New York Giants tight end Theo Johnson made news on the evening of January 2, as his appearance at the New York Knicks game reignited tanking theories.
“Theo Johnson here at MSG for the Knicks game,” New York Post reporter Jared Schwartz noted on X, including a photo of the NYG tight end sitting courtside with a big smile. Schwartz went on to remind fans that Johnson is “out for Sunday’s Giants game with an illness…”
Johnson missed Week 17 with the same undisclosed illness, despite looking very happy and healthy at Madison Square Garden. And as Schwartz pointed out, the rising playmaker has also been ruled out for the season finale against the Dallas Cowboys.
Although it’s hard to prove that Johnson isn’t under the weather, hitting the Knicks game while recovering from a two-week “illness” is obviously a bad look, especially with the season ending in a few days.
Johnson could have just waited until next week to see the Knicks, or battled through his illness to suit up in Week 18. He did neither, fueling the rumors that the Big Blue front office is doing everything in its power to move up the draft order.
Giants Briefly Silenced Tanking Rumors Up Until Theo Johnson-Knicks News
After beating the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 17, the Giants managed to quell speculation that they were tanking — or purposefully losing — to secure the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft. But it’s possible that the Raiders just did a better job of putting their franchise in a position to lose.
Before the game last weekend, the Giants and the Raiders’ organizations both ruled out one player after another, seemingly matching one another move for move.
The public chess match put both teams under the microscope, as tanking is considered to be illegal, but in the end, the Giants came out a winner.
The victory gives the G-Men a sort of “get out of jail free card” if the NFL were to investigate them, which is unlikely. But Johnson’s eyebrow-raising move puts them back in the spotlight unnecessarily.
At the very least, someone from the Giants’ organization should sit down Johnson before his exit interview. Even if Big Blue isn’t trying to tank, the young tight end has to realize that if he’s ruled out with an illness, public outings like the Knicks game are off the table.
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