Do Giants Need to Retain Pending UFA Receiver Wan'Dale Robinson?

Wan'Dale Robinson, WR

Height: 5-foot-8
Weight: 185 lbs.
Age: 25
NFL Exp: 4 Years
College: Kentucky

The impending group of unrestricted free agents on the New York Giants roster might seem smaller compared to prior ones in recent offseasons. One highly important player on the list, wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, is still a big fish receiving a lot of attention as his future with the franchise looms.

Robinson was drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft (No. 43 overall) out of the University of Kentucky. He wasn’t one of the more intriguing prospects in the class due to his smaller size, but the Giants needed a slot receiver and saw some upside in Robinson’s game to hedge a Day 2 pick on him.

After playing his first two collegiate seasons at Nebraska, Robinson transferred to Kentucky in 2021, where he led the school in receiving yards and caught 73.4% of his targets and 53.3 % of his contested targets. He caught scouts’ eyeballs for his speed and niftiness in the short field, where he excelled at running quick routes and churning 544 yards after the catch that year.

The 25-year-old’s first season in New York didn’t see too much action as he joined a crowded wide receiver room that already had some veteran pieces jockeying for targets. Robinson played in just six games (three starts) and recorded 23 catches for 227 yards and one touchdown.

Depth wasn’t the only limiting factor in an underwhelming debut, as Robinson also tore his ACL in Week 11 and would miss the remainder of his rookie season before he could find his way towards making a true impact on the Giants' offense.

That would come when Robinson returned in 2023, when he more than doubled his output with 60 receptions for 525 yards and one touchdown in 15 games (eight starts). He also finished third on the team with 287 yards after contact and seven plays of 20+ yards.

Then in the 2024 season, Robinson became one of the offense’s leading playmakers, notching a career-high 93 catches on 140 targets for 699 yards and three touchdowns in 17 games (seven starts) that finished behind only Malik Nabers’ record-setting 1,204 yards as a rookie.

As much as he was a reliable option for whoever was playing quarterback for the Giants, Robinson’s impact still never encroached into deep threat territory like his teammates in Nabers and Darius Slayton.

His size and role in the slot kept him in more short-range situations where he was used to pick up quick yardage and get the offense out of long third-down scenarios.

For a guy who was once the leading pass catcher for his college team a few years back, one could have wondered whether Robinson would have to look beyond the confines of East Rutherford for a real shot at becoming a No. 1 receiving option in the NFL.

Ironically, that exact opportunity arose in what was an important contract year for Robinson, whom the Giants needed to step up to the plate to replace one of the most important figures on their entire roster very early into the 2025 season.

2025 Recap

Dec 28, 2025; Paradise, Nevada, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson (17) attempts to catch the ball against Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Greedy Vance (41) in the first half at Allegiant Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Wan’Dale Robinson entered his fourth season with the Giants, thinking he would be involved in another crowded receiving corps. Instead, he soon became Jaxson Dart’s top target after Malik Nabers went down with an ACL tear in Week 4, leaving the offense without a true threat that could demand the attention of a defense.

With the rest of the Giants' passing attack limited at times, Robinson rose to the occasion and produced a record season, logging his first 1,000-yard season on 90 catches and four touchdowns. He also had 140 targets for the second consecutive season and averaged 63.4 yards per game, which led the team.

It was the first time in Robinson’s career that he started in more than 10 games and played in 16 total contests. He had nine games with at least 6 receptions and three games with over 100 yards, including the season-high 156 yards in Week 12 against the Detroit Lions with a touchdown as well.

One of the more intriguing parts of Robinson’s record-setting season was how he ascended into a capable vertical threat despite his size, which made him more of a true slot player.

He averaged the third-highest average yards per route run out of the slot alignment (4.44) and averaged double-digit yardage per haul for the first time in his career (11.0). Robinson also tied for the fifth-most receptions on targets over 20 yards downfield and hauled in 351 yards and two scores in that range.

