The New York Giants’ strategy heading into this year’s draft involved a player now with the Washington Commanders.
Heading into the draft, there was much talk that the Giants would be looking foremost to get a playmaker they could use to really help current starting quarterback Daniel Jones.
However, this latest episode of “Hard Knocks” reveals that the Giants’ first priority was to obtain a quarterback if they were available to pull off a trade. Giants coach Brian Daboll would have rather been able to trade up and select LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Yet, there is always a price tag involved when trading up, especially in the first round of the NFL Draft. Consequently, the Giants were unable to obtain Daniels, so they moved onto plan B, which was to select an offensive playmaker.
Finishing at 6-11, two games ahead of the Commanders, the Giants were in the sixth overall position of the first round. Thus, they chose Daniels’ LSU teammate, receiver Malik Nabers.
So, the “Hard Knocks” episode confirms that the Commanders were not the only team who had their eyes on making Daniels their top selection of this draft. The previous episode revealed that the Giants did talk to the New England Patriots, as they desired to trade up and select North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye.
Brian Daboll says he would have traded up for Jayden Daniels 👀
🎥: @StreamOnMax https://t.co/bYIBBHLJsY pic.twitter.com/LdVlxY46B9
— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) July 17, 2024
Giants fans now have all week to wait for next week’s episode and to see how it unfolded as the Giants desired and pursued Daniels before settling for Nabers with their selection at number six.
Who knows, it may disappoint many Giants fans. Perhaps they would rather have Daniels at quarterback than remain with Daniel Jones as their starter in 2024.