Big Blue Huddle

Jordan Raanan
@JordanRaanan
GM Joe Schoen reinforces after the draft that he said following the season that Daniel Jones was going to be the starter at QB for the Giants this season.

Schoen: "That's where we are. That's what we're going to move forward with this season. Daniel is still under contract  for three more years.

"As it sits today, that's where we are."
4:50 PM · Apr 27, 2024
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56.3K
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https://x.com/SNYGiants/status/1784324527742177766

Yup. They were never going to draft a QB with Jones under that horrific contract. Giants are so predictable.

Quote from: katkavage on April 27, 2024, 06:04:38 PMYup. They were never going to draft a QB with Jones under that horrific contract. Giants are so predictable.

With the 2025 injury guarantee that Jones has I don't know how they play him just to get stuck with him longer.

https://x.com/dduggan21/status/1784346281445392532?s=46&t=1vcQIN8GqF5J2oLdxEVEJQ

https://x.com/roto_wizard/status/1784352236673331295?s

Q. You didn't take a quarterback in this draft. You tried to move up, or at least had conversations about moving up for a quarterback in this draft. Where do you consider yourself at the quarterback position now for this year and for the future?

JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, for me, I said it in January after the season. Our expectation was Daniel would be our starter and we brought Drew Lock to be his backup and Tommy is a backup, so that's where we are and that's how we'll move forward this season. Daniel is still under contract for three more years. As it sits today, that's where we are.

Q. While you were doing all that work and going to places like Washington and LSU and Carolina, was the design during that time to try to make sure you were coming out of this draft with a young developmental quarterback, or did you view it as due diligence that wasn't necessarily going to come to fruition?

JOE SCHOEN: You know, I understand your question. If you look at the Pro Days we went to, there's quality and quantity. You look at LSU, there's a lot of good players at other positions we did take, no different than Washington. Washington won a lot of games and went to the National Championship, so they had a lot of players.

Q. I guess I should throw in the Drake Maye and JJ, the private workouts --

JOE SCHOEN: What's the question in regard to the private workouts?

Q. All the work you did, I should have mentioned those.

JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, I could name 15 other players we did private workouts at other positions. Again, we are going to continue to do our due diligence. You get six, seven swings, you want to make sure you know as much as you can about each prospect.

And I think being around these kids on their campus, boots on the ground, dinner, setting up Pro Days, whatever it may be, I think you can find out a lot about prospects. It's not just quarterbacks we did private workouts with. We are always going to do our due diligence across the board.

Q. Taking the due diligence on quarterbacks, basically where you're picking, people assumed you were looking to move on from Daniel. Did do you like recommit to him?

JOE SCHOEN: I've said it before, it's not just right now. I mean, Dabs and I went through this in 2017 and we have intimate knowledge of that class, whether it was Lamar Jackson, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Mason Rudolph, you can go through it. We know those guys. We have a very good feel. Last year's draft, we spent time with C.J. Stroud, we spent time with Will Levis. Now we know what these kids are about if they ever become free agents or they are on the trade market.

I think it's a different position when you are evaluating. You can watch all the film you want, but there's a reason at that position guys succeed and they fail and it's not just because of the tape. The three years we've been here, we have done a lot of work on the quarterbacks. Maybe it hasn't been as public or maybe it hasn't been as well covered but we'll always do that because of the importance of the position and what goes into it.

You can't just throw the tape on and say, 'OK, I'll sign that guy.' There's a personal makeup, there is a way you carry yourself; leadership, processing information. It's not easy. This guy calls a play in some of these meetings and says regurgitate it to me and then you have to go call out the Mike and then you've got to change the play and you've got to shift this guy and oh, by the way, you have to snap the ball and figure out where you're throwing it to. That's not easy.

So I think spending time with this position is very, very important, whether it's today or down the road or in the future.

Q. Have you spoken directly to Daniel to maybe share with him some of what Joe was saying or to ask him if he has a question? Have you done anything out of the norm because of this situation with Daniel?

BRIAN DABOLL: I talk to the entire team, but I meet with the quarterbacks daily. I spend a lot of time with them every day.

So you know, you're just transparent with the entire team about the whole draft process. You're trying to improve your team. You know, the last meeting we had, I showed a picture up here of all of our area scouts, Joe, his leadership group that he mentioned, and you know, part of their role is to help improve our football team by creating competition.

And then there's a human element, too. If you're sitting in there and you're in the receiver room and we draft Malik Nabers, there's a human element to that, too. So I think you have to be transparent. There's a draft every year. There's free agency every year. We start out the meeting by any new players that are here that weren't here last year, stand up, and any guys that were drafted by Joe and the staff, stand up. It's different every year. The teams are different. It's constructed different.

But I think that opens lines of communication whether it's D.J., whether it's with Tommy, whether it's with the receivers, the D-Linemen and the linebackers, running backs. I encourage all of our coaches to do that because I think that's important to be transparent, whether it's, again, free agency, draft. There's constant turnover. So the communication lines are definitely very important.

Quote from: katkavage on April 27, 2024, 06:04:38 PMYup. They were never going to draft a QB with Jones under that horrific contract. Giants are so predictable.

I actually don't believe this to be the case, myself. Pretty much everyone in the media including respected, resourceful insider types like Ian Rappaport claims the Giants tried very hard to get a deal done with the Pats, but it simply wasn't possible (without the terms being obscene to the point of not being worth it).

