Jason Pinnock’s return to the Giants hinges on a pending physical

jason pinnock spent last season in San Francisco, appearing in all 17 games and making seven starts, after three seasons in New York that turned him into a familiar figure in the Giants’ secondary. Now, that loop may be closing. The New York Giants have agreed to terms with safety Jason Pinnock, with the deal pending a physical.

Jason Pinnock and the shape of a second Giants stint

The move puts Jason Pinnock back with a team where he logged his most sustained run of playing time. From 2022–24, he played in 46 games with 37 starts for the Giants. That stretch included one of the signature plays attached to his name: a 102-yard interception return for a touchdown for the Giants in 2023, a distance tied for the longest interception return in franchise history.

That 102-yard mark sits alongside a small list of Giants history. On Oct. 15, 1961, Erich Barnes intercepted a pass at Dallas and returned it 102 yards for a score. Pinnock’s return became the third in Giants history of at least 100 yards, joining Henry Carr’s 101-yard touchdown at the L. A. Rams on Nov. 13, 1966.

The agreement comes with one clear condition: it is pending a physical. Until that hurdle is cleared, the return remains an agreement in waiting rather than a finished transaction. Still, the direction is plain in the terms themselves—New York and Pinnock are lining up again after a year apart.

From San Francisco to New York: the free-agency turn

Pinnock’s year away was spent with the San Francisco 49ers, where he appeared in all 17 games and made seven starts. Another accounting of his 2025 season in San Francisco puts his regular-season totals at 41 combined tackles, with one for a loss. He arrived there after three seasons with the Giants and did not miss time in the lineup, taking the field every week.

His path to this point has moved through multiple franchises since he entered the league. Pinnock entered the NFL as a fifth-round draft choice by the Jets in 2021, selected out of the University of Pittsburgh. Before the draft, he appeared in 42 games across four years (2017–20) at Pittsburgh. After a rookie season in New York, he joined the Giants for the 2022 season, building the three-year stretch that now frames his return.

One description of the deal characterizes him as an unrestricted free agent, underscoring the timing and mechanism of the move. Another frames it simply: a former 49ers safety is signing with the Giants. Either way, the personnel change links two recent chapters—San Francisco last year, and New York before that—into a single line that points back to the NFC East.

New York Giants history meets Jason Pinnock’s career numbers

Pinnock’s career totals offer a snapshot of what New York is bringing back. His overall career numbers include 263 total tackles, with 13 for loss, along with 11 passes defensed and 11 quarterback hits. He has 6. 5 sacks, five forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and two interceptions—one of them the 102-yard touchdown return that remains a statistical tie to the 1961 play by Barnes.

Another set of career figures lists him at 75 games with 46 starts, totaling 268 tackles with 13 for loss, and the same 6. 5 sacks. That accounting also includes 11 passes defensed, five forced fumbles, and two interceptions, again highlighting the 102-yard return in the 2023 season. Across both summaries, the same outline emerges: a safety with extended starting experience, a record of involvement near the line of scrimmage, and one play that stands out not only in a season but in the franchise record book.

For the Giants, the reunion is as much about familiarity as it is about a stat line. Pinnock started 37 games in New York from 2022–24, then went to San Francisco and started seven more while appearing every week. Now the agreement—pending a physical—sets up the possibility that he resumes his place in a defensive backfield where his name already carries history, measured in yards that still match the longest return the franchise has ever recorded.

If the physical clears, the next chapter returns to where the recent one began: with jason pinnock again in Giants colors, his 2023 102-yard interception run still sitting beside Barnes’ 1961 return and Carr’s 1966 sprint in the team’s record book.