What about this idea if Giants miss out on top targets?
The New York Giants have picks 3 and 34 in the 2025 NFL Draft. There are five quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft class expected to be in play in that range of the draft, and the Giants are expected to seek one of them.
What, though, if the Giants miss out on Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders, Jaxson Dart, Jalen Milroe and Tyler Shough?
Giants head coach Brian Daboll reminded at the owners’ meetings a few weeks ago that “everything’s gotta fall in line” to get the quarterback you want because “you don’t know when they’re gonna get taken.”
So, back to the question. What do the Giants do if they don’t get one of those top five quarterbacks.
Derek Klassen of The Athletic has an outside the box idea. In naming best fits for quarterbacks in the upcoming draft, Klassen matched the Giants and Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard.
Klassen wrote:
Brian Daboll’s best work over the years — outside of his time with Josh Allen — was at Alabama in 2017, with Jalen Hurts, and in 2022, with Daniel Jones.
Though different quality players, Hurts and Jones can both generally be described as sturdy, athletic quarterbacks with the arm talent to push the ball down the field a little bit. Both players added something to the offense via their mobility, and Daboll took advantage.
Aside from maybe Milroe, Leonard is Daboll’s best swing at that kind of athlete. Leonard is 6-foot-4, 218 pounds with serious wheels. He’s fairly explosive in short areas and excels when he really gets to stride out, similar to Jones. He’s clearly a weapon in the designed-run game and the red zone.
Leonard still has a lot to prove as a passer, but his athletic ability and toughness gives him a floor to work with while he figures it out.
Leonard, interestingly, may have more love from the NFL itself than from the media-based draft scouting community. He is widely considered a likely Day 3 pick. The NFL Mock Draft Database lists him as QB10 and overall prospect No. 163, putting him somewhere around Round 5. Dane Brugler of The Athletic has a Round 4-5 grade on Leonard.
In his draft guide, Brugler writes:
With his instinctive athleticism, Leonard impacts the game in diferent ways, including as a ball carrier, scrambler and when using evasive maneuvers to stay alive in the pocket. As a passer, he has a quality arm but wasn’t able to let it loose on his 2024 tape and will need to prove that he has the anticipation and placement to consistently push the ball downfield. Overall, Leonard has an interesting upside because of his athletic passing tools and elite makeup, but it will take time for him to develop NFL-caliber field vision and pocket rhythm. He projects as a backup in a scheme that leverages his mobility.
On his most recent podcast, though, Todd McShay of The Ringer said that per his sources Leonard and Will Howard of Ohio State are the only quarterbacks beyond the top five who have an “outside shot” of being selected on Day 2 of the draft.
Your thoughts on Leonard as a developmental quarterback option, Giants fans?
