With the sixth pick in the NFL Draft, the Giants find themselves in familiar spot
Giants general manager Joe Schoen speaks to the media during the NFL Combine at the Indiana Convention Center on Tuesday in Indianapolis. Credit: Getty Images/Stacy Revere
The drumbeat from the NFL Combine in Indianapolis suggested that, at the very least, the Giants will explore every avenue to add a potential starter at the quarterback position in April’s draft.
That is while Daniel Jones remains a regular at the Giants’ facility as he continues to rehabilitate his torn ACL.
That is while general manager Joe Schoen, who previously seemed to dismiss Tyrod Taylor, suggested that Taylor could return. And Tommy DeVito remains on the roster.
Year 3 under Schoen and coach Brian Daboll could be fascinating. It represents the duo’s first real opportunity to select a franchise quarterback of their choosing.
That they have to get this right might not need to be said. We’ll write it anyway.
The overwhelming feeling at the Combine this past week was that the Giants not only will explore drafting a quarterback with their first-round pick but might be willing to move up to do so.
The Giants hold the sixth overall pick. In 2019, they also had the sixth pick and then-GM Dave Gettleman drafted Jones out of Duke.
Among the top quarterbacks this year are USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels.
That the Giants are here again seems incredible, doesn’t it?
Just a little more than a year ago, they were able to bask in the accomplishment of winning a playoff game. That they weren’t competitive against the Eagles in the next round was problematic, but their early success under Schoen and Daboll seemed a perfect prelude to better and brighter days ahead.
We would be looking at these Giants so differently, of course, if only their two most recent seasons were reversed.
If there were growing pains followed by a playoff season, the Giants would be on their way. Instead, it is fair to ask if the Giants have lost their way.
A six-win season will do that.
And it led to this: considerable turnover of the coaching staff. The Giants have hired seven new assistant coaches. Seven.
Three of the remaining coaches now have new titles.
Perhaps the most intriguing newcomer to the staff is defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, one of the three new on-field coaches who come from the Tennessee Titans.
“We’re probably not going to blitz as much as we did in the past,” Schoen said, a nod to Wink Martindale’s scheme.
The Titans won a total of 13 games over the past two seasons.
“I would say they’ve had a lot of success there,” Schoen said. “Maybe the last couple of years they’ve struggled.”
Schoen noted that Tennessee won a lot of games under Mike Vrabel, who was fired by the Titans in January after going 54-45 in six seasons, with three playoff appearances.
The Giants’ lone returning coordinator is Mike Kafka on offense. Kafka has been the play-caller the past two seasons, but there has been some speculation that Daboll might assume play-calling duties.
When they joined the Giants in 2022, Schoen said his preference was for Daboll not to call the plays. How will he respond if Daboll says he wants to call them?
“I’m never going to tell him what to do,” Schoen said. “That’s his world . . . That’s up to him.”
The season is months away, of course. There will be free agency, the offseason program, the draft and training camp.
Kinks will be worked out. Players will acclimate to new staff members and, it would seem, to a new defensive scheme, at least.
These Giants aren’t wholly new, but they’re going to be considerably different.
One way or another, there’s no doubt about that.
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
