Giants add former Jets hero to bring speed to rival's WR depth chart

Billy Heyen

Giants add former Jets hero to bring speed to rival's WR depth chart image

The New York Giants picked up a waiver claim who doesn't have to go far.

Cut from the New York Jets earlier this week, Xavier Gipson is now the newest Giants player.

The Giants claimed Gipson off waivers on Thursday, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

The Jets cut Xavier Gipson because of a fumble.

They held a two-point lead on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday when Gipson began to return a kickoff.

MORE: This new Shedeur Sanders rumor misses the entire point of his Browns rookie season

He had the ball knocked loose, and the Steelers recovered, and a couple plays later they were in the end zone again for the lead. Pittsburgh went on to win.

"His fumble on Sunday was a killer mistake," ESPN's Rich Cimini wrote on X. "Aaron Glenn said he wouldn’t tolerate those kind of blunders, and so he makes a statement with this not-so-surprising move."

It's a potential gain for the Giants, though.

Gipson was a hero for the Jets long before he had that blunder.

In the 2023 season opener, Gipson returned an overtime punt 65 yards for a walk-off touchdown.

MORE: Jayden Daniels is NFL's first Japanese quarterback in nearly 100 years

In his career, Gipson has 27 catches for 268 yards and a touchdown, and he has also run nine times for 73 yards and another score.

Gipson has 604 career punt return yards and 1,142 career kick return yards.

The Giants have Gunner Olszewski atop their return depth charts. Gipson is certainly more explosive than him.

New York can likely also find some gadget-type plays to incorporate Gipson into the offense.

Hopefully he didn't go far, because he gets to stay almost exactly right where he was.

MORE NFL NEWS:

Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle