Pairing Cam Ward with Jameis Winston
The latest 7-round NFL mock draft from Pro Football Network allows me to do something I have been considering for the last few days. What’s that? Put my marker down on what I think, as of today, should be the 2025 quarterback plan for the New York Giants.
What’s the plan?
- Sign Jameis Winston in free agency. Spotrac estimates a two-year, $12 million deal for Winston. That is neither expensive nor a major commitment.
- Trade up to No. 1 with the Tennessee Titans and select Cam Ward of Miami as the quarterback of the future.
I will get into all of the reasons as we go along. Let’s get to the mock draft, though. Coincidentally, perhaps the reason why this mock hits on the exact scenario that is my favorite for the Giants is that the mock was done by former Big Blue View contributor Joe DeLeone.
Round 1 (No. 1) — Cam Ward, QB, Miami
The trade:
Giants get — No. 1 overall pick
Tennessee gets — Picks 3 and 34 in 2025, and a 2026 second-round pick
DeLeone says:
The Giants coaching staff and front office are in desperation mode. They can’t miss out on the best quarterback prospect in the class. Someone will try to move up by draft night for Cam Ward, and in this case, it’s New York landing the gunslinger out of Miami.
Valentine’s View
Aaron Schatz of ESPN wrote recently that the “bold offseason move” for the Giants should be not trading for Matthew Stafford, then sitting at No. 3 in the 2025 NFL Draft and hoping that either Ward or Shedeur Sanders falls to them.
Nonsense!
If 2024 had been GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll’s first season with the Giants, the 3-14 would have been shrugged off as the beginning of a rebuilding process, and they would still have a grace period for finding the organization a quarterback of the future. They could sit back and let the draft happen.
This, though, will be the fourth offseason for Schoen and Daboll. They tried and failed to make it work with Daniel Jones. They tried to move up in the draft a year ago, were unsuccessful, and then chose to pass on the three remaining Round 1-worthy quarterbacks. The Giants have gone 9-25 the past two seasons, and often looked like maybe they should be relegated to the UFL.
There is no more grace period. The seats for Schoen and Daboll are hot, maybe hotter for the coach than the GM — but no matter. They must put a better product on the field in 2025, or they probably have new employers in 2026.
They also, in my view, must identify and put in place a player who shows the potential to be the team’s quarterback of the future. The fact that this is a lesser quarterback class than the one they were presented with in 2024 doesn’t matter. This is the situation the results of their previous choices has put them in.
Schoen likes to point to the process of scouting and identifying quarterbacks that he and Daboll have been part of for years. It is one that helped lead the Buffalo Bills to Josh Allen and had the Giants wishing they could have gotten their hands on Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye a year ago.
It is time for that process to pay dividends for the Giants. The reality is that if Schoen and Daboll do not take their swing now, there is a very good probability they never get to take that swing with the Giants.
So, the time is now. The best available quarterback in the draft, the one with the highest upside based on physical tools, is Ward. With apologies to good friend Emory Hunt of CBS Sports, who likes to call Sanders “The black Joe Burrow,” that’s the truth. Watch Ward and Sanders throw and interact side by side in the video below, and it is crystal clear which quarterback has the most pure arm talent. Not, of course, that arm talent is everything. It’s not. But, it’s a heckuva starting place.
Ward is within their grasp. The BOLD move for Schoen and Daboll is to shoot their shot and go get him.
The trade proposed by DeLeone is the exact package I would be comfortable giving the Titans. By both the Jimmy Johnson and Rich Hill trade charts, that value is just under being equal (122 points short for Tennessee in the Johnson chart, 22 points short in the Hill chart). Maybe it requires something else since trade up teams usually have to surrender additional value, but I think this is enough.
Tennessee, with a first-year GM in Mike Borgonzi, has said it would not pass on a generational talent in the draft. The Titans, though, have also expressed an interest in acquiring as many picks as possible to jump start a rebuild.
If the Titans want to satisfy BOTH of those aims, they can’t trade back any farther than No. 3 with the Giants. If they go back to No. 6 in a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, they almost certainly take themselves out of the running for Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter. Why would they do that? They certainly should not do that.
As I said above, the bold thing to do, the think I think right now is the correct thing to do, is for Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll to make this happen.
Why would I pair Ward with Winston?
For starters, I know what Winston is. He is Drew Lock on steroids, the wildest kind of quarterback rollercoaster a team can ride. The ups are high and exhilarating, and the falls can come screechingly fast and be incredibly scary.
Still, Winston’s arm talent, play style and body type are similar to Ward’s. Daboll and Mike Kafka could establish the same vertical offense with either player — a benefit I think would appeal to Daboll.
Winston, as a former No. 1 overall pick who has had ups and downs in his career, might also be a perfect mentor for Ward in helping him learn about life in the NFL.
Round 3 (No. 65) — Darien Porter, CB, Iowa State
DeLeone says:
Listed at 6’4” and 200 pounds, Darien Porter has unreal length for a defensive back prospect. The mobility he plays with at his size sets him up to be a starting cornerback for the Giants early in his career.
Here is part of the scouting report from the 33rd Team:
Porter is a supersized height/weight/speed blend at the cornerback position. His stature and burst make him an intriguing talent when you consider he only recently made the transition to cornerback halfway through his six-year college career.
There’s plenty of technical room for growth that can be poured into his game to amplify the foundation of ball skills, length, and zone coverage instincts that he currently illustrates. Porter is at his best in zone coverage as a perimeter cornerback and has showcased the ability to play hard flats in Cover 2 and exotic Cover-3 rotations or, alternatively, play in a half turn and play a deep third in Cover 3.
His ability to play man coverage can be amplified if he develops as a press coverage defender and can get hands on opposing receivers at the NFL level.
Valentine’s View: I like the upside play here at a position of need. There are some offensive linemen still on the board who might have deserved consideration — Charles Grant, William & Mary; Emery Jones, LSU; Wyatt Milum, West Virginia; Tate Ratledge, Georgia — but I can’t quibble with this idea.
The rest of the draft
Round 4 (No. 104) — Mason Taylor, TE, LSU
Round 4 (No. 134) — Ollie Gordon II, RB, Oklahoma State
Round 5 (No. 155) — Nazir Stackhouse, DT, Georgia
Round 7 (No. 221) — Daniel Jackson, WR, Minnesota
Round 7 (No. 248) — Ethan Downs, Edge, Oklahoma
Valentine’s View
Our Chris Pflum profiled Gordon, and likes the player. If the Giants think he can add something to their offense, I have no issue with taking a running back at this point in the draft. I don’t see Stackhouse as a real impact player, but he can be a capable run defender and defensive tackle needed to be addressed.
