The Giants’ most productive and efficient quarterback of their dismal 2023 offensive season left in free agency and signed with the Jets.
In Tyrod Taylor’s place, GM Joe Schoen signed recent Seattle Seahawks backup Drew Lock, who has 64 fewer career game appearances, 35 fewer starts and only six fewer career interceptions than Taylor.
So Brian Daboll’s quarterback room leading into this month’s NFL Draft is Daniel Jones, coming off a second serious neck injury and a torn right ACL, Lock and Tommy DeVito.
That’s it.
That’s Daboll’s quarterback room entering a likely make-or-break season for the third-year head coach. That is Schoen’s quarterback room as the third-year GM aims to show progress, which must start on the offensive side of the ball.
Here is what they lost:
Tyrod Taylor, 34: 47.7 QBR, 11 games, five starts, 2-3 record, 64.4% completion, 1,341 passing yards, five TDs, three INTs, 17 sacks, 8.6 sack %, 197 rushing yards, four fumbles. Career: 92 games, 58 starts, 28-28-1 record, 61.7% completion, 65 TDs, 29 INTs, 9.3 sack %
Here is what they gained:
Drew Lock, 27: 44.1 QBR, four games, two starts, 1-1 record, 63.2% completion, 543 passing yards, three TDs, three INTs, six sacks, 7.3 sack %, 14 rushing yards, no fumbles. Career: 28 games, 23 starts, 9-14 record, 59.7% completion, 28 TDs, 23 INTs, 4.7 sack %
Here are the other two QBs in the building:
Daniel Jones, 26: 36.3 QBR, six games, six starts, 1-5 record, 67.5% completion, 909 passing yards, two TDs, six INTs, 30 sacks, 15.8 sack %, 206 rushing yards, one rushing TD, four fumbles. Career: 60 games, 59 starts, 22-36-1 record, 64.3% completion, 62 TDs, 40 INTs, 8.6 sack %
Tommy DeVito, 25: 23.7 QBR, nine games, six starts, 3-3 record, 64% completion, 1,101 passing yards, eight TDs, three INTs, 37 sacks, 17.2 sack %, 195 rushing yards, one rushing TD, two fumbles
Taylor was PFF’s 23rd-rated quarterback for the 2023 NFL season. Jones was 33rd. DeVito was 34th.
This is a harsh reality worth reiterating, with the Giants’ needy roster and distance from the top three picks creating a possible scenario where they do not draft a quarterback at No. 6 overall.
It is a harsh reality worth highlighting in bright, bold, flashing letters if necessary because the Giants may need a receiver, a tight end, a corner, an offensive lineman and a defensive tackle — just to name a few.
But no one rookie at any of those positions will swing this season’s projected 6.5-win total dramatically. And if Daboll doesn’t get a promising, developmental quarterback into his building now, it is likely he never will as their head coach.
Jones’ contract keeps him on the Giants’ roster for at least one more season here in 2024, so at the very least, Schoen and Daboll have the opportunity to go the Green Bay route: Draft a QB who can develop and compete behind Jones until he’s ready.
This might not be a situation where the Giants could keep a rookie on the bench for years — or even months — as the Packers did with both Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love in their 2008 and 2023 succession plans.
But there is a clear need, let alone an appeal, for the Giants to get their next quarterback in the building and in the offense, even if he needs some time.
“That’s a good question,” Daboll said last week, when asked if he’d ideally like to do things the Packers’ way at QB. “I think it’s different. I think it just depends where you are at and who you have. Obviously if you can have two quarterbacks or three quarterbacks in 30 years or whatever it is, it certainly seems ideal to me. You have Brett [Favre], and you have Aaron and … Sign me up for that, if you can have three quarterbacks in 30 years.”
It can’t be overstated that Giants co-owner John Mara said he supports this scenario at the NFL Owners Meetings.
“Why not let them both compete? Let them both compete and let the better man win,” Mara said of Jones and a hypothetical rookie QB. “We do have confidence in Daniel. But if you have a chance to bring in another quarterback and your head coach and the general manager have a conviction about him, you go ahead and do it.”
Mara said the Giants’ front office has told him “it’s the most talented group” of quarterbacks “to come out in years.”
Nobody is ignoring that Schoen’s offensive line barely gave Jones a chance last season. The GM also paid the QB a four-year, $160 million extension one year ago, so it’s valid to at least argue he already made his choice at quarterback.
Schoen also used the No. 39 overall pick in this draft to acquire pass rusher Brian Burns in this draft, removing some of his best ammunition if he aims to trade up for a QB from No. 6.
Still, Jones is entering his sixth NFL season and the Giants still would be hoping just as much as believing if they relied solely on Jones staying healthy and elevating to an elite level in 2024, fair or not.
“There’s no exact science” to scouting and picking quarterbacks, as Daboll said, but he added: “I love doing it. I love evaluating quarterbacks. I love meeting with the quarterbacks. It’s an awesome position to work with, and it’s a really fun position to evaluate.”
And there’s a reason Schoen, Daboll and the Giants are evaluating this class’ QBs closely: They don’t just want one. They need one.
