Joe Schoen isn’t the main event of the Bears’ edition of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” but his comments about the quarterback position took center stage in Tuesday’s season finale.
Ahead of Georgia’s home opener Saturday against Clemson, the Giants’ general manager caught up with Bears GM Ryan Poles, now roughly four months removed from selecting former USC quarterback Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall in this year’s NFL draft.
“Gotta be nice not to be looking at the, uh…,” the third-year Giants GM said, to which Poles completed the line, “Quarterbacks?”
Poles, who was in the mix for the Giants’ GM opening in 2022, added, “Hopefully it stays that way for a long time.”
A Heisman Trophy winner, Williams’ arrival in Chicago has come with much hype and fanfare as the Bears look to reach the postseason for the first time since 2018.
Chicago brass traded incumbent starter Justin Fields to the Steelers in March, one month before the Williams era formally got underway.
The 22-year-old Williams shined in the preseason and has since been named a team captain, a rare honor for rookies.
Miles away in East Rutherford, N.J., Schoen and the Giants are entering a pivotal year with Jones, whom they signed to a four-year, $160 million contract last offseason following a stunning playoff run in 2022.
Nothing went right for the Giants in 2023 as they opened the season with a blowout loss to the Cowboys at home.
Jones, the team’s first-round pick in 2019, was then lost for the year in November after suffering a torn ACL.
Despite interest in top quarterback prospect Drake Maye, the Patriots’ No. 3 overall pick, the Giants are riding with Jones and added a shiny new toy to the offense in the form of electric rookie wideout Malik Nabers, who was drafted sixth.
“We’ve got high expectations,” Jones said. “High expectations of what we can be as a group on offense. Based on the work we’ve put in and progress we’ve made, we expect to be a good unit, score a lot of points, and attack a defense a lot of different ways.”
The Giants open the season at home on Sunday vs. the Vikings while Williams will make his regular-season NFL debut at Soldier Field against the Titans.