TAKING IN THE
Next franchise QB on table until proven otherwise
Just because Joe Schoen shot down a report that the Giants had buyer’s remorse on Daniel Jones doesn’t mean that they won’t be drafting their next franchise quarterback come Thursday night.
Just because Schoen, armed with the sixth pick and exploring a move higher for a franchise quarterback he might love, tells us that the Giants have other needs doesn’t mean that he won’t try to find his own franchise quarterback.
“I think we’re not one player away or two players,” he said.
Just because Schoen says he expects Jones to be his starter when healthy doesn’t mean a rookie franchise quarterback couldn’t be developed until he is deemed ready.
Just because Schoen says that he doesn’t feel as if he needs or wants to add to his quarterback room after signing Drew Lock as the backup doesn’t mean he will turn a blind eye to drafting one.
“I think with Drew’s experience, he has started games and played, and Daniel’s experience. And what Tommy [DeVito] did last year, another year in the system, Tommy’s come a long way.
“No, I think we could go into the season with the three that we have and be comfortable with that.”
This was Bills GM Brandon Beane prior to trading up for Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL draft:
“You’ve got to have a franchise quarterback. That’s one of the main jobs of a GM. To find a franchise quarterback, it’s a quarterback league. I’ll say it every single time, you have to have one.”
Schoen was Beane’s assistant at the time.
Schoen was in his second season as Giants GM when Beane said this to Albert Breer of SI.com before the 2023 NFL Draft:
“It’s a quarterback league. It’s the most important position in all sports, and you either got one or you don’t. That was one of the underlying issues with this organization for 17 years of not making the playoffs. Jim Kelly’s run ends, and they were never able to find the franchise guy. Sean [McDermott] and I knew, coming in here, first and foremost, ‘We have to find and identify who can be a franchise quarterback.’ ”
Just because the Giants signed Jones to a contract with a palatable escape hatch following the 2024 season doesn’t mean it is etched in stone that the Danny Dimes Era will come to an inevitable end.
It doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be renting either.
Actions speak louder than words and Schoen and his scouts and coaches and personnel people haven’t been diligently researching the 2024 Quarterback Class just for practice.
“At 6,” Schoen said, “it’s important to keep things close to the vest.”
This is a bountiful receivers crop. Three are considered elite. If Schoen trades down, he risks a losing one of them. This is also an impressive quarterback class.
“Really haven’t seen a class like that with some of the quarterbacks that have started and played as many games as they have at a high level,” Schoen said.
Jones has been hit by The Perfect Storm of a pair of neck injuries — one a stinger — and a torn ACL, and organizational dysfunction highlighted by an offensive line that has had him running for his life and the absence of a No. 1 receiver.
His inability to stay on the field last season would give any franchise pause.
It put a halt to Brian Daboll’s hope that Jones could ascend in the second year in the same offense and maybe grow into Josh Allen Lite.
To his credit, he has honored the responsibility of the franchise quarterback and is easy to root for. If you are one of the faithful who does not have buyer’s remorse concerning Eli Manning’s successor, then you will be rooting for The Perfect Storm of a competent offensive line to keep him out of harm’s way plus a Marvin Harrison Jr. or a Rome Odunze or a Malik Nabers to make it considerably easier on him to get his team in the end zone for a change.
“We have to score more,” Schoen said. “At the end of the day, we need to score more points. Adding, if it’s a No. 1 receiver, whatever you want to call it, just a better receiving weapon is going to help everybody.”
Mostly the quarterback. Whomever that may be.