Robinson wasn’t afraid to stretch his route and make big plays to help push the Giants' offense closer to payday. He posted a combined 36.6% of his targets beyond 10 yards of the line of scrimmage and was very efficient with an over 100.5 passer rating when targeted.

The impending free agent receiver officially crossed the 1,000-yard mark in the Giants’ win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 17, where he made a single-game high 11 catches for 113 yards to become the second Giants receiver in as many years to achieve the feat (Malik Nabers in 2024).

Why the Giants Should Keep Him

The Giants’ arsenal of pass catchers has a lot to work on during the offseason, and it remains one of the franchise’s biggest priorities to bolster the unit with another talented playmaker or two to surround Jaxson Dart next year.

New York finished the season ranked 21st in total passing yards (204.4 yards per contest), which was impacted by the lack of solid contributions from a majority of the group on the other end of Dart’s throws. With Malik Nabers out of the picture, no other receiver finished with more than 538 yards and one touchdown, and that put a lot on Robinson’s shoulders to be the “it man.”

Still, he delivered with his best receiving campaign to date and has increasingly become a reliable weapon for the Giants' offense. The team should have Robinson at the top of their list for in-house UFA’s to re-sign, especially with Nabers being uncertain to return by the start of the 2026 season as he continues his rehab from the torn ACL.

Robinson has grown into a quiet yet important leader in the locker room and has a desire to continue proving himself to those who once doubted his ability to succeed in the NFL because of his lack of impressive physical metrics. What better place to do that than New York, where he has grown comfortable with Dart and the organization?

Even if the Giants do retain their former second-round pick, they hold the No. 5 pick. They could still add an extra playmaker via the draft’s top prospects to give Dart and the offense a nice trio once Nabers returns to full health, to give opposing defenses a problem to deal with on Sundays.

Why the Giants Shouldn't Keep Him

From his skillset to character, there is little reason for the Giants not to want to bring Robinson back long-term. The only obstacle is making a new contract work amid the team’s fragile cap health and strong demand for a young slot threat on the open market.

The Giants still own one of the league’s worst cap predicaments heading into the offseason, netting about $6.95 million in total space while being $3.15 million in the red in effective cap space, per Over the Cap.

The franchise will be doing its due diligence to identify potential contract restructures or cuts within its current roster to help open up some extra space, but getting Robinson to sign on the dotted line might come at a higher price than the Giants are hoping for.

Robinson’s career-high season will draw several outside suitors in free agency looking to amplify their receiving corps, and Spotrac has his projected market at around $17.5 million per year, which could jump to as high as $21 million if the bidding really takes off for his services.

While the Giants haven’t done enough to retain a lot of their homegrown players lately, the price tag for Robinson to continue his tenure in East Rutherford could reach a level where they decide to replace him with a cheaper slot option that is a dime a dozen in this league.

Keep or Move On?

There is almost no doubt that the Giants should keep Wan'Dale Robinson around for the future of the franchise behind new head coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Jaxson Dart, with whom Robinson developed a viable aerial connection that helped ease the struggle of a long stretch without the benefit of having Malik Nabers on the perimeter.

Robinson seems to have no qualms about returning to the Giants, and vice versa, leaving the most important element in the impending conversations being the team's salary cap predicament and whether they can squeeze enough juice out of the lemon to get their homegrown receiver to stay in the Big Apple and not take his talents elsewhere.

A departure would surely remove a solid No. 2 weapon from the Giants' offensive huddle that carries a lot of uncertainty at the receiver position heading into 2026.

The Giants may not be able to afford to retain Robinson without some sacrifices, but they surely can't afford to lose talent that will help bring out the best of Dart and his abilities.

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Wan'Dale Robinson, WR

2025 Recap

Why the Giants Should Keep Him

Why the Giants Shouldn't Keep Him

Keep or Move On?

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