The Giants may have landed a late-opening option as they search for help after losing Calvin Austin III for the season.
Cleveland released wide receiver Cedric Tillman ahead of its preseason finale against the New England Patriots, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The move is a surprise on its own, but the timing gives New York a chance to take a hard look at a player who just became available at exactly the right moment.
Austin signed a one-year deal “worth up to” $4.5 million in March and was expected to handle a major role as the Giants’ primary slot receiver. With his torn ACL ending that plan before the season even begins, New York suddenly has a hole to fill. Tillman isn’t a direct match for Austin’s game, but he does give the Giants another name to consider when options are thin.
That’s the bigger issue here: there just aren’t many appealing receivers left on the open market this late in the offseason, and finding a meaningful trade upgrade with Week 1 looming is no easy task. At minimum, the Giants should do their homework on Tillman.
His 2025 season got off track early when a hamstring injury sent him to injured reserve, and his role never really recovered. Tillman went from being an every-down starter to fading into a part-time piece after he returned.
Still, there’s a reason he once looked like a player worth betting on. Cleveland took Tillman in the third round in 2023, and he flashed again when the Browns moved five-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper to the Buffalo Bills in 2024. In the first three games after that trade, Tillman produced at a level that put him near the top of the wide receiver leaderboard in several key Pro Football Focus categories.
The important part is that it wasn’t just one big afternoon padding the numbers. Tillman was steady across that stretch, going for at least six catches and 75 yards in each of those three games. A hot run followed by a concussion ended that momentum for the rest of the season.
At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, Tillman would give New York another big target on the outside. He has shown he can win contested catches with strong hands and physical play. He doesn’t replace Austin cleanly, but the combination of size and upside makes him worth a look.
There’s also a familiar thread here. Tillman and Austin overlapped at Tennessee from 2020 through 2022 and entered the NFL together as back-to-back picks, with Austin going one spot ahead of Tillman. Now the Giants are trying to solve one problem, and the player who came right after Austin in that draft could suddenly be part of the answer.
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