The New York Giants are bringing edge rusher Jihad Ward back to the active roster, signing him off the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad after Brian Burns suffered a season-ending injury, via NFL insider Tom Pelissero.
The move closes a short loop that returns a familiar defensive piece to a roster suddenly short on edge help.
Ward, 32, spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons in New York on successive one-year contracts before moving on. His return is less a reunion for its own sake than a practical answer to a vacancy.
Burns’ loss removes the Giants’ most productive pass rusher, and Ward’s recent production gives the coaching staff a player who has already worked in the scheme and does not need a long introduction to the meeting room.
The Illinois product has spent a decade circulating through the league since the Raiders took him in the second round of the 2016 draft.
He was in the third year of a four-year, $5.539 million contract when Oakland dealt him to Dallas for receiver Ryan Switzer. The Cowboys waived him after the 2018 preseason.
Stops with the Colts and Ravens followed, including a return to Baltimore in 2020, before he signed with Jacksonville as an unrestricted free agent in 2021. The Giants were next, then a one-year deal with Minnesota for 2024.
Last season offered the clearest recent evidence of what he can still provide. Ward caught on with the Titans and stayed on the active roster for the full year, appearing in all 17 games with 12 starts.
He finished with 31 tackles, five sacks and four pass deflections, a modest but useful line for a rotational edge defender on a one-year arrangement.
Minnesota added him to its practice squad just before the 2026 regular season began, which left him available when New York needed an immediate body.
Practice-squad signings of this kind rarely arrive with long-term expectations. Ward is a veteran depth piece, not a replacement who will match Burns’ snap count or pressure rate.
What he does offer is familiarity, recent starting experience and a track record of contributing in limited roles without a steep learning curve.
For a Giants defense already adjusting its plans around Burns’ absence, that is the relevant calculation.
Whether the signing becomes more than a short-term patch will depend on how the rest of the edge group holds up and how Ward holds up physically at 32.
For now, the move restores a player the building already knows to a roster that no longer has the luxury of waiting on a slower solution.
