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If he does it, it will be the first time for Joe Schoen.
Take a quarterback high in an NFL Draft, that is.
Nothing distinguishes the résumé of an NFL general manager more definitively than whom he selects as his head coach and whom he picks to be his quarterback.
George Young hired Bill Parcells. Ernie Accorsi chose Eli Manning. Young and Accorsi are in the Giants Ring of Honor, as are Parcells and Manning. The main reasons why these former Giants executives are a celebrated part of franchise history is because of whom they signed off on as head coach and quarterback.
Schoen is 22 months into his job as the Giants GM. His first major move was selecting Brian Daboll as his head coach, a slam-dunk decision based on their relationship working together in Buffalo. Daboll was named the NFL’s Coach of the Year in 2022, a strong start to his head coaching career, though this season’s 4-8 record at the bye week is a regression.
In his time with the Giants, Schoen also has overseen two NFL Drafts, and of the 18 players selected on his watch, there appear to be the standard number of hits and misses.
Schoen’s first-ever pick, Kayvon Thibodeaux, has a team-high 11 sacks this season and looks like the next potent Giants pass rusher.
Linebacker Micah McFadden, selected in the fifth round of the 2022 draft, looks as if he could be a steal.
The top three picks in 2023 — cornerback Deonte Banks, center John Michael Schmitz and wide receiver Jalin Hyatt — are putting in intriguing rookie seasons.
Though it is too early to declare any player a sure-fire miss just yet, right tackle Evan Neal, the No. 7 overall pick in 2022, is on his way to picking up that designation.
Two other players from that class, receiver Wan’Dale Robinson (second round) and offensive lineman Josh Ezeudu (third round), also have not done much yet to justify their second-day draft status.
All of the above are part of Schoen’s portfolio, but what comes next could shape his entire legacy with the Giants.
He has yet to take a quarterback with a first-round pick, and if he makes that leap in the 2024 draft, the player he selects will be linked to Schoen forever.
Yes, Schoen decided to give Daniel Jones a four-year contract worth $160 million, and one year into that deal it does not look good. But he inherited Jones from the Dave Gettleman regime, meaning Jones is not as indelible on Schoen’s record as a quarterback he would take himself at the top of a draft.
The Giants, if the season ended today, would own the No. 6 pick in the 2024 draft. They could rise or fall a few spots depending on the results of the final five games.
Coming off last year’s 9-7-1 regular season and one playoff victory, the Giants did not anticipate they would be picking so high in this draft, but here they are.
And if they end up at No. 2, they would all but have to take Caleb Williams (USC) or Drake Maye (North Carolina), quarterback prospects whom most scouts view as a cut above the rest.
Schoen said he will pick the best player available, but there is little doubt a quarterback will be a top consideration, especially because Jones is coming off surgery to repair his right ACL.
Jones, when healthy, is a known commodity, and Schoen handed him the big bucks because he believes the Jones he saw in 2022 was the real thing — with the potential for much more.
Jones hits the mark in a big way with the Giants for the way he comports himself off the field, his work ethic and his ability to stay outside the fray in the New York media-market feeding frenzy.
Jones struggled this season, and was injured multiple times. But if Schoen decides to try another direction, whichever quarterback he might pick in the upcoming draft would be a newcomer, and no amount of pre-draft knowledge-seeking can portend how the player will fit in.
“There’s always risk,’’ Schoen said Monday, his first comments since the start of training camp. “Look at the past however many years of top-10 quarterbacks. I just went through the 2018 draft, and how many of those guys are starters, how many are with different teams? Some are out of the league that were taken in the first round from that draft.
“It’s not a position you can just evaluate on film, I don’t believe. You’ve got to get with these kids, you’ve got to meet with them, you’ve got to get around them, you’ve got to put them on the [white]board. Can they learn? Can they process information? You’ve got to talk to the people, especially in this market. Bringing a quarterback into this market, I mean, it’s not for everybody. Not everybody can handle it.’’
It is interesting Schoen mentioned the 2018 draft when citing an example of risk-taking with quarterbacks. That was the first time in 70 years that four quarterbacks were taken in the top 10 picks of a draft: Baker Mayfield went No. 1 to the Browns, Sam Darnold went No. 3 to the Jets, Josh Allen went No. 7 to the Bills and Josh Rosen went No. 10 to the Cardinals. As a footnote, Lamar Jackson went No. 32 to the Ravens.
