Could the New York Giants get the No. 1 pick from the Tennessee Titans?

The pick isn’t for sale yet … but it might be eventually

The New York Giants missed in an effort to get Matthew Stafford. They still need a quarterback. Actually, multiple quarterbacks. As GM Joe Schoen said at the NFL Scouting Combine “everybody knows that.”

The Giants will almost certainly draft one. To draft the quarterback who ends up highest on their list, likely to be Cam Ward of Miami if you believe most of the current chatter, there is only one way to guarantee the chance to do so.

Trade up from No. 3 to No. 1 with the Tennessee Titans.

Can the Giants actually pull that off? It seems like many around the league expect them to try, with Dianna Russini of The Athletic saying the Giants are “a team to watch on multiple fronts” in their effort to find a quarterback.

Would the Titans, with Will Levis not looking like their long-term answer at quarterback, be willing to move off that pick rather than select Ward or Shedeur Sanders? They might be.

First-year GM Mike Borgonzi has said Tennessee would not pass on the opportunity to draft a player they believe to be generational. If they believe both Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter and Penn State edge defender Abdul Carter fall into that category and decide against taking a quarterback, they could move to No. 3, get additional picks, and still get one of those two players.

Borgonzi said at the Combine that no trade of the No. 1 pick would be considered until closer to the draft, once the organization completes its evaluation of the quarterbacks.

“At the end of the day, we have to make the best decision at this point for the Titans. And if we deem taking a quarterback is the most important thing right now, then we’ll do that,” Borgonzi said. “But we have to go through this process here. So this is like one touch point in the process. We’ve gone through the whole evaluation part. Now we’re finally getting to sit down and meet with these guys and talk with them. We’ll have pro days, we’ll have 30 day visits. We have to go through the whole process really to make that decision.”

NFL insider Ian Rapoport said Saturday that the Titans “need a little more time” to make their decision, but that there is “real interest from several teams” in obtaining the No. 1 pick.

ESPN NFL insider Field Yates said on the ‘Pat McAfee Show’ that the Titans might be in a position to create a bidding war between the Giants and Cleveland Browns, who have the No. 2 pick.

“Not that either one of them would for sure make that move up there … I think the league, on average, views Cam Ward as the higher-rated prospect than Shedeur Sanders. But, if the Giants say ‘hey, we’re bigger Shedeur Sanders guys than Cam Ward guys than Shedeur Sanders guys and Cleveland might see it the same way, then you’re not gonna settle,” Yates said.

“Teams normally view quarterbacks almost like house hunting, where you get different preferences for what you actually want in that player. Tennessee might be able to say, hey, if we think Cleveland and New York would both take Cam Ward without a problem over Sanders … might be able to create some leverage there and potentially move down.”

Yates pointed out the Titans, with a rookie GM and second-year head coach in Brian Callahan, don’t face as much immediate pressure to find the right quarterback.

The Giants figure to be quarterback shopping in the draft regardless of what happens in free agency or the trade market. There doesn’t appear to be a quarterback available — not even Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins or Russell Wilson — who would keep them from grabbing a quarterback of the future if they believe they have the chance.