Shortly after the 2023 NFL draft concluded, Bryce Ford-Wheaton’s phone blew up. He received immediate calls from Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, who were trying to convince him to join their teams.
“It was like recruiting,” Ford-Wheaton said, via The Athletic. “It was like you had to sign right then. You get 30 seconds to choose where you were going.”
Ford-Wheaton chose neither the Seahawks nor the Eagles. Instead, he chose to sign with the New York Giants largely because of the bond he built with head coach Brian Daboll during the pre-draft process. And because of his friendship with Giants wide receiver David Sills.
“I talked to (Daboll) for a long time,” Ford-Wheaton said, adding he had a top-30 visit with the Giants. “My phone was blowing up while I was on the phone with him. I was sending everybody else to voicemail because in my head I was already like, ‘This is where I want to go.'”
The Pittsburgh Steelers had also hosted Ford-Wheaton on a top-30 visit (his only other top-30), but they didn’t come calling after the draft. Even if they had, the 23-year-old had already made up his mind. He wanted to be a Giant and that dream came to fruition.
The Giants signed Ford-Wheaton to an undrafted free agent contract worth $236,000 guaranteed. It also included a $20,000 signing bonus, which is on the high side for such contracts.
“I already felt good about the Giants, because I had already met them,” Ford-Wheaton said. “I had already learned a couple installs with them and kind of got tested. The determining factor was I had David Sills, one of my old teammates, up there. He’s done what I’m trying to do right now.”
Ford-Wheaton knows he faces an uphill battle for playing time as a rookie and perhaps he could have earned more elsewhere, but Daboll’s coaching style appealed to him. There’s an honesty and openness about Daboll that appeals to players and Ford-Wheaton is no exception.
“He’s just a real honest, up-front dude. He’s just real blunt,” the rookie said. “He’s not going to sit here and lie in your face. I was asking him what he saw my role being, and he just straight up said my role is going to be whatever I make it. I knew that he doesn’t care about where you get drafted or when. He cares more about what you’re about to do and how you’re going to produce. The best man is going to play. The proof is in the pudding.”
Ford-Wheaton is a remarkably athletic specimen but inconsistency has plagued him. It’s the reason he went undrafted as opposed to the middle rounds, and it’s why he’ll start his professional career on the bottom rung. But playing for Daboll puts him in a position to carve a new path and he will be in charge of how it plays out.
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