I think the reason they didn't draft McCarthy is not that they were unwilling to draft a QB with Jones under control. The owner (who has been perhaps the biggest Jones advocate in the building) himself said he was fine with them drafting a QB in the first round. The reason they didn't take McCarthy is because they didn't believe he was worthy of being taken sixth overall. And they couldn't get the guy they wanted. Simple as that.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on April 27, 2024, 07:28:18 PMI actually don't believe this to be the case, myself. Pretty much everyone in the media including respected, resourceful insider types like Ian Rappaport claims the Giants tried very hard to get a deal done with the Pats, but it simply wasn't possible (without the terms being obscene to the point of not being worth it).

I think the reason they didn't draft McCarthy is not that they were unwilling to draft a QB with Jones under control. The owner (who has been perhaps the biggest Jones advocate in the building) himself said he was fine with them drafting a QB in the first round. The reason they didn't take McCarthy is because they didn't believe he was worthy of being taken sixth overall. And they couldn't get the guy they wanted. Simple as that.

One thing I heard on a podcast today.  If the Giants drafted a QB just to draft a QB, then you are keeping the team from finding the right QB for the next couple of drafts

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on April 27, 2024, 07:28:18 PMI actually don't believe this to be the case, myself. Pretty much everyone in the media including respected, resourceful insider types like Ian Rappaport claims the Giants tried very hard to get a deal done with the Pats, but it simply wasn't possible (without the terms being obscene to the point of not being worth it).

I think the reason they didn't draft McCarthy is not that they were unwilling to draft a QB with Jones under control. The owner (who has been perhaps the biggest Jones advocate in the building) himself said he was fine with them drafting a QB in the first round. The reason they didn't take McCarthy is because they didn't believe he was worthy of being taken sixth overall. And they couldn't get the guy they wanted. Simple as that.

It's the cynic in me, DB. Looking at it now, I really don't think NE would pass on the third best QB no matter what was offered. Kraft wanted a QB. And the Giants knew this. The talks weren't serious. There was a reason Nabers was the consensus mock pick from the get go. I really think they couldn't seriously take a QB with Jones under that bad contract. It would be an admission of a mistake. Again no proof but I'm just not convinced.

Quote from: katkavage on April 27, 2024, 07:49:21 PMIt's the cynic in me, DB. Looking at it now, I really don't think NE would pass on the third best QB no matter what was offered. Kraft wanted a QB. And the Giants knew this. The talks weren't serious. There was a reason Nabers was the consensus mock pick from the get go. I really think they couldn't seriously take a QB with Jones under that bad contract. It would be an admission of a mistake. Again no proof but I'm just not convinced.

The Pats are a team who loves to trade down with overpaying teams. You could claim that that is a Belichick thing, but I am sure it rubbed off on Kraft and on others in the organization over the two-plus decades he was there.

They are also a team that has had success picking QBs later in the draft (not just Brady but also Jimmy G).

A lot also depends on their grade of Maye. We don't know just how highly they rated him. If they viewed him as an A- but the Giants viewed him as an A+, you could see a trade potentially happening there if the Giants really overpaid.

I also really don't think the Giants would have wasted their time with talks if it were a 100% hard no. I think the Pats had an ask, it was too high for the Giants, and the Giants couldn't negotiate them down at all. I am pretty sure that is what happened here.

A final point is that the Giants, in not choosing to restructure Jones' contract, are clearly preserving their ability to cut him after this season. There is just no way they would be willing to eat that whole $47mm hit in 2024 if they were willing to be committed to him beyond this season. They would spread it out for sure if that were the case. So the idea of them being unwilling to draft a QB because they have one under contract that they're likely going to cut after this season simply does not ring true.

I think Schoen is much more information/misinformation savvy then we tend to give him credit for in this era of information vs misinformation.

I also think Schoen knows/understands what the questions will be for all actions/reactions and has prepped answers/replies for EVERYTHING.

Schoen appears as if he is a robot quite a bit of the time with IMMEDIATE answers/replies to any question asked.....it's uncanny.

He is a GM of the new age/era whatever you want to label it, but he knows how to answer every question for the media, the fans, and the player all to keep everyone in the "I'm with Joe on this one" type response from the media/fans/players/owners.

I've never seen him in a "cat got your tongue" moment, or stuck for a reply.

He's never given a Getelmanesque reply and I highly doubt we ever will hear him utter any....at least not publicly.

He was well groomed in Buffalo by Beane. He knows how to handle media and information/misinformation.

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If they could have made a deal with the Pats, you bet your sweet bippy they would have taken Maye. No way they're making a deal to pick a receiver.

But I will also say this to folks who were against "losing on purpose" in order to preserve a top-3 position for the draft. You can't complain about not getting a QB this year when you wanted to get wins late in the season. Can't have both.

Instead of drafting Tracy in the 5th round do you think the Giants should have drafted Rattler, Platt or Travis instead ? Wouldn't that have more sense? Actually I am not sure if the Jets had drafted Travis in the 4th round

Supposedly when the Pats were on the clock the Giants offered their number 6, their second round pick and their 2025 first round pick and Kraft turned it down.

It seems to me that the post-draft smokescreen is just as thick as the pre-draft smokescreen.