Giant OC wants strong, silent type of QB

MBeckham.

“He came up to the room, we had a nice visit, probably about three days into the job for me,” Shula said. “You know, God, he’s such an explosive player. We’ve watched what everyone else has seen what he can do on the field, and I’m really looking forward to being able to work with a guy like that. What you see on the field, and talking to the guys that have had to defend him at Carolina, and just how explosive he is and how he can get the ball in the ike Shula changed into shorts and a team-issued T-shirt for a workout recently at the Giants’ facility in East Rutherford, and as he walked into the gym he passed a mirror and did a double-take at the logo on his chest.

It’s really happening, he thought. I’m really coaching for the New York Giants.

Shula is football royalty, the son of the great Hall of Famer Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history with 347 career victories, two Miami Dolphins Super Bowls (1972, 73) and the only undefeated team in league history, at 17-0 in 1972, to his name.

But Mike Shula, 52, the Giants’ new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, comes off more as a grounded everyman than any privileged son of one of the all-time best. He walks with a quiet confidence and speaks assuredly and relatably, a lot like the head coach who hired him, Pat Shurmur.

And that’s pertinent because Shula essentially has been running point on the Giants’ search for a potential franchise quarterback in this month’s NFL Draft (he often has to take those workouts in East Rutherford out on the road). And he and Shurmur seem to share not only certain qualities as coaches but opinions on what’s important in a QB. end zone.”

The question is whether Shula and Shurmur will get that chance.

It remains unknown whether other NFL teams are in trade discussions with the Giants on Beckham and also if Beckham intends to report for Monday’s start of optional offseason workouts in East Rutherford, where Shurmur said he’d prefer to see his entire team in attendance.

If Beckham doesn’t show, the drama will continue to escalate up to the club’s voluntary minicamp

“What’s their personality? What’s their demeanor like?” Shula said of what he’ll try to learn from quarterbacks Josh Allen (Wyoming), Josh Rosen (UCLA), Sam Darnold (USC) and Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma) in private visits to the Giants’ facility next week. “You can talk a little football. We’ve seen them workout now. Just re-establish that relationship.”

Now granted, Shula for the past seven years has coached a pretty good quarterback with a strong personality — maybe you’ve heard of him: Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers. Talent trumps all. So if the Giants feel one of these QBs is clearly above the rest and he’s available when they pick second overall, they are expected to take him.

But to me, the quarterbacks’ personalities, their demeanors, their fit as people with both Shurmur and Shula are extremely significant, partly because I believe that’s important to these two men, and partly because there seems to be a type of player — not just QB — that the Giants have brought in this offseason.

Nate Solder, Alec Ogletree, Kareem Martin, Michael Thomas, Jonathan Stewart: these April 24-26 leading into the NFL Draft, and if Beckham doesn’t report to the camp, it will drag into the opening night of the draft.

Tyke Tolbert, the Giants’ new wide receivers coach who knows Beckham and his family well, was one of a few Giants assistants not available to talk on Wednesday since he was on the road working out players.

But Shula said, honestly, the coaches haven’t had enough time to worry about the Beckham trade talks and reports because they’ve are all guys who lead, love football, and carry themselves with quiet confidence as players.

No position sets the tone of a team more than its QB. And so, if GM Dave Gettleman and Shurmur and Shula are consistent with this philosophy when they evaluate QBs, this is probably a differentiating factor that sheds some light on what direction they might lean.

Start with this: Davis Webb, the rising second-year QB already in the building, feels like the kind of committed worker, born leader Shurmur and Shula would love.

The lack of NFL game tape on Webb may force the Giants to draft a quarterback at No. 2 anyway, for fear of the unknown. Shula even admitted he hasn’t quite gotten a handle on Webb yet since the coach has been on the road so frequently. He reiterated the Giants’ pre-draft minicamp from April 24-26 is an important three days.

“It’s been a little bit harder for me to evaluate Davis,” Shula admitted. “Just getting here so late and then as soon as I got here, we’ve been at the Combine, we’ve been on the road. I’ve looked at him, I got a chance to meet him in the cafeteria and I’m looking forward to

Sbeen intensely focused on the draft.

“I kind of learned over the years to try to avoid the swirls and just kind of focus in on the things that I’m responsible for and at the time, I’m responsible for doing that,” Shula said. “And right now, it’s just helping the Giants to get ready for the draft and learning the offense and coming together as an offensive staff and then together as a full staff. So, we really don’t have as much time – I hate to say it like that, but right now we’ve been focused in on those things in the immediate future.” finding out what he’s about.”

If the Giants do draft a QB, though, the humble-but-impressive Allen and the easygoing-yet-driven Darnold feel like they could fit the profile of what Shurmur and Shula value most. Allen, in particular, feels like an intriguing personality fit to go with his impressive physical skills. Shurmur said at the league meetings that Allen is “tough” and “competitive,” both traits he admires in a QB.

And Allen at the NFL Combine clearly felt Shurmur was a great fit for him: “I’d want to play for him because he just had this kind of silent vibe to him,” Allen told the Daily News.

That said, this doesn’t mean the more vibrant personalities of Rosen and Mayfield will be turnoffs, either. Rosen looks like the best pure passer in the draft and could be born for the New York market, while Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy for a reason. o ultimately, there isn’t yet clarity on which QB the Giants covet or if there are any they view as worthy of the No. 2 pick. They do, however, have the luxury of studying them all and likely having their pick of the entire group, save one.

Remember: this isn’t just about which quarterback they’ll pick; it’s also about who’s picking the quarterback.