Giants GM made one last call to Titans about potential NFL Draft trade

By the night of April 24, NFL insiders and casual football fans understood that the Tennessee Titans were going to make Miami's Cam Ward, the consensus best quarterback in his class, the first pick of the 2025 NFL Draft. 

That didn't stop New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen from making one last call to Titans GM Mike Borgonzi ahead of the player-selection process. 

As Justin Tasch of the New York Post shared, the "Giants Life: 2025 NFL Draft" show posted on the club's YouTube page revealed that Schoen reached out to Borgonzi right when the Titans went on the draft clock. 

"Were you waiting for this? Are you gonna pick? I had to do it," a giggling Schoen said. "I had to do it. All right, man. Well, good luck to you, man. I was gonna wait and just call you now on the clock, so I figured you guys were picking. But thought I’d give it one more swing."

Back on March 27, NFL reporter Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports said that the Titans would only accept at least three first-round picks "or something of that value" in return for what became the Ward selection. A subsequent report mentioned that people within the Giants "loved" Ward, and Giants beat reporter Paul Schwartz of the New York Post recently noted that "the only quarterback (in the draft) the Giants viewed as being NFL-ready right away was" the Miami star.

Ahead of the draft, numerous stories linked the Giants with Colorado signal-caller Shedeur Sanders. However, it's now clear that he "didn't hit it off with Giants coaches," such as head coach Brian Daboll, during the predraft process. 

Big Blue ultimately selected Penn State pass-rusher Abdul Carter with the third overall pick. The Giants later traded back into the first round to grab Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart at pick No. 25. Dart is expected to spend most of his rookie season as a backup, while many believe the Titans will eventually name Ward their Week 1 QB1. 

There's no indication the Giants came remotely close to landing the Ward pick, but Schoen nevertheless may be left wondering what could have been if team co-owner John Mara blows things up before Dart gets a true opportunity to show what he can become as a pro.