NY Giants draft: NFL Mocks says G-Men replace Daniel Jones

In a way-too-early 2022 mock draft, NFL Mocks suggests the NY Giants elect to move on from Daniel Jones by taking a quarterback early in Round 1.

2021 will go one of two ways for embattled NY Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.

Either the former first-round pick will finally turn things around, especially in the wake of the G-Men spending all kinds of resources to surround him with offensive talent. Or, perhaps undone by what’s been a troubling trend of turning the ball over, New York will finally admit its mistake of drafting him and look to find his heir apparent.

One can hope for the former scenario to play out, as the NFC East is wide open heading into this upcoming season. Especially fans of the 24-year-old Jones.

But that’s not what the folks over at FanSided’s NFL Mocks think will happen, at least not according to Sayre Bedinger’s recent full Round 1 mock NFL Draft for 2022.

In Bedinger’s mock, the NY Giants use their first of two Round 1 selections on Jones’ replacement, grabbing North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell at No. 9 overall:

"General manager Dave Gettleman acquired some valuable 2022 NFL Draft assets and if the Giants are picking in the top 10 again next year?Well, you would have to think — as stated with other QB selections early on in this mock draft — that the QB would have something significant to do with that.If that’s the case, the Giants would probably be thrilled here to get Sam Howell as the QB3 of this draft class.Could that actually happen? … It’s not hard to see Howell’s potential path to being the QB1 of this draft class. For this exercise, he lands with the New York Giants, picking in the top 10 (again) and moving on from Daniel Jones."

There are some who view Howell as potentially the first quarterback to be taken in next year’s draft, possibly the No. 1 overall selection, which will likely go to the hapless Houston Texans.

At the same time, there are always risers and fallers during the draft, and it’s not uncommon to see many a top-end quarterback slip a few picks, not unlike what happened with now-Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields this year — a player many viewed would be selected in the top-five picks but made it to Chicago at No. 11 overall.

NY Giants bolster the pass rush with their second Round 1 pick

The Giants were beneficiaries of the Bears’ trade-up for Fields, netting general manager Dave Gettleman an additional first-round pick.

If one of those is definitely going to be used on a quarterback, should Jones underwhelm in 2021, it wouldn’t be shocking at all to see the second of two Round 1 selections used to bolster the outside pass rush, which is what NFL Mocks suggests will happen.

The pick? USC EDGE Drake Jackson:

"Drake Jackson has played 17 games at USC and has 17 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, and a load of pressures on top of those numbers.He’s got an uncanny ability to create pressure and disrupt the passing game whether he’s sacking the quarterback, pressuring the quarterback, or batting the ball down at the line of scrimmage."

An outside pass-rusher would take a great deal of pressure off defensive tackle Leonard Williams, who led the team with 11.5 sacks a year ago. With EDGE Kyler Fackrell no longer in the G-Men’s defensive picture, getting some additional help for Williams and defensive end Dexter Lawrence would certainly be a smart move.

Granted, Lawrence could take a massive leap in year three of his own pro career, while Jones also potentially turns things around, thereby shaking up New York’s needs in next year’s draft.

But if things go poorly, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the team’s two first-round picks pan out in such a way.