It’s unlikely you’ll see a run like this again. Two general managers, three head coaches, four offensive coordinators and parts of six years were handed to Daniel Jones to show he’s a franchise quarterback. He rewarded that big blue leash with a 24-44-1 record, and nothing more than sporadic glimmers of misplaced hope before his benching on Monday.
You can’t fault the Giants for trying, but moving on from Jones was the easiest of GM Joe Schoen’s upcoming decisions. Now, he must find New York’s franchise signal caller.
That’s no easy task. Especially with this upcoming draft.
The Giants played nothing close to the vest as it pertained to what they wanted last offseason. Actions speak louder than words, so while they publicly backed Jones each time they spoke, they spent the months trying everything they could to replace him. Their appearance on HBO’s Hard Knocks cemented that.
Head coach Brian Daboll admitted he wanted to trade up for Jayden Daniels, who went second to the Commanders. Schoen wanted to move to No. 3 with the Patriots to take Drake Maye. Neither worked. They could have selected Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy (Vikings), Washington’s Michael Penix (Falcons) or Oregon’s Bo Nix (Broncos), but instead, after missing out on the Caleb Williams-Daniels-Maye trifecta, they settled for wideout Malik Nabers.
There was a scene in the show where Daboll sat in New York’s board room and read off first-round quarterbacks in recent years. The vast majority picked early struggled and were either out of the league, or on to new teams. Daboll wanted to indicate blindly drafting a quarterback in the first round doesn’t always work. Most times it doesn’t. Alternate methods are sometimes the best methods.
One problem: Williams (less so than the others), Daniels, Maye and Nix all have shown early promise that they are exactly what most believed them to be – franchise quarterbacks. Penix (behind Kirk Cousins) and McCarthy (injured) have not played. Nabers looks to be the elite-level receiver the Giants offense has long lacked, but it means nothing without a quarterback.
The Giants’ thought process: No problem, we’ll get one this year.
The problem: This class isn’t anything like the last one.
“This is not last year,” one NFL general manager told SNY. “Not close.”
We’ll get this out of the way now: Free agency is not an option. Not for the long-term at least. The Giants will certainly pair their rookie-to-be-drafted with a veteran. Sam Darnold is appealing, if the Vikings let him go. Jacoby Brissett (Patriots) and Andy Dalton (Panthers) less so, but they have experience in the bridge role. There’s also Jameis Winston (Browns) and Carson Wentz (Chiefs), but the draft is where New York must go.
The Giants would hold the fifth pick if the draft were held this week. The Jaguars (2-9), Titans (2-8), Browns (2-8) and Raiders (2-8) are in front of them. The Jaguars have played one more game (on their bye this week), but all four teams have a weaker strength of schedule than the Giants (.526). That is the top tie breaker when determining draft order.
Cam Ward (Miami) and Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) are considered the top two options by most. Then you have a mix of Quinn Ewers (Texas), Jalen Milroe (Alabama), Garrett Nussmeier (LSU), and Carson Beck (Georgia) – all of whom fall under the category that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
An assistant general manager SNY touched base with said he had just started his preliminary evaluations, but wasn’t overly impressed. He acknowledged this class, through first pass, is well below that from a season ago. Scouts and others echoed the same to SNY.
“Ward will likely be my top quarterback,” said NBC draft analyst Connor Rogers. “But I don’t think he’s better than Caleb (Williams), Drake Maye, Michael Penix or Jayden Daniels.
“Sanders is an accurate pocket passer, which gives him a good floor, but I don’t think he has the athleticism to escape and make big plays at the NFL level. There are a lot of instances where he just holds the ball too long and takes terrible sacks. He will go in the first round, but I don’t see a future star.”
Last year, the Giants had a choice. Not the case this year. Even if they wished they could punt on 2025, play one year with someone like Darnold, then mortgage every bit of their future to ensure they could draft Arch Manning in 2026, Daboll and Schoen wouldn’t be around for that.
Giants co-owner John Mara gave both Daboll and Schoen a vote of confidence earlier this year. He doesn’t want to make changes, believing stability is the key to turning around a franchise that has just two winning seasons in their last 12 years and has lost double-digit games eight times in that span (2024 will likely be nine).
But the leash for Daboll and Schoen is far shorter than Jones’ ever was. Even if they’re brought back, which is no guarantee even after Mara’s words, they need to find their quarterback to ensure their stay in East Rutherford extends beyond next year.
They have to find him this offseason. That’s not an impossible task.
But far harder considering who they will be picking from.
