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New York Giants linebacker Darius Muasau.
The New York Giants’ playoff hopes are long gone, but the 2025 season isn’t over, and the latest Week 15 news serves as a reminder of the current NYG focus: continuing to develop young talent.
On December 9, Giants team reporter Dan Salomone announced that linebacker and former sixth-round draft pick Darius Muasau is being designated to return from the injured reserve.
Along with Muasau, Big Blue also designated cornerback Art Green (hamstring) to return to practice. Both should be helpful toward bolstering the Giants’ defense and special teams departments down the stretch.
Giants’ Final Stretch of Games Could Act as Starting Audition for Darius Muasau Ahead of Uncertain Offseason
GettyNew York Giants linebacker Darius Muasau makes a play in 2025.
After beginning his career as a core special teamer and backup LB, Muasau developed into a 14-game starter. And he showed some signs that he could be a solid rotational cog for years to come.
Then, Muasau suffered an ankle injury, which has derailed the latter half of his sophomore campaign.
Considering Micah McFadden has missed the entire year on IR, and Bobby Okereke has regressed significantly — making the veteran a likely cut candidate in 2026 — this final stretch of games could be an audition for Muasau, if he’s able to work his way back onto the field.
The Giants will have 21 days to activate Muasau from injury, but they’ve generally been pretty quick about these IR activations this year. In fact, if the youngster puts in a strong week of practices, it would not be shocking to see him back on the field as soon as Week 15 versus the Washington Commanders.
After all, there aren’t too many games left on the schedule, so there wouldn’t be much point in designating Muasau to return if he wasn’t close to full health.
Giants News Includes ‘Interesting’ Week 15 Workouts
The Giants were busy on December 9, working out a total of six free agents, five of whom caught the eye of New York Post reporter Ryan Dunleavy.
“Five punter tryouts is interesting,” Dunleavy commented on X, after the NFL transaction log was relayed by “Giants Nation Show” host Bobby Skinner.
They were veterans Cameron Johnston, Ryan Stonehouse, Brad Robbins, Pat O’Donnell, and Jake Camarda. This hints that starting punter Jamie Gillan could be dealing with an injury in Week 15.
The Giants also worked out defensive lineman Niko Lalos, and preemptively cut defensive back Myles Purchase from the practice squad, seemingly opening up a spot for a potential signing.
At this time of year, teams tend to bring in candidates for reserve/future contracts, which can be agreed upon once the regular season ends. These players basically commit to a team’s 90-man offseason roster before the new league year begins.
Typically, a flurry of late-season workouts like this could be early scouting for reserve/future deals, but this punter rush doesn’t quite compute.
Most of these punters are older veterans who are more likely looking for immediate work than some sort of futures deal. That emphasis on experience signals a more pressing need, like injury insurance.
If Gillan is hurt, the Giants will likely reveal the news the next time interim head coach Mike Kafka addresses the media.
Michael Obermuller covers the NFL for Heavy Sports, where he began writing in 2021. His areas of focus include the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers, with expert knowledge on each based on years of coverage. Michael is an NYC area native and Quinnipiac graduate. More about Michael Obermuller
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