New York Giants draft: Matt Waldman breaks down quarterback options

Skill position analyst visits ‘Valentine’s Views’ podcast

One of my favorite conversations each year as the NFL Draft approaches is with Matt Waldman of The Rookie Scouting Portfolio. Waldman joined the ‘Valentine’s Views’ podcast on Monday for a lengthy conversation about the New York Giants and many of the top quarterbacks in the 2025 draft class.

If you aren’t familiar with Waldman’s work, he is one of the pre-eminent skill position analysts in the industry.

Below is a breakdown of much of what we talked about. The full show is also included at the end of the post.

On the state of the Giants

“The Giants continue to be a fascinating team and I I like a lot of where the Giants are going even though maybe fans are frustrated with what the expectations were vs. the reality. They intrigue me this year.

“I’m happy coming back and and being able to see that Daniel Jones is out of New York and that Malik Nabers started off so strong even with or without a quarterback.”

An optimistic Waldman believes the Giants are “maybe two to three players away from being a solid wildcard team.”

On Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston

Even with the veterans Wilson and Winston, the Giants are expected to add a rookie quarterback. Waldman believes the Giants have set up a good quarterback room for whoever that rookie is.

“It’s a good quarterback room for a young quarterback,” Waldman said. “Even though some people might look at the narratives involving Russell Wilson and James Winston and go ‘how can that be a good quarterback room?’ But I think in a lot of ways it can.”

Waldman believes Wilson will give the Giants better quarterback play than they have had.

“Russell Wilson is a strong decision maker who puts the ball in a position for his receivers to win it And that mean that’s great for Malik Nabers. He’s good in the play-action game. So, this is a team that Wilson could provide a lot of stability … When you watch the best of Russell Wilson you see a player that has an undying belief that he can help his team win.”

Giants a good situation for a rookie QB?

With GM Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll potentially facing the end of their tenures if 2025 doesn’t go well, some might consider the Giants a difficult landing spot for a rookie quarterback. Not Waldman.

“While it seems like the GM and the coach to varying levels are on shaky ground from a Giants perspective the one thing that I’ve always admired about the Giants is that they tend to be patient and see the course about things,” Waldman said. “They tend to give people an opportunity to grow and develop. And I think that in the background … they’ve built a solid nucleus and they’re not that far away from becoming a really strong nucleus as a team.

“Now you have a quarterback room with two seasoned veterans who have played for multiple teams, who have worked with multiple coaches and systems, who have been to the playoffs, who’ve been to Super Bowls, who have won and lost Super Bowls in dramatic fashion. As a result of all that collective experience in a quarterback room is really important. And to have a quarterback, if you draft one this year, regardless of what happens to the coach the GM and those quarterbacks in the future he’s gonna have one full year to sit and watch … It’s still not ideal, but it’s better than playing and being thrown every which way and not having veteran leadership mentorship in front of you and then being forced to look at a second scheme and not knowing how to approach it the way a pro would.”

Shedeur Sanders

“What I see on the field with Shedeur Sanders is a player who who certainly understands that it’s on him to drive this offense,” Waldman said. “And so sometimes he makes conceptual mistakes where in the black zone deep inside his own 20 or in the opponent’s 20 of the red zone where maybe he takes on more than he should and tries to make hero type of plays that he should avoid. But the question becomes is that because the coaching staff has asked you to take that on and knowing that you’re kind of an underdog in every game and that we need you to try and make big plays and they’re okay with that, or is it more about him trying too much when he shouldn’t.”

Waldman said Sanders “might give you the steadiest baseline of quarterback play of the top three guys or four guys in his class.”

“He might never be better than the best version of Geno Smith or Baker Mayfield, but maybe the least likely to be an absolute bust,” Waldman said.

Jalen Milroe

Giants GM Joe Schoen has said the Giants want a quarterback they can win Super Bowls with.

“I think if you’re going to look for that upside [of] who might be able to win Super Bowls for you there Jalen Milroe might be that guy,” Waldman said.

Waldman feels about Milroe the way he felt about Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes. He said they were “players that people thought were high risk when I thought they weren’t high risk at all.”

Jaxson Dart

The Ole Miss quarterback is widely considered to be QB3, and is a player I often mock to the Giants at No. 34 or earlier.

Dart is QB5 for Waldman, who has concerns about Dart’s deep ball accuracy.

“He still has a grade that I think is over that median where you could say he could develop into a starter,” Waldman said. “He is very good as a short and low-end intermediate range thrower. The charting on him is very good there. He has the potential to be a strong play-action quarterback.

“The problem with Jaxson Dart right now is that anything beyond 25 yards is suspect with his passing. He is scattershot, literally all over the place where it’s either too long, too short, too wide, too far inside of his target. And it feels like no rhyme or reason why.”

Waldman said sometimes those inaccuracies are tied to mechanical issues, but at other times “I’ve also seen inaccuracies downfield in those ranges where his feet look good, and then I think of a guy like Jake Locker who you look at him throw and you go mechanically it looks all fine but he can’t hit the broad side of a barn beyond certain ranges of the field.”

A surprise in the top five

Waldman’s QB rankings are:

1. Cam Ward
2. Jalen Milroe
3. Shedeur Sanders
4. Kurtis Rourke
5. Jaxson Dart

Yes, you read that right. Kurtis Rourke of Indiana is QB4.

“What you’re seeing is a guy who reads the field well. This is a guy who had 3,000 yards and 29 touchdowns and five interceptions last year on a torn ACL,” Waldman said. “Then you look at how he moves in the pocket, how he is clean with his footwork, compact with his release mechanics, how he holds middle of the field defenders to a side of the field so he can buy room for a target breaking from the opposite side of the field. He does this well in rhythm. He sells things well. He’s confident in tight windows.

Waldman compared Rourke to Brock Purdy.

“This is a guy who’s going to be a good backup regardless, I think, who has potential togrow into something more, Waldman said.

Other guys

We didn’t talk about Cam Ward. We also did not have time to discuss Tyler Shough or some of the other potential Day 3 quarterbacks. Please give the full episode a listen below. It’s long, so just set the playback speed at an increased clip. Enjoy!