Jameis Winston is going to eat a W this summer. Along with the rest of the letters that spell, “World Cup.”
Fox has announced that Winston will serve as a correspondent for its coverage of the FIFA World Cup, to be played throughout North America in June and July.
Winston, the first pick in the 2015 NFL draft, has gone from five-year starter in Tampa Bay to backup who periodically gets the call to play.
From 2015 to 2019, Winston started 70 games with the Buccaneers. Since 2020, he has started 19 games while playing for the Saints, Browns, and Giants.
On the media side, he first rose to prominence while working for Fox during the week of Super Bowl LIX. He also appeared on the Netflix broadcast of MLB’s opening night in 2026.
Winston will be able to waltz into a media career, whenever he’s ready to make the transition. For now, Fox seems to be the favorite to eventually turn temporary assignments into something more permanent.
Giants Clips
After agreeing to sign D.J. Reader, the Giants have also added another defensive tackle to their roster.
New York has claimed Zacch Pickens off of waivers, according to the league’s daily transaction wire.
The Chiefs let Pickens go on Monday.
Pickens, 26, appeared in three games for Kansas City last season. He recorded five total tackles.
A Bears third-round pick in 2023, Pickens appeared in 26 games for Chicago over his first two seasons. He’s recorded 44 total tackles with two tackles for loss, four QB hits, and 1.5 sacks in his career.
After trading Dexter Lawrence, the Giants have brought in a veteran defensive tackle.
According to multiple reports, New York has agreed to terms with D.J. Reader on a two-year contract.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the deal is worth $12.5 million in base salary and can reach $15.5 million with incentives.
Reader, who turns 32 in July, spent the last two seasons with the Lions. He started all 17 games for Detroit in 2025, playing 53 percent of the club’s defensive snaps. He finished with 28 total tackles and four QB hits.
In his 10 seasons, Reader has registered 12.5 sacks, 27 tackles for loss, and 56 QB hits. He’s appeared in 137 games with 128 starts for Houston, Cincinnati, and Detroit.
The Giants have been riding a wave of optimism about the 2026 season since they hired John Harbaugh as their new head coach and hopes kept rising during the draft last month.
With a pair of top-10 picks, the Giants added edge rusher Arvell Reese and offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa to the roster. Mauigoa brings another big body to the line at 6-foot-5 and 329 pounds and he’ll be starting his NFL career at right guard with the recently re-signed Jermaine Eluemunor next to him at right tackle.
Left tackle Andrew Thomas, left guard Jon Runyan Jr. and center John Michael Schmitz are also back for the Giants, which has Eluemunor feeling like the rookie’s arrival will push the unit to new heights.
“I feel like our offensive line can be a top 10 line,’’ Eluemunor said, via Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post.
Mauigoa played tackle at Miami and there’s a feeling that he’ll move back there once Eluemunor is out of the picture. Eluemunor believes he’s “right in the middle” of his career, however, and that he hopes to be lining up next to the rookie long after he’s done helping to mentor him.
However that plays out will be just fine with the Giants if the immediate results break the run of losing that has left them with little to be happy about for more than a decade.
Doctors have released Lawrence Taylor from the hospital, sending him home to continue his recovery from pancreatitis. TMZ Sports reports the Hall of Fame linebacker was discharged late last week.
Taylor, 67, was hospitalized in New Jersey on April 23 with what first was announced as a non-life-threatening stomach issue. TMZ Sports later reported that Taylor was dealing with pancreatitis.
Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas.
Taylor played for the Giants from 1981-93, winning two Super Bowl rings. The team retired his No. 56, and he earned induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
The Cowboys traded up one spot before taking safety Caleb Downs in the first round of this year’s draft, but that deal only came after an attempt to move even higher was rebuffed.
A clip from ESPN’s The Pick Is In shows Browns general manger Andrew Berry fielding a call from Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones while on the clock at No. 9. Berry turned down Dallas’s offer of their No. 12 and No. 20 picks for No. 9 and No. 24, and he did not change his mind when Jones offered to add a fifth-round pick to the offer.
The offer suggests the Cowboys thought that the Giants were going to take Downs at No. 10 as that was a frequent link during the mock draft season. The Giants wound up taking tackle Francis Mauigoa and the Cowboys wound up sending two fifth-rounders to the Dolphins to move up to No. 11 for Downs. They later traded down three spots from No, 20 and picked up two fourth-round picks.
The Browns took tackle Spencer Fano at No. 9 and another clip from the show features Berry talking to the Browns’ draft room after they traded down from No. 6 into that spot. He said Fano, Mauigoa and wide receiver Jordyn Tyson were the players the team was considering at No. 9 and Tyson went to New Orleans at No. 8, so another move down may have left them without all of their preferred options with their first of two first-round picks.
Giants cornerback Deonte Banks is now set to become a free agent next spring.
Via Jordan Raanan of ESPN, New York declined Banks’ fifth-year option, setting up 2026 to be the final year of his rookie contract.
The Giants selected Banks with the No. 24 overall pick of the 2023 draft. He’s appeared in 45 games with 35 starts, recording 28 total passes defensed with two interceptions. He has not recorded a pick since his rookie year.
If the Giants had elected to pick up Banks’ option, they would have owed him $12.633 million guaranteed in 2027.
Banks is set to earn $2.6 million in base salary for 2026.
Earlier this week, free-agent quarterback Russell Wilson had a visit with the Jets. He’s also looking at another potential path.
Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reports that Wilson is in “deep discussions” to embark on a television career. Per Marchand, CBS is considered to be the favorite.
Wilson has made bye-week appearances with CBS, and its Sunday studio show currently has an opening after the departure of Matt Ryan for a high-level job with the Falcons.
Marchand also reports that CBS has shown interest in Hall of Fame linebacker Luke Kuechly.
With Wilson firmly in the backup-at-best phase of his football career, it makes sense to explore available options in TV. Very few quarterbacks who were once the highest-paid player in the league choose to continue as understudies when their opportunities as starters have dried up. (Joe Flacco is the rare exception.)
Wilson, who seems to be interested in remaining in the New York area, could work for CBS from its Manhattan studio. It makes too much sense to not happen, if CBS ultimately decides to make him an offer — and if he accepts it.
Wilson, a third-round pick in 2012, won a Super Bowl and went to another during a decade with the Seahawks. He then spent two seasons with the Broncos, one with the Steelers, and one with the Giants. He started three games in 2025 before being benched for rookie Jaxson Dart.
With the Jets, Wilson would be the backup to Geno Smith, Wilson’s former backup in Seattle.
Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton is recovering from surgery to repair a core-muscle injury.
Slayton had the surgery recently and is expected to be ready for training camp, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
The recovery will cause Slayton to miss the offseason program, but by July he’ll be good to go.
The 29-year-old Slayton has been with the Giants for his entire career and was a team captain on a young offense last season. In 2025, Slayton played in 14 games with 12 starts and caught 37 passes for 538 yards.
The Giants are signing defensive tackle Leki Fotu to a one-year contract, according to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report.
Fotu, 27, played six games for the Raiders and two for the Texans last season. Between his two stops, he totaled 11 tackles and a sack.
Fotu entered the league as a fourth-round pick of the Cardinals in 2020.
He played four seasons with the Cardinals and one with the Jets before his two stops last season.
In his six seasons, Fotu has 103 tackles, 4.5 sacks, eight quarterback hits, three pass breakups and a forced fumble. He has played 66 games, with 26 starts.
