The draft is approaching, which means Giants general manager Joe Schoen soon must decide how to navigate the first round. It’s a portion of the draft in which he owns the No. 5 and 7 overall picks, of which he can use in various ways.
The offensive line and pass rush are beneficial routes to take with those picks; some would say the secondary is, too.
But there’s also the possibility the Giants trade back and swap picks with a team that possibly wishes to move up and draft a quarterback. But Schoen may only do it under one circumstance, at least according to the belief of Peter King.
“I believe Schoen of the Giants, for instance, wants to come out of this draft with an extra first-round pick next year, even if it costs him this year’s seventh overall pick,” the NBC Sports NFL analyst wrote in his Football Morning In America column Monday. “So maybe he makes a deal for slightly less than the market rate, just to be in a pole position to take a quarterback if he needs to in 2023.”
Schoen wouldn’t be wrong to trade back, regardless of the first-round pick the team uses to do so. However, he would absolutely be wrong to not garner an extra 2023 first-rounder in the deal.
If the Giants are going to move back, just like they did last year, they need that extra first-rounder for next season. Big Blue could have leverage too. Say the Seahawks (No. 9 overall) wish to move up to take a quarterback — the Giants could deal them the No. 5 pick which would help Seattle jump quarterback-needy teams such as the Panthers (No. 6 overall) and Falcons (No. 8).
And the reason the Giants need that extra first-rounder next year is due to the uncertainty at the game’s most important position. As of this moment, we have no clue whether Daniel Jones is the man for the job. Some would say he has potential, some would say the turnovers and proneness to injury are tough factors to overlook. Others seriously don’t know right now.
But what we do know is that 2022 will be a make-or-break year for the young passer, and if he’s not outstanding and the team doesn’t win many games, New York will be saying farewell to the signal-caller it drafted back in 2019.
That would mean Schoen would need to look for Jones’ successor, and having an extra first-rounder next year would certainly provide the organization with flexibility. The Giants would thus have two separate opportunities in next year’s draft to replace Jones. Or, they could package those picks to move up in the draft should they not already be in great position to acquire a prospect they love.
Or, maybe they could use both picks to trade for a proven star veteran? Who knows how the 2023 offseason will shape up — anything is possible in this league.
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