Mayfield never became a franchise player for the Browns and is now starting for the Buccaneers, his fourth NFL team. Darnold flamed out with the Jets and is now a backup with the 49ers, his third NFL team. Allen is an established star with the Bills. Rosen was a washout with the Cardinals and after a seven-team odyssey is currently out of the league.
Schoen was the assistant general manager in Buffalo when Allen was drafted by the Bills. Allen worked out about as well as any team could hope.
It rarely does, however. NFL teams strike out with the quarterback position in the draft more often than they strike gold.
This does not mean a team should not try to find their franchise quarterback high in the draft. Until you have one, you are a team wandering in the desert, parched and looking for the hydration that a top-tier quarterback can pour into the program.
But in the past two-plus decades, the NFL Draft has been littered with quarterbacks taken in the top five who did not cut it. David Carr and Joey Harrington in 2003. Vince Young and Matt Leinart in 2006. JaMarcus Russell in 2007. Mark Sanchez in 2009. Sam Bradford in 2010. Blake Bortles in 2014. Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota in 2015. Mitchell Trubisky in 2017 (taken eight spots ahead of Patrick Mahomes, goodness). Zach Wilson and Trey Lance as recently as 2021.
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In his second year on the job, Schoen said he is further ahead in his draft preparation this time around. The 2022 season was far more of a learning experience, one focused on setting the groundwork for how he wanted the organization to run. In some ways, the draft had to take a back seat until after the season ended.
“Last year, kind of being the first in-season as general manager, different schedule than what I’ve had in the past as an assistant GM or director of player personnel,’’ Schoen said. “So, I tweaked my process a little bit this year so I can stay up on all positions.’’
The Giants did their homework on the quarterbacks available in the 2023 draft, but there is no doubt the emphasis is much stronger this year. Schoen and his staff have been at college stadiums across the country to see the top quarterbacks in this year’s class.
If he ends up taking one, Schoen will try with all his might to avoid the mistakes made by those who came before him around the league. Every one of those teams that missed badly on a quarterback believed the player taken with a top-5 pick was the real deal. Those teams were mistaken.
It is a caveat that needs to be mentioned every time a fan base pleads with the team to tank the end of the season to get in position to draft the next big thing. Too often, the next big thing is nothing at all.
Here are two questions that have come up recently that we will attempt to answer as accurately as possible:
Brian Daboll gave the team the entire week off for the bye. Is that unusual?
Not long ago, this was not standard operating procedure. It used to be that a coach would have the players in the facility early in the week leading into the bye, maybe Monday and Tuesday, for meetings and light workouts before sending the players away to enjoy a few days off.
The more recent trend is to have the players in the day after the game and that’s about it. Daboll did not even do that.
He told the team after Sunday’s 10-7 victory over the Patriots that they were off for the entire week, having to report back for work the next Monday. Only players in need of injury rehab had to show up the next day.
Most players will leave town. Many will return to their offseason homes. Some will go see their former college teams play in conference championship games this weekend. The head coach always warns his players to stay in shape and to be smart with their decision-making, yet there is often a sigh of relief when the players return safely.
Which players might be ready to return from absences after the bye?
The three injured players who could make some sort of impact down the stretch of the season are quarterback Tyrod Taylor (ribs), tight end Darren Waller (hamstring) and right tackle Evan Neal (ankle).
It will be interesting to see what happens when Taylor is deemed ready to play. Does he return to the starting lineup, or do the Giants go with the hot hand and stick with Tommy DeVito? A case can be made that Taylor, a 13-year veteran, gives the team the best chance to win. A case can also be made that DeVito has provided a spark with his enthusiasm and take-chances style.
Waller said when he got hurt in the loss to the Jets that it made no sense for him to rush back. He did that when he was with the Raiders, and he suffered a setback in re-injuring his hamstring. It seems Waller will be healed in time to play in a few games. Will he?
Neal needs to get back on the field. His second NFL season has been really bad, and a few decent or solid games to close out 2023 would go a long way in building his confidence and making the coaching staff feel better about him.