Giants’ depth chart screams for QB selection in draft

Pirates surge past Indiana St. with late run

The Giants’ most productive and efficient quarterback of their dismal 2023 offensive season left in free agency and signed with the Jets.

In Tyrod Taylor’s place, GM Joe Schoen signed recent Seahawks backup Drew Lock, who has 64 fewer career game appearances, 35 fewer starts and only six fewer career interceptions than Taylor.

So Brian Daboll’s quarterback room leading into this month’s draft is Daniel Jones, coming off a second serious neck injury and a torn right ACL, Lock and Tommy DeVito. That’s it.

That’s Daboll’s quarterback room entering a likely make-or-break season for the third-year coach. That is Schoen’s quarterback room as the third-year GM aims to show progress, which must start on the offensive side of the ball.

Here is what they lost: Tyrod Taylor, 34: 47.7 QBR, 11 games, five starts, 2-3 record, 64.4% completion, 1,341 passing yards, five

TDs, three INTs, 17 sacks, 8.6 sack %, 197 rushing yards, four fumbles. Career: 92 games, 58 starts, 28-28-1 record, 61.7% completion, 65 TDs, 29 INTs, 9.3 sack %

Here is what they gained: Drew Lock, 27: 44.1 QBR, four games, two starts, 1-1 record, 63.2% completion, 543 passing yards, three TDs, three INTs, six sacks, 7.3 sack %, 14 rushing yards, no fumbles. Career: 28 games, 23 starts, 9-14 record, 59.7% completion, 28 TDs, 23 INTs, 4.7 sack %

Here are the other two QBs in the building:

Daniel Jones, 26: 36.3 QBR, six games, six starts, 1-5 record, 67.5% completion, 909 passing yards, two TDs, six INTs, 30 sacks, 15.8 sack %, 206 rushing yards, one rushing TD, four fumbles. Career: 60 games, 59 starts, 22-36-1 record, 64.3% completion, 62 TDs, 40 INTs, 8.6 sack %

Tommy DeVito, 25: 23.7 QBR, nine games, six starts, 3-3 record, 64% completion, 1,101 passing yards, eight TDs, three INTs, 37 sacks, 17.2 sack %, 195 rushing yards, one rushing TD, two fumbles

Taylor was PFF’s 23rd-rated quarterback for the 2023 season. Jones was 33rd. DeVito was 34th.

This is a harsh reality worth reiterating, with the Giants’ needy roster and distance from the top three picks creating a possible scenario in which they do not draft a quarterback at No. 6 overall.

It is a harsh reality worth highlighting in bright, bold, flashing letters if necessary because the Giants may need a receiver, a tight end, a corner, an offensive lineman and a defensive tackle – just to name a few.

But no one rookie at any of those positions will swing this season’s projected 6.5-win total dramatically. And if Daboll doesn’t get a promising, developmental quarterback into his building now, it is likely he never will.

Jones’ contract keeps him on the roster for at least one more season here in 2024, so at the very least, Schoen and Daboll have the opportunity to go the Green Bay route: Draft a QB who can develop and compete behind Jones until he’s ready.

This might not be a situation where the Giants could keep a rookie on the bench for years – or even months – as the Packers did with both Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love in their 2008 and 2023 succession plans.

But there is a clear need, let alone an appeal, for the Giants to get their next quarterback in the building and in the offense, even if he needs some time.

“That’s a good question,” Daboll said last week, when asked if he’d ideally like to do things the Packers’ way at QB. “I think it’s different. I think it just depends where you are at and who you have. Obviously if you can have two quarterbacks or three quarterbacks in 30 years or whatever it is, it certainly seems ideal to me. You have Brett (Favre), and you have Aaron and … Sign me up for that, if you can have three quarterbacks in 30 years.”

It can’t be overstated that Giants co-owner John Mara said he supports this scenario at the owners meetings.

“Why not let them both compete? Let them both compete and let the better man win,” Mara said of Jones and a hypothetical rookie QB. “We do have confidence in Daniel. But if you have a chance to bring in another quarterback and your head coach and the general manager have a conviction about him, you go ahead and do it.”

Nobody is ignoring that Schoen’s offensive line barely gave Jones a chance last season. The GM also paid the QB a four-year, $160 million extension one year ago, so it’s valid to at least argue he already made his choice at quarterback.

“There’s no exact science” to scouting and picking quarterbacks, as Daboll said, but he added: “I love doing it. I love evaluating quarterbacks. I love meeting with the quarterbacks. It’s an awesome position to work with, and it’s a really fun position to evaluate.”

And there’s a reason Schoen, Daboll and the Giants are evaluating this class’ QBs closely: They don’t just want one. They need one.

Dre Davis scored on a layup with 16 seconds left Thursday night to cap Seton Hall’s decisive late run, giving the Pirates a 79-77 victory over Indiana State and their first NIT championship since 1953.

Seton Hall (25-12) scored the final nine points in a battle between two No. 1 seeds to erase a 77-70 deficit. Davis finished with 18 points in Indianapolis, his hometown. Al-Amir Dawes led the Pirates with 24 points and Kadary Richmond scored 21 points to go with 13 rebounds at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Dawes was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player as coach Shaheen Holloway put together another successful postseason run in Indianapolis. He led Saint Peter’s into the NCAA Tournament’s Elite 8 with wins over Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue two years ago before returning to his alma mater.

Isaiah Swope scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half to lead the

Sycamores (32-7), who fell one win short of claiming their first national postseason title since the 1950 NAIA championship and one win short of the school’s single-season record set by the 1978-79 NCAA Tournament runnerups led by Hall of Famer Larry Bird.

Julian Larry scored 18 points with a career-high four 3 pointers and six assists. Jayson Kent and Robbie Avila each scored 13 points.

Indiana State’s frenzied home-state crowd, clad largely in the school’s powder blue and alternate royal blue, was ready to celebrate when Swope’s 3 gave the Sycamores a 77-70 lead with 2:50 to go.

But Seton Hall pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

A’S TO PLAY IN SACRAMENTO

The Athletics will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor-league park near Sacramento until their planned new stadium in Las Vegas is built.

The A’s announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time.

It is in an area where new restaurants, bars and apartment complexes have opened up in recent years and is about a mile from the state Capitol and the NBA arena where the Kings play. The stadium has 10,624 fixed seats and can currently hold 14,014 fans with lawn seating and standing room.

CLARK TOP PLAYER AGAIN

Caitlin Clark is capping her illustrious college career with another record-breaking season and another set of prestigious awards.

The star guard from Iowa was honored Thursday as The Associated Press Player of the Year in women’s basketball for the second consecutive year.

Clark received 35 votes from the 36-member national media panel. Cameron Brink of Stanford received the other vote.