The New York Giants took a significant step backward in 2023, seeing their record drop from 9-7-1 in the first season of a new front-office regime to just 6-11 in the second year. They finished with the NFL's sixth-worst record, and thus own the No. 6 overall pick in this month's NFL Draft.
The Giants have been connected to players at several positions with that pick, but one of the hot rumors has been that the team could look to make a move up the board to grab a quarterback.
Last offseason, the Giants handed Daniel Jones a massive four-year, $160 million contract following his improved performance in 2022, and he almost immediately regressed to the player he had been previously as the offensive line and skill-position corps collapsed around him. Jones is now coming off a torn ACL, and given that his athleticism is easily his biggest strength, that's especially concerning. He still has three years left on his deal, and it would still cost the Giants a bunch of dead money to cut ties with him even after the 2024 season, but that is starting to look more and more likely.
Still, Giants GM Joe Schoen has seen those rumors; and while he didn't exactly put them to bed, he did indicate that it might not be the direction the team ultimately goes.
"We have multiple needs," Schoen said, via Sports Illustrated. "We are going into Year 3. People assume we're going quarterback, but we have other needs. If the quarterbacks go 1-4, then we're getting the second-best position player, not quarterback, at six, which is OK, too. That player will really help us. Even last year, our quarterback coach was at the C.J. Stroud workout. We spent a lot of time with Will Levis, Anthony Richardson.
"We still spend time with those guys … [and] it's not just for right now, but when they become free agents. Brian Burns, we spent a lot of time with him in the draft process, so you feel comfortable making a trade for a guy. Drew Lock, too. Sam Darnold, [in Buffalo] we spent a ton of time with because that was the Josh [Allen] draft."
Being open to going in a number of different directions is wise, especially given how many holes the Giants have on their roster. But filling those holes only really matters if you have the quarterback to lift your team to success, as we saw with Stroud last year. The Giants don't appear to have that guy on their roster right now. Whether they land him this year or not, they're going to need to find him at some point.
