The New York Giants today signed veteran wide receiver and special teamer Gunner Olszewski, who played 10 games for the team in 2023 and spent last season on injured reserve.
He will take the roster spot of Bryce Ford-Wheaton, who suffered a torn Achilles during Sunday's training camp practice and was placed on injured reserve.
It was the second serious injury in three seasons for Ford-Wheaton. He tore his ACL in the final preseason game of 2023 as an undrafted rookie out of West Virginia. The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder rehabbed all the way back to making the 53-man roster last season and played 286 snaps on special teams, the most of any player on offense and third-most on the entire roster.
The biggest one of those plays occurred in Week 5 at Seattle, where Isaiah Simmons blocked Jason Myers' 47-yard field goal attempt that would have tied the game with a minute remaining. Ford-Wheaton picked up the ball and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown.
It was the first time he touched the ball in his NFL career.
"My heart aches for that man," coach Brian Daboll said before Monday's practice. "He's done everything he could do to get back. He's a very good special teams player for us and was having a good camp from working back from his injury. He's just laying there on the ground and you just can't help but... That's the tough part of this business – probably one of the worst (parts) is seeing these guys go down that have put so much time and effort and energy into getting back and we'll certainly miss him. It's just an unfortunate thing for Bryce, I feel terrible for him, I feel bad for our team because he was a good player for us in the kicking game and now other people are going to have to step up but, man, that was a tough one."
In 2023, Olszewski was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in the second-to-last game for the Giants after his 94-yard punt return touchdown. It was the second longest punt return in Giants history and the longest in 95 years.
The Giants had played 132 regular-season and three postseason games since their previous punt return touchdown. Dwayne Harris scored on an 80-yard return vs. the Jets on Dec. 6, 2015.
The punt return touchdown was the second of Olszewski's career. On Dec. 6, 2020, he scored on a 70-yard runback for the New England Patriots against the Chargers in Los Angeles. In that game, Olszewski returned three punts for 145 yards (48.3-yard avg.), a performance that earned him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. He finished that season with a 17.3-yard punt return average that led the NFL and was the highest in Patriots history. Olszewski was selected first-team All-Pro.
Olszewski originally made the roster in New England as an undrafted rookie out of Bemidji State in 2019.
View every move made by the New York Giants during the 2025 cycle.
WR Gunner Olszewski - Free Agent Signing (July 28)
WR Bryce Ford-Wheaton - Reserve/Injured (July 28)
S K'Von Wallace - Free Agent Signing (July 22)
DB Anthony Johnson - Waived, Injured (July 22)
T Andrew Thomas - Declared Physically Unable to Perform (July 22)
RB Eric Gray - Declared Physically Unable to Perform (July 22)
OLB Victor Dimukeje - Declared Non-Football Injury (July 22)
Giants receive 2026 sixth-round draft pick from Dolphins in exchange for conditional 2027 seventh-round selection and TE Darren Waller (July 7)
RB Cam Skattebo - Selection List Signing (June 18)
DL Darius Alexander - Selection List Signing (June 2)
QB Jaxson Dart - Selection List Signing (May 30)
OLB Abdul Carter - Selection List Signing (May 22)
WR Lil'Jordan Humphrey - Free Agent Signing (May 12)
CB T.J. Moore - Free Agent Signing (May 12)
DB R.J. Delancy III - Waived, No Recall (May 12)
DB Tommy McCormick - Waived, No Recall (May 12)
OL Marcus Mbow - Selection List Signing (May 9)
TE Thomas Fidone II - Selection List Signing (May 9)
CB Korie Black - Selection List Signing (May 9)
RB Rushawn Baker, WR Jordan Bly, WR Dalen Cambre, WR Beaux Collins, DB R.J. Delancey, WR Da'Quan Felton, OLB Trace Ford, DB O'Donnell Fortune, DB Tommy McCormick, DB Makari Paige, TE Jermaine Terry, WR Antwane Wells, OL Jaison Williams - Free Agent Signing (May 9)
WR Lil'Jordan Humphrey - Terminated, Vested Veteran, all contracts (May 9)
DL Casey Rogers - Waived, No Recall (May 8)
CB Korie Black - Selected in the 7th Round of 2025 NFL Draft (No. 246 overall) (April 26)
TE Thomas Fidone II - Selected in the 7th Round of 2025 NFL Draft (No. 219 overall) (April 26)
OL Marcus Mbow - Selected in the 5th Round of 2025 NFL Draft (No. 154 overall) (April 26)
RB Cam Skattebo - Selected in the 4th Round of 2025 NFL Draft (No. 105 overall) (April 26)
DL Darius Alexander - Selected in the 3rd Round of 2025 NFL Draft (No. 65 overall) (April 25)
QB Jaxson Dart - Selected in the 1st Round of 2025 NFL Draft (No. 25 overall) (April 24)
LB Abdul Carter - Selected in the 1st Round of 2025 NFL Draft (No. 3 overall) (April 24)
DT Ross Blacklock - Terminated, Vested Veteran, all contracts (April 15)
QB Jameis Winston - Unrestricted Free Agent Signing (March 31)
LB Ty Summers - Unrestricted Free Agent Signing (March 31)
QB Russell Wilson - Unrestricted Free Agent Signing (March 26)
ILB Dyontae Johnson - Exclusive Rights Signing (March 26)
WR Zach Pascal - Unrestricted Free Agent Signing (March 25)
OL Aaron Stinnie - Unrestricted Free Agent Signing (March 25)
OLB Victor Dimukeje - Unrestricted Free Agent Signing (March 21)
WR Lil'Jordan Humphrey - Unrestricted Free Agent Signing (March 21)
OL Greg Van Roten - Unrestricted Free Agent Signing (March 19)
DL Jeremiah Ledbetter - Unrestricted Free Agent Signing (March 18)
LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles - Free Agent Signing (March 17)
CB Paulson Adebo - Free Agent Signing (March 13)
S Jevón Holland - Free Agent Signing (March 13)
WR Darius Slayton - Free Agent Signing (March 13)
DL Chauncey Golston - Free Agent Signing (March 13)
OL James Hudson III - Free Agent Signing (March 13)
LB Chris Board - Free Agent Signing (March 13)
OL Stone Forsythe - Free Agent Signing (March 13)
WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette - Re-signed (March 12)
DT Roy Robertson-Harris - Free Agent Signing (March 10)
P Jamie Gillan - Re-signed (March 8)
TE Chris Manhertz - Re-signed (March 8)
QB Tommy DeVito - Re-signed (March 8)
OLB Tomon Fox - Re-signed (March 7)
LS Casey Kreiter - Re-signed (March 5)
WR Montrell Washington - Free Agent Signing (February 14)
CB Nic Jones - Free Agent Signing (February 14)
DT Ross Blacklock - Reserve/Future (January 6)
C Bryan Hudson - Reserve/Future (January 6)
K Jude McAtamney - Reserve/Future (January 6)
C Jimmy Morrissey - Reserve/Future (January 6)
DT Casey Rogers - Reserve/Future (January 6)
