Hartford Courant (Sunday)

Proceed with caution

Giants took advantage of desperate Bears with draft deal but must be careful not to become them

- By Pat Leonard

NEW YORK — The Giants fleeced the Bears. Their next goal is to not become the Bears.

Chicago made the expensive trade up for Ohio State quarterbac­k Justin Fields last week because it had clung for four years to former No. 2 pick Mitchell Trubisky at QB.

The Bears’ desperatio­n led them to trade their 2022 first-round pick, a 2021 fifth and a 2022 fourth to swap with the Giants coming up from pick No. 20 to 11.

Dave Gettleman and Joe Judge did well as the beneficiar­ies of Chicago’s dire need. And with extra picks in the first, third and fourth rounds of the 2022 draft, the Giants now are armed to acquire their next franchise QB if Daniel Jones flops in Year 3.

But that is not who the Giants want to be. They do not want to be the franchise that stubbornly sticks too long with a subpar quarterbac­k, forcing them to overpay with premium assets to get a new one rather than improving their overall team.

They already made that mistake with Eli Manning at the end of his career, delaying the selection of his heir and damaging the franchise’s fortunes in the process.

Would this prompt the Giants to trade imminently for Aaron Rodgers, 37, Russell Wilson, 32, or Deshaun Watson, 25, if and when his legal situation concludes? Pursuing any avenue to upgrade the team should be mandatory, but that’s not how they’re talking about their QB.

Gettleman changed his tune on possibly calling the Packers in a recent WFAN interview, saying: “You explore everything.” But if word got out about the Giants calling those teams, it would undermine their public confidence in Jones.

So it’s unlikely the Giants would make that phone call unless they intended to make a deal.

Don’t forget, either: if the Giants were looking to replace Jones this spring, they could have just drafted Fields or Alabama’s Mac Jones at 11. Instead, they acted as if both players didn’t exist, outside of leveraging their presence for trade purposes.

That adds Fields and the Patriots’ Jones to the list of QBs who forever will be compared to Jones, the Giants’ No. 6 overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft.

So far, the ones who got away while the Giants have groomed Jones are the Ravens’ 2019 league MVP Lamar Jackson, the Bills’ Josh Allen and the Chargers’ Justin Herbert. Sam Darnold might join that list after one season in Joe Brady’s Carolina offense, as well.

Jones lost twice headto-head to Trubisky in two years, and he fell to Darnold’s Jets and Jackson’s Ravens, too.

The Giants knew Jones needed more help on the talent side to give him a chance, though, in Year 3. One NFL source, asked prior to the draft which receiver he would draft for the Giants, responded: “Well, I never would have traded Odell.”

Jones didn’t have a star No. 1 receiver his rookie year because Gettleman traded Odell Beckham Jr. to Cleveland before selecting the Duke QB. He’ll finally have an explosive and deep group of skill position players in 2021, including Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney.

The offensive line still could undermine the Giants’ high hopes, though. This is no sure thing. And Jones’ fumbling and poor decision-making might not be mistakes. They could be who he is.

That said, while sticking with Jones is rolling the dice, the Giants don’t want to be back on that precarious hamster wheel of searching for a franchise QB. It is a difficult and painful cycle to try and dismount. Just ask Bears GM Ryan Pace.

So since the Giants believe they see championsh­ip caliber and character in Jones, the optimal result is to stick with him, win with him, and build a deep roster and sustainabl­e program. And if it doesn’t go well, at least they’re better prepared to pivot than they were a couple weeks ago.

By the way, to fully appreciate the Giants’ trade with Chicago, remember that the Bears took a run at Wilson in March. When the Seahawks turned them down, Pace took a run at signing Golladay in free agency. The Bears were the team that drove the price up on the Giants, who gave Golladay a shocking amount of money in a thin market.

So the Giants knew what the Bears were looking for and how aggressive they had been this spring. That prompted them to engage Chicago in the lucrative draft day deal.

 ?? JUSTIN CASTERLINE/GETTY ?? Giants quarterbac­k Daniel Jones looks to pass during the second half against the Bengals on Nov. 29, 2020, at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.
JUSTIN CASTERLINE/GETTY Giants quarterbac­k Daniel Jones looks to pass during the second half against the Bengals on Nov. 29, 2020, at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.

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