Giants 2025 UFA Primer: WR/PR Ihmir Smith-Marsette

The New York Giants’ quest for a viable kick and punt return tandem for their mediocre special teams department has rotated through many faces in the last five seasons, with little luck in the end. 

That was until punt return man Ihmir Smith-Marsette arrived, who found a way to relight a spark in the team’s third phase and even become an impact player in both types of returns to at least fill one-half of the equation. 

Smith-Marsette, a local kid from Newark, New Jersey, arrived in East Rutherford on September 9, 2024, when he signed a one-year, $1.055 million contract with the Giants. 

He was quickly thrown into the mix after Gunner Olszewski suffered a groin injury, which placed him on injured reserve for the entire year and ended their initial plan for the position. 

Smith-Marsette was a four-year player at the University of Iowa, where he offered his services as both a wide receiver and a return weapon for the Hawkeyes. In three of those seasons, he amassed at least 345 yards and two touchdowns and returned a whopping 503 yards and two scores on kickoff returns during the 2019 campaign. 

The 25-year-old was selected in the fifth round of the 2021 draft by the Minnesota Vikings, where his role switched to mostly special teams duties. However, he only saw limited reps in five games over his first two seasons as he spent time with two other teams–the Chiefs and Bears–and couldn’t establish himself as a threat. 

That was until the 2023 season in Carolina when he was one of the Panthers’ main punt returners and gave them 37 returns for 322 yards and an average of 8.7 yards with a touchdown. 

He went unsigned during the 2024 offseason, but the Giants picked him up as a potential replacement for Olszewski, a move that would ultimately benefit the franchise. 

With Smith-Marsette displaying his talents in kickoff and punt returns, New York discovered they might finally have an answer to their special team woes, which have plagued the rest of the team's success. 

The only thing is whether they can fit him into other areas of the team, as the impending fifth-year energizer has bigger plans about how he wants to impact an NFL team moving forward.

2024 Recap

The Giants' return efforts were miserable in the first couple of weeks of the season without Olszewski. They had no production in the punt return realm in their first two losses to Minnesota and Washington, and the kick return game was off to a shaky start with running back Eric Gray, who has his cases of muffed balls. 

That is where Smith-Marsette would join the scene in Week 3 and slowly turn things around for the Giants’ special teams operations. He played in every game from that point and only had two where he didn’t leave a fingerprint on the final result. 

While he didn’t always handle kickoff returns with Gray by his side, Smith-Marsette did have four contests where he tallied at least 49 yards on eight total attempts. Those included two 100-yard outings in Weeks 8 and 17, the latter against the Indianapolis Colts when he took a second-half opening kickoff the distance for his lone touchdown of the season in the Giants 45-33 win.

On the punting side, he had more opportunities to make a difference but ran into roadblocks with a suspect protection team by the Giants. He has three returns that go for 22+ yards in Weeks 4, 13, and 18, respectively and nine games with at least two returns attached to his day. 

Overall, Smith-Marsette finished the season with 40 total returns and a 74.6 return grade, ranked 11th best in the league and fifth in the NFC. He led the team in punt returns with 228 yards and an average of 7.9 per attempt but trailed Gray (554) in kickoffs with 381 yards despite a team-high average of 34.6 yards per carry. 

It was his most productive campaign in the NFL in terms of special teams, but his receiving work was limited for the duration of his stint.

Why the Giants Should Keep Him

The value that Smith Marsette brought to the Giants is something they haven’t received from any of their previous attempts at a return man since Dwayne Harris, who contributed to both sides of the unit from 2015-17 for lackluster teams in East Rutherford.  

In previous seasons, the Giants might have danced with a player amassing the production that he did, but injuries would always take their toll and ruin that. Smith-Marsette was always available and knew where to take the football to give the team an advantage with solid field position. 

Smith-Marsette’s numbers improved as the year went on, and he became a more reliable weapon for ball security. He had seven games on kicker returns in which he averaged at least 21 yards per attempt and three double-digit returns on the punting side of things. 

He also proved that he could flash some wheels and take the ball to the house if he got good blocks and found the right hole to burst through. He almost had two of them this season, the first called back by a holding penalty against the Saints in Week 14, and the second was the first 100-yard return the Giants had since Harris notched one in the 2017 season. 

Smith-Marsette might earn some additional looks on the open market, but he has a hometown product and would probably like to stay in New Jersey with the team he grew up watching. The Giants can return him at a very team-friendly price and have a capable option back in 2025 instead of playing the carousel game trying to find that guy. 

Why the Giants Shouldn’t Keep Him

Smith-Marsette has made it known that he would like to return to the Giants in 2025. However, he has ideas for expanding his role on an NFL roster that the Giants might not agree with. 

Earlier this season, Smith-Marsette told New York Giants On SI that he wants to get involved with the receiving game. He has barely notched any receptions at the NFL level, just 14 for 182 yards and two touchdowns, which he scored in his rookie year with the Minnesota Vikings. 

Still, with his speed and shiftiness, he thinks he could make a positive addition to the wide receiver position and believes his athletic identity goes beyond that of just a special teams ace. 

The question is whether the Giants agree with that vision and can make it work in their offensive huddle that already features heavy hitters like Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson. 

There could be room if Darius Slayton walks in free agency and Jalin Hyatt’s future is uncertain, but the Giants are likely to replace the former with a more experienced player in return. 

If Smith-Marsette is determined to be a receiver next season, and it means he seeks a little more money that the Giants don’t want to commit to, then they may seek a new returner, and the veteran may seek out his next team elsewhere. 

Potential Replacement

Free Agent: Mecole Hardman, Kansas City Chiefs

It almost seems unlikely that the defending Super Bowl champions would let anyone walk out their door if they once again claim the NFL’s crown next month. With a loaded wide receivers room and other options they’ve developed this season, Mecole Hardman may slip away from the Chiefs. 

Hardman is a seven-year veteran with good experience as a return man. He’s contributed to both kickoff and punt returns in his two stints with Kansas City, including a career-high 27 attempts for 704 yards and a touchdown with a long of 104 yards in his rookie season.

Along with that feat, Hardman has had four seasons with at least 157 yards and a long of 36 in punt operations. He is as speedy and nifty as Ihmir Smith-Marsette has been but is a piece that can better jump into receiving work as well, given his resume that features 178 catches for 2,302 yards and 16 touchdowns in that seven-year window.

Hardman’s average contract value sits at $1,125,000 at the end of the 2024 season, and while he’s coming off an injury, he could be coaxed to New York for a second time (he spent the 2023 season with the Jets) and make an impact if he stays on the field. 

Keep or Dump?

In today’s NFL, finding that kickoff or punt return specialist who can potentially flip the script of a game with one move is hard to come by. 

The Giants have struggled for a few years to find a player who fits that niche of being a solid return man, and they found traces of it late in the season with Smith-Marsette. 

He made a few big plays to help the team get a good field position and compete late in the season, which is a good building block for next season when the offense will hopefully be improved and healthier. 

Smith-Marsette is also a hometown kid, and that’s always a good story to have in your locker room, as the Giants learned with Tommy DeVito during his magical three-game run in the 2023 season. 

His game isn’t broken, so if the Giants were smart, they would bring him back and keep an experienced player there, as it seems like Olszewski’s time has passed him by.

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