New York Giants Awarded Four Off Waivers, Cut Four

Now that the initial 53-man rosters have been established around the NFL, it's time to make tweaks.

Some teams will be doing more tweaking than others, but the point is if you rushed out to buy any jerseys of your favorite players who made NFL rosters yesterday, you might have acted prematurely.

There will be roster moves made--guys going to injured reserve, waiver claims, and free agent signings. There will also be practice squad signings that trickle in throughout the day, which makes the day after teams set up their roster yet another busy one.

Here's a quick primer on how everything works. We'll update this page with any moves made by the Giants.

Waiver Wire. The Giants are fifth in the waiver wire order, which is based on this past spring's NFL draft order. Teams put in waiver claims for players with fewer than four years of accrued experience (an accrued season constitutes six games) once those players were officially waived by their old teams on Tuesday. The NFL then awards waiver claims to teams starting at noon ET.

Free Agency. Any player with more than four years of accrued service is not subjected to the waiver wire. As his contract with his old club was terminated, he may sign immediately with any team as a free agent.

Injured Reserve. Teams may begin moving players that made the initial 53-man roster to injured reserve as of 4:01 p.m. Wednesday. Those players that get moved to IR are eligible to return once they are healthy, but they must miss a minimum of four weeks.

Practice Squad. Teams may add up to 16 players for their practice squad. All practice squad players count against the cap. If a player signed to the 90-man roster gets added to the practice squad, he signs a new contract, but any guaranteed money or signing bonus he received as part of his original contract counts as dead money against the salary cap.

Giants Awarded Four Off Waivers

According to the NFL's transaction report, the Giants were awarded four players off waivers: guard/center Jack Anderson (Eagles), defensive backs Justin Layne (Steelers) and Nick McCloud (Bills), and safety Jason Pinnock (Jets).

Here are all the waiver claims: pic.twitter.com/XtCskiysLh
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 31, 2022

IOL Jack Anderson (via Eagles): Anderson, 6-foot-5 and 315 pounds, is a guard/center who was the 236th pick by the Buffalo Bills in the 2021 draft out of Texas Tech. He was waived on August 31, 2021, and added to the Bills practice squad the next day. A month later, he was signed by the Eagles off the Bills' practice squad but landed on injured reserve on November 20. Anderson was activated on December 21 and was with the Eagles this summer. Anderson has appeared in two NFL games with one start.

"Smart," Daboll said of Anderson, whom he had in Buffalo last year. "Didn’t want to lose him. I remember we didn’t want to lose him, but he had an opportunity to go and get claimed and looking forward to working with him again. He can play inside – either spot – and he can play center too."

DB Justin Layne (via Steelers): Layne, 6-foot-2, 192 pounds, is a former third-round pick (No. 83 overall( by the Steelers in 2019 who played his college ball at Michigan State, Layne struggled to put it together as a defensive back and lost his spot on the defense to James Pierre. , but he has experience on special teams, where he held it down as a gunner. Layne began his college career as a wide receiver, but he converted to cornerback five games in. In his brief NFL career, Layne has appeared in 43 games and has 41 tackles, no interceptions, and no pass breakups.

DB Jason Pinnock (via Jets): Pinnock, 6-foot and 205 pounds was a fifth-round draft pick of the Jets (No. 175 overall) in 2021. He recently played against the Giants in last weekend's preseason finale, where he recorded one tackle in the game. Before that, the Giants also got an up-close look at him during their joint practice with the Jets. Considered a surprise cut by Gang Green, Pinnock gets to remain in the area where, as Giants head coach Brian Daboll noted, he'll contribute on special teams and is someone that can play the deep part of the field.

DB Nick McCloud (via Bills): McCloud played his college ball at North Carolina State before finishing up at Notre Dame. He was an undrafted free agent who signed with Buffalo in 2021 but did not make the 53-man roster. The Bengals claimed McCloud off waivers and carried him until November 4. Four days later, McCloud was back with the Bills practice squad. McCloud appeared in two NFL games, both for the Bengals in 2021.

Four Players Waived

To make room for the four waiver-wire pickups, the Giants had to remove four from their current roster since the injured reserve guys aren't eligible to count just yet.

The four players removed from the roster were offensive lineman Max Garcia, defensive lineman Nick Williams, tight end Tanner Hudson and linebacker Austin Calitro. Some, if not all, of those guys, are procedural cuts and should be back on the roster Thursday once spots officially open up via the placement of guys on injured reserve.

Four Players Headed to Injured Reserve

The Giants are putting three players--offensive lineman Shane Lemieux, edge Elerson Smith, and cornerback Rodarius Williams--on injured reserve, head coach Brian Daboll confirmed on Wednesday. Those players must remain on IR for a minimum of four weeks before they can be activated.

Because of the timing--the league's business day closes at 4 p.m. and injured reserve players aren't eligible to be moved until 4:01 p.m. which means they'd count against Thursday's transactions--the Giants will have to clear four roster spots for the new players acquired off waivers.

No Giants Claimed Off Waivers

In a somewhat surprising development, none of the players waived by the Giants were claimed by other teams. There was thought that perhaps outside linebacker Quincy Roche might draw interest, but he is now a free agent after going unclaimed.

Practice Squad Transactions

The following are reports and have not yet been made official by the Giants. Most of these players were spotted at the Giants' Wednesday's practice.

QB Davis Webb
OLB Quincy Roche
RB Jashaun Corbin
CB Zyon Gilbert
DL Ryder Anderson
WR C.J. Board
WR Jaylon Moore
OL Will Holden
OL Roy Mbaeteka
OL GarrettMcGhin
CB Harrison Hand
CB Darren Evans
S Trenton Thompson
DB Nate Meadors
TE Austin Allen
OLB Chuck Wiley (former Raven, per The Athletic)

Note: The Athletic's Ravens beat writer reported that safety Tony Jefferson is planning to join the Giants practice squad, so it remains to be seen which of the 16 players previously reported as being destined for the Giants practice squad is dropped or if he replaces Chuck Wiley, who is reportedly joining the practice squad.

Ravens wanted S Tony Jefferson back but sounds like he’s joining Giants.
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) August 31, 2022

Head coach Brian Daboll said the ide with the practice squad is to create a balance of developmental players and guys who would be ready to call up if there was an emergency.

"You always want guys that you can if you need them – or if something happens or somebody gets sick – that you can put right on (the active roster), and they’re ready to go," he said.

"But you’re also trying to develop your team for the long run, too. So, do what you need to do now, but have good young players that you can work with and develop and have skillsets that you covet. That’s a constant thing. You’ll see probably a bunch of workouts most Tuesdays here to see who can upgrade us or switch a guy in, switch a guy out. But the way it’s set up now, it’s good to have both."

Players Not at Practice

Per The Athletic, the following players were not at practice

TE Tanner Hudson
OL Max Garcia
DL Nick Williams
LB Blake Martinez
LB Austin Calitro
LB Azeez Ojulari (
OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux

Hudson, Garcia, Williams and Calitro were procedural cuts, as described above. Martinez was excused for personal reasons. Ojulari (calf) and Thibodeaux (knee) are rehabbing their respective injuries.

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