The New York Giants are an intriguing team to keep an eye on entering this offseason. Despite signing QB Daniel Jones to a massive contract extension last offseason, the Giants are widely believed to be in the market for a new quarterback.
However, currently holding the No. 6 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, landing one of the class’s top quarterback prospects will not be easy and would likely require a trade-up in the draft order. On a recent episode of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast, Pro Football Focus’ lead NFL Draft Analyst Trevor Sikkema named the Giants as a “team that should trade up” in the upcoming draft.
Giants named a team that should trade up in the NFL Draft
When asked to name a team that should trade up in the upcoming draft, Sikkema quickly came up with his answer:
“The Giants at six,” Sikkema responded. “Daniel Jones has not shown you nearly enough to believe in him moving forward over one of these rookie quarterbacks if you can go ahead and get one.
“We sit here and we go, ‘wide receiver, offensive tackle,’ things like that for the Giants… if the Giants are bad again this year, this regime might be gone. And that feels quick, but that’s just where we are because they signed Jones to that contract.”
Sikkema and his co-host on the show Connor Rogers agreed that an upgrade at quarterback is necessary, citing Jones’ lack of pedigree as a reason to make a move:
“Daniel Jones is not a top-10, let alone a top-five-caliber quarterback,” Sikkema said, to which Conner replied, “I don’t think he’s top-15.”
“If you don’t have a top-five, let alone a top-10 quarterback, you better be doing everything you can to get one… You can’t be convincing yourself that you don’t need to move up here. The Giants should absolutely be one of those teams that is doing everything that they can to get up to pick one two or three.”
Triver Sikkema on the NFL Stock Exchange podcast
If the Giants feel like a potential top-five quarterback is in this draft class, trading up to draft that prospect could be the franchise-altering move that returns New York to prominence in the NFL. However, it takes two to tango, and finding a partner to trade up with will be easier said than done.
Who could the Giants trade up to select in this draft?
If the Giants do want to trade up to draft a quarterback this offseason, there are three likely candidates that they could draft to justify the decision. USC’s Caleb Williams (the projected No. 1 overall pick), UNC’s Drake Maye (the projected No. 2 overall pick), and LSU’s Jayden Daniels (the projected No. 3 overall pick). If New York wants to land any of those three prospects, the expectation is that they will need to be picking within the top three to do so.
Williams (2022) and Daniels (2023) are Heisman Trophy winners and Maye is viewed as a “pro-ready” quarterback. Landing any of these prolific prospects would be a thrilling proposition for the Giants, but they must weigh the pros and cons of a potential trade that would inevitably force them to sacrifice a bevy of assets.
Finding a trade partner will also be a difficult task. The No. 1 overall pick used to seem up for grabs, but lately, the talk of the Chicago Bears drafting a quarterback with the first pick has heated up. The No. 2 pick is held by the Washington Commanders, who also need a quarterback and would also never trade that pick within the division. So the most likely trade-up destination is the No. 3 pick, held by the New England Patriots, who also need a quarterback but might opt to pursue one in free agency.
The Giants must be prepared to part with a slew of draft capital in order to move up for their quarterback. However, if they do hit on a quarterback in this draft, the list of benefits to having a top player in the league at that position is limitless.