Giants ownership gives OK to draft quarterback

Jordan Raanan, ESPN Staff WriterMar 25, 2024, 03:37 PM ET
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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Even though they signed Daniel Jones to a $160 million deal last year, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll have the green light from ownership to draft a quarterback, if they so desire.

The Giants hold the sixth pick in an especially strong quarterback draft.

“If they fall in love with a quarterback and believe that it’s worth pick No. 6 or moving up, I certainly would support that,” owner John Mara said Monday at the NFL annual meeting.

Schoen has already made it known that the team is at the very least looking at quarterbacks with the high pick and Jones coming off a season with two serious injuries. He’s currently rehabbing a torn ACL. The Giants have already had Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and North Carolina’s Drake Maye in for visits. Schoen was at Caleb Williams‘ pro day last week at USC along with director of player personnel Tim McDonnell. Meanwhile, assistant general manager Brandon Brown and quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney were at McCarthy’s pro day in Ann Arbor.

“I know they’re looking at the quarterbacks. You’ve seen that,” Mara said. “They’ve gone to some of the pro day, we’ve had some of those guys in. I don’t think they’re even close to making a final determination yet as to which way we’re going to go on that. Those discussions will happen over the next few weeks.”

Mara said he has been told by the front office that it’s the “most talented group [of quarterbacks] to come out in years.”

No matter how it plays out, the expectation remains that Jones will be the Giants’ Week 1 starter, assuming he’s healthy. Schoen said Monday that Jones had begun running on land and there had been no setbacks.

Mara was adamant that he still believed in Jones. The Giants owner went through the reasons the 2023 season, when Jones threw just two touchdown passes, was such a disaster. He noted the injuries, the team’s inability to block and the overall lack of offensive talent on the field. In his estimation, it made the situation untenable.

Even if the Giants draft a quarterback this year, Mara doesn’t view it as giving up on Jones.

“No, I don’t think so,” Mara said. “Why not let them both compete? Let them both compete and let the better man win.”

It says something about Giants ownership that they are even willing to potentially go down this road. They committed $82 million guaranteed and will incur a $22 million dead money hit if they cut Jones after this season.

Mara insists that will not play into the decision.

“I don’t think it has any effect if they have a conviction on a quarterback and fall in love with a quarterback,” he said. “I’m certainly not going to stand in the way of them.”

All this is hypothetical at the moment. It’s possible the Giants might not even be able to get their desired quarterback in this draft. Schoen mentioned a comment made by Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh earlier in the day, when the former Michigan coach noted that the top four picks could be quarterbacks. That’s presumably Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Maye and McCarthy. That would leave the Chargers at No. 5 and the Giants at No. 6 in enviable shape.

The general belief at the moment is that the top three picks belonging to the Chicago Bears, Washington Commanders and New England Patriots will be quarterbacks. Schoen didn’t abide by the thinking that none of those picks were up for sale.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “Nobody is slamming the door. Everybody is going to listen I think.”

Schoen mentioned there remains a possibility the Giants move up, back or stay at No. 6. Everything is on the table.

It’s going to be his and Daboll’s decision. In fact, Mara took offense at the notion that he’s a meddling owner.

“I let the general manager and head coach build a roster. We’ve operated the same way for many years here,” he said. “If they have a conviction about a player, I’m not going to get involved. I’ll question them about it. I’ll make them defend their position. But the only time I’m going to get involved and exert any influence is if I think it’s a conduct issue off the field. And that has happened. Not with the group but in the past on very rare occasions.

“In terms of them evaluating the players, if they have a conviction about a player and want to draft one, get one in free agency, then all I want to make sure is that both of them are on the same page.”