It was no secret that the New York Giants desperately needed to add to their quarterback room. But what might have been overlooked was how desperate they were to get a quarterback who could help them rack up wins next season.
New York signed Jameis Winston to a surprisingly affordable deal and quickly double-dipped in the free agency pool by landing Super Bowl XLVIII champion Russell Wilson. Both players are guaranteed to earn less than $15 million between them and are short-term solutions, so getting a rookie quarterback still appears to be in play at some point.
These latest moves could determine when (if?) general manager Joe Schoen targets the position in the 2025 NFL Draft. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders’s prospects of becoming the No. 3 pick and donning Giants Blue would be a popular move if the Giants were to go in that direction.
NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah seems to share a similar viewpoint. He also contends that New York can select the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year if it believes him to be a difference-maker.
“I think first of all, if you love Shedeur Sanders and you have big grades on him, I don’t think this would stop you from doing that,” Jeremiah said while appearing on The Rich Eisen Show.
“But the fact that they decided to do this now leads me to believe more that they are going to take another player that can help them win this year. And they feel like these two quarterbacks could buy them enough time, enough wins to get to their quarterback later.”
Jeremiah also mentions the possibility of the Giants attempting to “have their cake and eat it too,” which would see them grab a superbly promising prospect like Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter at No. 3 and then trade back into the first round to snatch a different quarterback like Jaxson Dart.
The Giants are in quite a predicament, and it will be extremely difficult to overcome. Those are the breaks for a team that has nine combined victories in the last two years.
Schoen doubled down on veteran quarterbacks this year because the fourth-year GM and head coach Brian Daboll are under heavy pressure to field a competitive squad for the 2025 campaign.
Given their circumstances and recent free-agent acquisitions, ascertaining New York’s most probable path in the NFL Draft is becoming increasingly more complex.
The organization may anticipate quarterbacks Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders going to the Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns, respectively. Adding Russell Wilson could simply be a contingency plan.
If the Giants pass on Sanders, however, they are willingly gambling on the idea that they could acquire a viable future signal-caller later in the 2025 draft or in 2026.
Sanders might own the highest floor of any quarterback in the class, completing an FBS-best 74 percent of his passes for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns. He thrived in adverse conditions, as the Buffaloes lacked an impactful rushing attack and a consistent offensive line.
Rookie quarterbacks usually require a steep learning curve, but there are exceptions, such as Jayden Daniels and Caleb Williams. When pressure is overwhelming within an organization, preconceived notions cease to matter. Nothing New York does when the draft starts on April 24 should surprise people at this point.
