One of the biggest tasks the NY Giants currently face is the 2024 NFL Draft. More specifically, what they will do in the first round with the No. 6 overall pick. There's a whole lot of potential for Joe Schoen to make the right move and find the next franchise player for the Giants this year. However, if Schoen makes the wrong decision, it could cost him his job down the road.
The potential for the Giants to make the right move is high, as this is a draft class loaded with talent when it comes to New York's positions of need. Despite this, the odds of Schoen making a franchise-dooming selection are still noticeable. Let's just hope Schoen doesn't make any of these four mistakes during the first round:
4. Reaching for J.J. McCarthy at No. 6
There is certainly a world where J.J. McCarthy becomes a solid NFL QB, as the 21-year-old national champion definitely does have some good traits. However, the risk is incredibly high with drafting him, especially inside the Top 10.
While at Michigan, McCarthy showed that under the right system, he can be a successful, winning quarterback. The argument can be made that McCarthy is a product of the team around him. However, that doesn't mean he doesn't have certain traits that would make him worth being drafted potentially in the first round.
For example, McCarthy has shown some flashes of making moderately advanced reads for college football. Remember, McCarthy is a very young prospect and this is already more than some older guys in this draft have shown. Alongside this, we're pretty intrigued by his abilities to make plays outside of the pocket.
Despite this, there's not a chance McCarthy would be worth taking so high at sixth overall. Even if he did reach his ceiling, it would likely take a couple years to do so and the Giants need to make some improvements sooner than later. McCarthy could take a while to develop and the G-Men don't have time to waste.
3. Trading back into the first round for Michael Penix or Bo Nix
With all the buzz around the draft recently, it seems like there's a decent chance that one, or both Michael Penix and Bo Nix fall pretty far into the first round. If this happens, we hope the Giants don't get too excited about the chance of trading back into the first round because we really don't think it would be worth it considering their red flags as prospects.
Penix has aspects of his game that make him a pretty tantalizing prospect, but his poor pocket presence and rough injury history have him as a poor fit with the current state of the Giants. During his college career, Penix tore his ACL twice, and separated his AC joint in both shoulders. These are very serious injuries and while he's had two injury-free seasons in 2022 and '23, this is still a concern.
As for Nix, he really just doesn't seem NFL-ready, which is a pretty big problem considering that he'll be 24 when the season starts. He's had one truly successful season in college through five years and it came in an oversimplified Oregon offense that focused on screens and vertical concepts.
Both of these guys could be successful in the NFL, but it wouldn't be worth giving up assets to trade for them. They're both older prospects and have concerns that could make it so they struggle early on in their careers.
2. Selecting the 'best player available' at No. 6
This is a fairly stacked draft class and while the Giants certainly weren't a good team in 2023, they definitely have some positions they need to focus on more than others. Knowing this, the Giants should not enter the 2024 NFL Draft with the mindset of selecting the best player available at No. 6 overall.
For example, if Brock Bowers falls to six, it would be in Schoen's best interest not to take him. Bowers is an incredible talent, but to take a tight end when the Giants have so many issues on both sides of the ball just seems foolish.
Whether it be offensive line, quarterback, edge-rusher, or receiver, the Giants have far too many other positions of need to take a tight end so high. While Bowers could help with the teams receiving issues, tight ends can only do so much, especially given all of the other problems New York has offensively.
1. Overpaying for the No. 1 overall pick
While taking a player like Caleb Williams No. 1 overall could be huge for the future of the Giants, the Bears' asking price may be too much. According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the Bears are looking for a historic haul in exchange for the first pick.
Williams could very well change the trajectory of the Giants' franchise, but there's always the chance he fails. If New York were to trade up with this historic haul and Williams performs poorly, it could set them back for years to come.
New York can't afford to gamble their entire future on one player. Perhaps if the asking price was similar to what the Panthers gave up last year, Schoen would consider it. However, it simply isn't worth the risk. With how many other holes the team has, it may be a better idea to take someone like Joe Alt or Malik Nabers sixth and wait until next year to take a QB.