Don’t draft a quarterback.
I will be repeating that phrase to myself when “THE PICK IS IN” graphic appears on the bottom of the TV for the Giants sometime before 9 p.m. on Thursday night.
There’s no franchise-changing quarterback in this draft outside of Kyler Murray, who I still can’t believe gave up on a career in Major League Baseball and a reported additional $14 million to focus on football. Even when it comes to Murray, no one knows how his game will translate from college to the NFL given his stature, and as a Giants fan, it doesn’t matter how it will translate because the Giants don’t have the option of selecting him without making a Kevin Costner in Draft Day-esque move up to acquire the first overall pick.
The Giants will pick at 6 and 17 in the first round and I don’t think they use either pick on a quarterback. I don’t think they should use any of their 12 picks in the draft on a quarterback.
The Giants need to build a team, and I mean an actual team. Right now, the Giants have very few NFL-worthy starters in their expected 2019 lineup on either side of the ball. They need to enhance both lines, somehow create a pass rush and construct a secondary. A rookie quarterback won’t help them do any of those things, and using a high pick on a quarterback won’t do the team or the player any good when there isn’t a line to protect him when he inevitably plays. Wasting a pick, especially one in the first few rounds on a quarterback who may or may not be a capable starter in the NFL is a gamble and risk not worth taking. Not this year at least.
Last year at the draft, there was the notion the Giants should pick their next quarterback with the No. 2 pick in the draft under the premise they wouldn’t be picking at or near the top of the draft again for a very long time. That very long time became the very next season and this draft. The Giants chose to not select the heir to Eli Manning a year ago, but that doesn’t mean they now have to select him this year.
I’m always a Giants optimist in the offseason and right up until kickoff in Week 1, before the Giants remind me and every other fan why they are the most frustrating team in the league. But even as an offseason optimist, I don’t see how the Giants aren’t going to be picking even higher in 2020 than they are in 2019. Aside from the four division games against the Cowboys and Eagles, the Giants will also play the NFC North and AFC East, and I don’t know where anyone is confidently finding four or five wins in their 2019 schedule, let alone the six they recorded this past season. The 2019 Giants might make me yearn for the days of the 2017 and 2018 Giants.
The Giants don’t need a quarterback right now. As the President of the Eli Manning Fan Club, I realize that last sentence seems both biased and ridiculous, but it’s true. The Giants don’t need a quarterback for 2019. They might need one in 2020 and will probably need one in 2021, but there’s no one worth selecting and wasting a season mentoring in this year’s draft. Next year’s draft is when they should go after a franchise signal caller.
When the Giants go on the clock for the first time on Thursday night, I will keep repeating that phrase, praying my plan will be heard by the Giants.
Don’t draft a quarterback.
Last modified: Jul 23, 2023
