The Giants aren’t going to take a quarterback with the No. 6 overall pick.
At least that’s the way ESPN Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter is leaning less than three weeks out from the 2024 NFL Draft.
“To me, in the end, this is a team that has enough other needs – in a team that is trying to win now – that I wouldn’t guess that they go quarterback at six right now,” Schefter said Monday on the Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard podcast. “I do think there will be a quarterback that will be selected [by the Giants] with a pick that is a relatively high pick, whether that’s in round two or three, or they move back up if a guy like Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr. is available perhaps.
“But to me,” Schefter continued, “to go quarterback at six when there’s gonna be some incredible players on the board, when they have some of the needs they do, I think I would be a little surprised.”
Never say never, of course.
Schefter, a spokesperson for Sanofi’s 1 Pledge movement to stress the importance of early diabetes screenings, said “I never rule anything out” in the draft and in the end, the Giants “could decide to go quarterback” after all.
“But if I were making a friendly wager with you,” Schefter said with a smile, “I would say they’re more likely to go wide receiver or offensive lineman at six. But I do think quarterback is square on their radar, and I do think they will look to address that position at some point relatively high.”
Gambling with Schefter, as he proved to his college friends recently, is risky business.
Long before J.J. McCarthy was a national champion tracking and popular NFL Draft prospect, one of Schefter’s Michigan buddies insisted McCarthy was going to be a “mid-round pick,” despite Schefter’s insistence that he would be a first-rounder.
They bet dinner for the entire 12-person text chain, and now Schefter’s friend is “going to be footing the bill for a nice, expensive, big, large party dinner,” as Schefter said with a smile.
That was just one of several interesting takeaways from the Daily News’ 1-on-1 interview with Schefter. Here are more highlights:
Q: How many quarterbacks will go in the draft’s first round?
Schefter: “Four locks: Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy. Put ’em down in the first round. They’re going. There’s two guys, Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr., where they could go as high as the middle of the first round, or they could be in the bottom of the first round or early the second day. Are we going to get one of them that creeps into round one? Both of them? I think there is a chance we may get both, because there are so many teams that are in the quarterback market. Probably in the end we’ll get one, and one probably makes it to day two. If you’re asking me today, I would guess five. I won’t be surprised if it’s six.” Schefter added he would give Penix Jr. a “first-round lean,” and Nix is also a possible first-rounder. He thinks McCarthy’s ceiling is picks “two or three,” and “the floor is probably 11 or 12.” His best guess is McCarthy goes between picks eight and 12, maybe in a slight trade up.
Q: Which elite wide receiver prospect will be drafted first?
Schefter: “There are really three elite wide receiver prospects. That’s why it’s hard for me to see the Giants bypassing those players and the great offensive linemen that are in this draft and just saying, ‘OK, we’re gonna go take the fourth rated quarterback over the No. 1 or 2 receiver, over the No. 1 or 2 offensive tackle. It’s just, it’s a lot to me. And I think back to when they took Odell Beckham Jr. from LSU. There were people that wondered about that selection.
“I can tell you NFL teams, they view [LSU’s] Malik Nabers as this stick of dynamite, that explosive, that dynamic. The comparison you hear is Tyreek Hill. Wow. Is he gonna be that? We’ll see. Who knows. Every college player coming out is being compared to somebody. Most of them do not live up to that comparison. But I’ve heard Tyreek mentioned in [connection to] Malik – well, if you can get that kind of player, wouldn’t you want that?”
Schefter said he has heard different people in the league talk about Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., Nabers or Washington’s Rome Odunze at the No. 1 wide receiver in the draft. One GM told him at the NFL Combine: “Malik Nabers is my top rated wide receiver, and I’m not the only one.” Which WR is drafted first will depend simply on a GM’s preference.
Q: Does Saquon Barkley being on the Philadelphia Eagles put more pressure on Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll?
Schefter: “I would say not overtly, but certainly subtly. When you’re in a division against the Philadelphia Eagles, and they have the potential to have the type of season they [could], inevitably if Saquon is Saquon, and the Eagles are the Eagles, and the Eagles have a 12-5 record this year and Saquon runs for 1,400 yards, is that going to reflect positively on the Giants? No, it’s not. It’s not. You don’t not re-sign Saquon because you’re worried he’s gonna go somewhere, but that can’t be a great look if he goes on and flourishes for a division rival… Now it’s not direct pressure, but if the season’s going on and the Eagles have the kind of season they did two years ago when they went to the Super Bowl and Saquon is the focal point of all that and he’s in the MVP conversation, that’s a tough one.”
Q: Is Michigan excited to have Wink Martindale running its defense?
Schefter: “They truly are really happy to have Wink there. I know Wink is really fired up to be there. There’s a lot of defensive talent there at Michigan. Wink’s got some real defensive talent on a team that’s gonna have a lot of turnover on the offensive side of the football. So this defense is gonna have to come through. So it’s gonna be on Wink to try to save the day early on until the offense can find its footing and get some experience. And I think he’s really excited about the challenge of being in Ann Arbor, working with a great head coach like Sherrone Moore, and moving forward here in a new environment and new setting. I think he’s happy with all the new voices in his ears right now.”
***
Schefter also told the News which NFL teams he’s watching for an aggressive trade up, what veteran players could be on the trade market on draft day (hint: wide receivers), why the Cardinals and Rams will be interesting in round one, which NFC East head coaches are on the seat and more on the Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard podcast.
Go to the1pledge.com to get information on early screenings for Type 1 Diabetes.
“My wife is a type 1 diabetic,” Schefter said. “I watch what she goes through every single day. When someone has type 1 diabetes, it’s something they can never stop thinking about. It’s something you live with all the time. We’re trying to give people information to get more information to meet with their doctors and be screened.
“The disease can’t be prevented, it can’t be cured, but it can be detected,” he added. “And that’s the most important thing: people getting ahead of the game. We all want to be ahead of the game. That’s the chance people have by going to the1pledge.com.”
