For the first time this offseason, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen is introducing the possibility that he will not take a quarterback with the No. 3 pick at the 2025 NFL Draft.
Speaking with reporters at the NFL meetings in Palm Beach, FL on Monday, Schoen admitted that his team is set up where they do not need to take a quarterback in the first round, and will only take one if “it matches up and the value is right.” (h/t Jordan Raanan, ESPN)
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve tried to set it up on draft day that we could go play a game [that day]. I feel like we’re there now,” Schoen told the team’s official website. “That way you don’t get backed into a corner or force yourself to do anything. The only year that didn’t happen was probably my first year. We had to cut several players just to get under the salary cap. There were a lot more holes, so maybe you get into some need-based picks in that scenario. But now we’re in a situation where you go through the roster and say, OK, throughout the draft where can we still upgrade? We’re not done. We still want to upgrade. We have five picks in the top 105. We could go any position, so we’re not ruling any position out.”
The quarterback position had been Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll’s top priority this offseason, as also dictated by co-owner John Mara, who suggested that the upcoming 2025 season is the duo’s last chance at cutting it with the Giants.
Landing a long-term franchise quarterback is still the goal for a team that failed to develop Daniel Jones into Eli Manning’s successor. They have the chance to do just that if Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders is still on the board. The Tennessee Titans are likely to take Miami’s Cam Ward at No. 1 and the Cleveland Browns could take a quarterback, too, at No. 2.
But Schoen has created some short-term flexibility at the position to cover his bases, first signing former Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter Jameis Winston to a two-year deal, and then bringing on long-time Seattle Seahawks great Russell Wilson to a one-year deal less than a week later.
Wilson will take first-team reps later this spring when the team reports for OTAs with Winston as his backup and Tommy DeVito potentially acting as the third-stringer if a quarterback is not drafted.
It opens up the possibility of taking one of the more highly-touted overall talents that rank higher on countless draft boards, whether that be Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter or Colorado’s wide receiver/cornerback Heisman Trophy winner, Travis Hunter.
