Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke runs against Indiana during the second half at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019. — Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press, Detroit Free Press via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Giants Sign QB Brian Lewerke; Waive/Injured QB Clayton Thorson

New York adds another arm to its roster ahead of its upcoming joint practices with Cleveland and waives Clayton Thorson.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Aug 16, 2021 2:40 PM EDT

The New York Giants have signed former Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke and have waived/injured quarterback Clayton Thorson.

Lewerke redshirted his freshman year at Michigan State. He then completed 721 out of 1,249 pass attempts (57.7%) for 8,293 yards and 47 touchdowns to 32 interceptions (120.8 rating).

His best season was his final year in 2019. In 13 games played, he completed 260 out of 436 pass attempts (59.6%) for 3,079 yards and 17 touchdowns to 13 interceptions. He played in the Pinstripe Bowl that year and was named the MVP of that game.

Lewerke originally entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the New England Patriots following the 2020 draft. He was waived before the start of training camp but re-signed four days later, only to be waived again as part of the final camp cuts on September 5, 2020.

Lewerke worked out for the Giants earlier this month. Giants backup quarterback Clayton Thorson appeared to have suffered a concussion during Saturday's loss to the New York Jets.

"He spent time with the medical team (Sunday)," head coach Joe Judge told reporters Sunday. "We’re going to find out his final status. Obviously, we’ll make more of a decision on that.

"If there’s an injury at quarterback, we’ll look to bring in an additional player to help us go ahead and function for the remainder of training camp or however long someone’s out."

With that decision having been made, the Giants will head into Cleveland this week with three presumably healthy quarterbacks.