Around this time last offseason, many across the league wondered if the New York Giants were leaning toward drafting a quarterback with the sixth overall pick despite signing Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract. That obviously wasn’t the case, as Big Blue drafted wide receiver Malik Nabers with their first-round selection.
Even though Nabers had an amazing rookie season—breaking the Giants' franchise record for most single-season receptions with 109 and earning a Pro Bowl nod—you have to wonder how different the 2024 season might have been if the Giants had gone in the quarterback direction last April. As many fans painfully know, the 2024 season saw the Giants go a woeful 3-14, setting a franchise record with ten consecutive losses. This past season also saw the Giants release Jones less than two years into his contract.
So, it begs the question: should the Giants have either traded up to draft a quarterback or taken one at sixth overall last spring, with signal-callers like Bo Nix and JJ McCarthy still on the board? However, in a re-drafting of the 2024 Draft by Bleacher Report, Big Blue is still projected to go in the wideout direction in the first round.
The G-Men still select a WR at sixth overall despite missing out on Nabers
Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report recently published a re-draft of the 2024 draft class. Despite the Giants missing out on Nabers, who went to the Arizona Cardinals in this scenario, he still has them selecting wideout Brian Thomas Jr. with the sixth overall pick instead of addressing the quarterback position.
"There's more than a little temptation to go quarterback here given that we now know that the Daniel Jones extension was a disaster. OK, so we essentially always knew that. But regardless of that, the Giants desperately needed a No. 1 wide receiver heading into last season," Davenport wrote.
"They found one in Malik Nabers. Now they have the opportunity to get another one in Brian Thomas Jr. The 23rd pick last year, Smith quickly emerged as the alpha wideout in Jacksonville—despite "catching" wormburners from Mac Jones for a chunk of the season. No first-year receiver had more yards than Thomas' 1,282, he averaged almost 15 yards a catch and scored double-digit touchdowns."
This is quite the bold prediction by Davenport, especially since Thomas ended up falling to the Jaguars at 23rd overall. But as Davenport noted, while it was a lost season for the Jaguars—just like the Giants—Thomas was a bright spot during his rookie year.
Having become the only Jaguars receiver in team history to record over 1,200 yards in a single season, while averaging 15 yards per catch and scoring ten touchdowns—mostly with Mac Jones throwing him the ball after starter Trevor Lawrence went down—Thomas' rookie season arguably outshone Nabers'.
While we all know that starting Jones in 2024 was a complete disaster for the Giants, this re-draft suggests Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll may have still prioritized adding a No. 1 receiver to their offense over addressing the quarterback position. Now, Giants fans will have to wait until this spring to find out who New York’s next franchise quarterback will be.