Giants GM addresses possibly selecting a QB in the first round of 2024 NFL Draft

The New York Giants are set to enter the 2024 season with Daniel Jones as their starting quarterback, but that won't interfere with GM Joe Schoen's draft plans. 

New York will undergo a number of changes this offseason, and quarterback could be one of them after Jones struggled mightily in the first season of his controversial four-year, $160M deal. A neck injury and a season-ending ACL tear limited the 26-year-old to just six games this season, during which he threw for 909 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions while posting a 1-5 record as a starter. 

During his end-of-season news conference, Schoen admitted that the Giants must address the quarterback position this offseason, leaving the door open for several options to find a signal-caller. However, when speaking to reporters at the Reese's Senior Bowl on Tuesday, Schoen acknowledged that he could spend the sixth overall pick in April's draft even though he reiterated that Jones is expected to be the 2024 starter. 

“Where we are, we’re in a good spot at six, we’re gonna look at every position we have needs across the board, offensively and defensively,’’ Schoen said, via the New York Post's Paul Schwartz.

“Daniel’s in the building every day working hard," Schoen continued. "The expectation is for him to be the starter when he’s healthy going into camp and we’re gonna be thorough with our process at every position during the draft, regardless whether it’s quarterback, running back, safety, corner, whatever it is. We’ll take a good player at six.’’

Although upgrading at quarterback has its perks, New York has numerous needs on both sides of the ball, as Schoen mentioned.

In 2023, the Giants offense averaged the third-fewest points per game (15.6), failed to have a 1,000-yard receiver for the fifth consecutive season and gave up the second-most sacks in NFL history (85). Defensively, the team allowed the seventh-most points per game (23.9) and only notched 34 sacks, the fourth-fewest among teams. 

With so many negative aspects of the roster, there really isn't a wrong path Schoen can take in the 2024 NFL Draft, but it could be tricky to land a quarterback in the first round. There's a strong possibility that the top three QB prospects — USC's Caleb Williams, UNC's Drake Maye and LSU's Jayden Daniels — are all off the board by the time New York is on the clock. 

If that scenario comes to fruition, it would be puzzling to reach for a second-tier QB like Washington's Michael Penix Jr. or Oregon's Bo Nix, especially since that's what the Giants did with Jones in 2019. 

Even so, the Giants could always trade up a couple of spots to secure one of the draft's top signal-callers, and such a move wouldn't interfere much with Jones' contract situation. The Giants front-loaded Jones' deal and are able to cut ties with him fairly seamlessly after next season, as he'd leave just a $22.2M dead-cap hit for 2025. 

While cutting Jones would acknowledge that Schoen made a mistake by rewarding him with it in the first place, the GM didn't have much of a choice in the first place. Not only did Schoen inherit Jones from New York's previous regime, but the team had limited options to upgrade at the position last offseason. 

Schoen wasn't sold on Jones when he was hired as New York's GM, and rectifying the mistake of signing the quarterback long-term might be necessary to save his own job.