the helm. No seats in the NFL are hotter, but Wilson buys the duo time.

(Don’t forget that Schoen and Daboll began their tenure by declining Daniel Jones’ fifth-year option, only to bet $160 million on him one year later.)

As for Mr. Unlimited, he gets another opportunity to start despite his play trailing off during the Steelers’ 0-5 finish last season. But don’t expect the Giants to let Russ cook: Last season, Daboll’s group ranked 30th in Mike Sando’s Cook Index, which measures the percentage of early-game plays that were passes. What will we see? Plenty of play-action moonballs, a specialty of Wilson and a favorite of Daboll (his Giants ranked fourth in play-action dropbacks on running downs).

With Schoen and Daboll’s job security contingent on finding a quarterback, you can’t blame them for copying the Steelers’ 2024 approach by importing multiple veterans. Or maybe they take it a step further toward the more successful (but costly) approach of the Falcons, who drafted Michael Penix Jr. weeks after guaranteeing Kirk Cousins $100 million.

More on that below.

Meanwhile, the $26 million guaranteed to Diggs by the Patriots means his three-year deal is essentially a one-year contract with team options for two seasons. With $73 million in effective cap space in 2025 (per OverTheCap), the Patriots were easily able to afford the best available receiver on a reasonable deal — his $23 million APY ties with Calvin Ridley for 17th among receivers.

If healthy, he gives Drake Maye an elite route runner who can still get open. It’s a low-floor, high-ceiling move that a talent-starved team needed to make, especially given their historical struggles finding a receiver through the draft.

Diggs gets the chance to be the top option for an ascending quarterback, an opportunity rarely available to a 31-year-old coming off an ACL injury — though Adam Schefter reported Diggs is on track to play in Week 1.

When paired with Josh Allen from 2020 to 2023, he averaged 111.3 catches, 1,343 yards and 9.3 touchdowns per year, helping to vault Allen toward superstardom. Diggs was then serviceable in his eight games in Houston, averaging 62 yards on eight targets.

How does this impact the draft? Both the Giants and Patriots pick in the top five. Let’s mock it out.

Mock: The top 5 picks, in clearer focus

Now that the Giants look less likely to take a quarterback at No. 3, the entire first round feels a bit simpler to forecast. Emphasis on “a bit.” Generally, my picks will try to factor each decision-maker’s preferences and trends when possible, rather than just filling roster gaps.

First, Dianna will handle pick No. 1:

Who Dianna’s Drafting: At No. 1: Tennessee drafts Ward?

The Titans were blown away by their visit with quarterback Cam Ward during Miami’s pro day, both during their dinner and his on-field performance. Tennessee’s brass is also scheduled to have a private workout with him, and all signs point to the Titans being comfortable with standing pat and selecting him with the No. 1 overall pick at next month’s draft in Green Bay, barring a material change.

Back to Jacob for the next four picks.

Picks 2 to 5

Thanks, Dianna. Next, to set the table for what might end up being the most dramatic pick, the No. 2 spot: Cleveland GM Andrew Berry and HC Kevin Stefanski enter their sixth season having drafted just one Pro Bowl player (LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah) among their 37 picks. Maybe slow down on the analytics?

Berry has admitted he prefers to trade back, which is what they should do here. Good luck finding anyone willing to pay the price, though, unless there’s a team in love with No. 2 quarterback Shedeur Sanders (25th on Dane Brugler’s Big Board). Instead, the Browns must choose between Sanders and Dane’s top two overall prospects: CB/WR Travis Hunter or edge Abdul Carter.

Cleveland was in the perfect spot to swap picks with the Giants, until New York reduced the Browns’ leverage by signing Wilson yesterday (then again, New York might already expect Cleveland to take Sanders). Before I galaxy brain this further, let’s go with the best player available …

No. 2: Browns draft edge Abdul Carter (2). If the question is either Sanders or Carter and a trade for Kirk Cousins (so long as Cousins passes medical checks on his shoulder), I’d take the latter.

Reunite Stefanski with Cousins, a pairing that once thrived in Minnesota’s play-action-heavy scheme. If Joe Flacco can go 4-1 in Cleveland’s offense, then this team with a healthy (key caveat) Cousins could compete immediately, especially with what could be the league’s best pass-rush duo: Carter and Myles Garrett.

The Browns should also use their early second-rounder to trade up for Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart, who’ll likely require a smaller draft-capital investment than Sanders. By now, Cousins is used to joining teams with rookie QBs, right?

No. 3: Giants draft CB/WR Travis Hunter (1). They needed a quarterback in 2024, and instead took Malik Nabers at No. 6, passing on Penix, J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix. But that mistake shouldn’t cloud their vision of Hunter, a generational prospect who could give Russell Wilson (or 2026 Arch Manning or 2027 Arch Manning) another target while also locking down opposing receivers as a cornerback.

No. 4: Patriots draft OT Armand Membou (8). New HC Mike Vrabel’s teams are built on defense and in the trenches. With the receiving corps in better shape, thanks to Diggs, the Pats have even more reason to focus on their preferred left tackle, choosing between Missouri’s Membou or LSU’s Will Campbell. It’d be reminiscent of the Chargers’ Joe Alt selection, their first pick in the Jim Harbaugh era.

No. 5: Jaguars draft DT Mason Graham (4). New GM James Gladstone arrived from the Rams, where he watched as the Eagles’ Jalen Carter wreaked havoc on the interior during the playoffs. Gladstone was also Los Angeles’ scouting director and a big part of their Hollywood-worthy trade up to draft an interior defensive lineman (DT Braden Fiske) in 2024, which paid immediate dividends.

Graham, who could unlock Jacksonville’s star DEs Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen, is just as athletic as Fiske — and even more disruptive:

More mock picks another day. What does the Wilson signing mean for the Steelers? Let’s switch gears.

Each team’s biggest need

The Athletic’s latest all-32 covers each team’s biggest remaining need after free agency. There are major draft implications, including the following:

The Steelers had hoped to have a quarterback before free agency. With Wilson now off the board and Rodgers having visited Pittsburgh, it feels inevitable that the 41-year-old wears black and gold (or is it black and yellow?). For now, he holds them hostage.

The Cowboys (No. 12 pick) still need to improve their running back room after signing expected backups Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders.

The Ravens (No. 27) and Bills (No. 30) both need cornerbacks after losing starters to free agency and trades.

The Saints (No. 9) could begin the Kellen Moore era by drafting a cornerback for DC Brandon Staley, who missed out on Charvarius Ward in free agency.

The full list sheds light on what the Bears could do at No. 10: Hint, it doesn’t involve RB Ashton Jeanty.

This week’s most-clicked: How much does every NFL owner want to win? A team-by-team breakdown of their efforts.

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(Photo: Abbie Parr / Getty Images)