During his Thursday pre-draft presser, New York Giants general manager stated it’s not a priority that a quarterback is selected in the 2019 draft.
Just about everyone outside of the New York Giants organization feels it’s imperative that they select a quarterback with one of their two first-round picks (6 & 17).
After all, Eli Manning is 38 and entering the final year of his contract, and the other quarterbacks on the roster, Kyle Lauletta and Alex Tanney, don’t seem to be the answer in terms of finding Manning’s successor.
But general manager Dave Gettleman provided a surprising answer when asked if selecting a quarterback in next week’s draft is a priority.
“The priority is to select the best players. Last year, we could not pass up on Saquon. He was the best player in the draft. You can’t do that. We have had this conversation before. Eli is closer to 40 than he is to 25. We can do that math. At the end of the day, we are going to take the best players.”
It would seem unfathomable that the Giants don’t select a quarterback in either the first or second round of the draft. But when a follow-up question was asked to Gettleman on the urgency of finding a quarterback, this was his response.
“If you put a lot of pressure on it, you are going to make a mistake. I am not going to put a level on that. You let the draft come to you. We went into last season with Eli and thought he had plenty left. He proved that. We will just see how it goes.”
What is Dave Gettleman's draft strategy? The #NYGiants GM shared his philosophy on Thursday during his pre-draft press conference.
— New York Giants (@Giants) April 18, 2019
Manning did improve over the last eight games of last season throwing 13 touchdowns to just five interceptions. But at some point, whether they want to admit it publicly or not, the Giants know they have to find their quarterback of the future sooner rather than later.
“I’m just telling you: I’m not going to force a pick,” Gettleman said. “You’ll get screwed every time. You’ll make a mistake.”
Gettleman was also asked if he had any conversations with the Arizona Cardinals amid the rumors that the Giants may want to make a trade for Josh Rosen if the Cardinals take Kyler Murray with the first pick. Gettleman declined to comment.
There’s no more important position than quarterback, and when the organization’s quarterback is 38 while armed with 12 draft picks, the time is now to get your future franchise quarterback.
Whether Dave Gettleman does it or not, we’ll have to wait until next week.
