What an emotionally filled opening week of the 2024 NFL season for everyone involved with the NY Giants. Whether it was the franchise itself, the players, or the fans, emotions ran all over the place. It was not easy to see the Philadelphia Eagles land Saquon Barkley on a three-year, $37.75 million deal with $26 million guaranteed, which many felt was the deal Barkley wanted all along from the Giants, and instead, he got it from their divisional rival. Not an easy pill to swallow.
On top of losing their best player on offense, the Giants also lost one of their best players on defense when Xavier McKinney took his talents to Lambeau and signed a four-year, $68 million deal. Joe Schoen had a few tricks up his sleeve, however, like upgrading the offensive line and signing Jermaine Eluemunor from the Las Vegas Raiders and Jon Runyan Jr. from the Packers.
The biggest acquisition, though, came with the blockbuster trade for Brian Burns and the $150 million deal that followed. Boom. With several of the Giants needs for the 2024 season already in place, they still have others to address. That's where the NFL Draft comes into play and Schoen will be even busier. He'll get things started with another franchise-changing trade:
TRADE ALERT: NY Giants trade No. 6, No. 47 and 2025 third-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for No. 4 overall, select LSU QB Jayden Daniels
The Giants quarterback situation is probably one of the biggest needs to address for the Giants heading into the NFL Draft after free agency. After losing out on Russell Wilson, who the Giants met with and were waiting to hear back from before he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Giants found their replacement for Tyrod Taylor when they signed Drew Lock to a one-year deal.
Or so we first thought, as Lock may not be just a Taylor replacement, but a potential competitor for Daniel Jones in 2024 as the team's starter:
Seahawks GM John Schneider said on Seattle radio show @WymanAndBob that he wanted to keep Drew Lock, but the Giants “basically sold him on the opportunity to compete to be the starter.” Schneider said that Lock views this situation with the Giants as possibly being similar to…
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) March 14, 2024
If the Giants really view Lock as actual competition for Jones, then maybe all the rumors of the Patriots looking at wide receivers as opposed to quarterbacks could tempt the Giants into making a trade to move up, which was what happened in The 33rd Team’s latest mock draft.
With the Giants reportedly having major concerns with Daniel Jones’ inability to stay healthy long-term:
— Doug Rush (@TheDougRush) March 13, 2024
In the @The33rdTeamFB latest 2024 NFL Mock Draft:
The Giants make a deal with the Cardinals to trade up from No. 6 to No. 4 and select LSU QB Jayden Daniels.
The trade… pic.twitter.com/NI63FTAllS
With the Patriots selecting Marvin Harrison Jr., the Giants decide to call the Cardinals and offer a first and second-rounder in 2024 and a third-rounder in 2025 to move up and get Daniels to be their next quarterback of the future.
Even if Daniels doesn’t start until 2025, the message is very clear: Jones is not the future anymore and even if it doesn’t work out with Lock, the Giants still have their next guy to lead the team. You can’t fault the Giants for wanting to move up. Schoen and Brian Daboll’s jobs depend on this draft and especially with what they decide at QB.