New York Giants Officially Release Veteran Pass Rusher

The New York Giants’ search for immediate edge-rush depth after Brian Burns’ season-ending ACL tear brought them full circle with a familiar name, but the reunion lasted barely three weeks.

On Tuesday, the team released veteran linebacker Jihad Ward, who had been elevated from the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad in late September, per Mike Garafolo of NFL media.

The move ends a second stint in East Rutherford that produced only one tackle across two appearances and roughly 41 defensive snaps.

Ward’s return made practical sense on paper. At 32, the former second-round pick offered size, experience, and schematic familiarity: he played for head coach John Harbaugh during two seasons in Baltimore and for defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson last year in Tennessee, where he recorded five sacks.

From 2022 to 2023, he had already logged 34 games with the Giants, contributing eight sacks while serving as a rotational presence capable of lining up on the edge or sliding inside.

With Burns out, the organization needed bodies who could absorb snaps without a steep learning curve. Ward filled that role for the Week 5 tie against Washington and the Week 6 home loss to New Orleans, yet the production never materialized beyond that solitary tackle.

In a league where roster spots are scarce and special-teams value often decides the margins, the limited impact proved decisive. Ward logged four additional special-teams snaps across the two games but did not separate himself in a crowded defensive front.

The Giants have now returned to a primary edge tandem of Kayvon Thibodeaux and rookie Abdul Carter, with the remaining depth chart expected to absorb the remaining workload.

For a team still evaluating its defensive identity under Harbaugh and Wilson, the quick exit underscores a willingness to cycle through short-term options rather than commit extended playing time to a player whose recent output did not justify the investment.

Ward’s career has long been defined by movement. Across 138 games and seven franchises he has amassed 200 tackles and 24 sacks, the résumé of a reliable but rarely indispensable rotational piece.

His 2019-2020 stretch in Baltimore produced four sacks and useful pass-rush pressure; his earlier Giants tenure showed he could contribute in spurts.

Those flashes simply did not reappear in October 2026. At this stage of the season, the Giants appear content to move forward without him, prioritizing whatever combination of youth, scheme fit, and remaining depth can stabilize the edge opposite Thibodeaux and Carter.

The transaction is unlikely to alter the Giants’ larger defensive outlook on its own. Burns’ absence remains the more significant hole, and Ward’s brief return never threatened to become the solution.

Instead, it served as a reminder of how quickly midseason roster additions can cycle out when snaps fail to translate into impact.

For Big Blue, the focus now shifts fully to the players who remain on the active roster as they attempt to generate consistent pressure without one of their original offseason anchors.