Pre-draft ‘things I think’: New York Giants GM Joe Schoen has unenviable task

Schoen has to add to the roster now, find a quarterback for later

I think the New York Giants are the most interesting team in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The Giants will almost certainly face the most fascinating decision in the draft, and one that likely shapes the landscape of the first two rounds. That, of course, is whether or not to go all-in and select Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders at No. 3.

A week ago, I thought the debate had been settled. I thought there was no chance the Giants would select Sanders third overall. I still don’t think drafting Sanders will be the play, but let’s acknowledge that there is a chance.

I think I agree with the assessment from ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky regarding the situation GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll are in.

“The situation for Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen, it’s as bad a situation as there is in the NFL [for a] head coach/GM combination because football people do what’s best for the team. That’s just how they’re brought up in nature and I would assume that they want to do that,” Orlovsky said. “But then there’s the reality of job. Their reality is that they have to find a way to save their job.”

This is the situation the Giants’ decision-makers are in. This is not Year 1 or Year 2 for Schoen and Daboll. It is Year 4. They are coming off back-to-back awful years. They barely kept their jobs after the team went 3-14 in 2024, and co-owner John Mara made it clear that 2025 had to be better.

Mara, though, also made something else clear. It is time for Schoen and Daboll to stop finding reasons not to do it and to put a rookie on the roster with the potential to be the team’s quarterback of the future.

“Obviously the number one issue for us going into this offseason, is to find our quarterback of the future,” Mara said in January.

Orlovsky goes on to state that picking Carter won’t save the jobs of Schoen and Daboll, but that drafting the right quarterback might.

He could be right about that, but there isn’t a guaranteed “hand him the keys to the franchise from Day 1” option available to the Giants at quarterback in the draft.

Which leaves the Giants trying to accomplish two goals that don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand.

• They need to find a way to get a potential franchise quarterback of the future in a class where everyone acknowledges those are in short supply, and beyond Cam Ward there is no consensus who they are. That’s the what’s best for the team/organization part that Orlovsky referenced.
• They need to put a good enough product on the field and win enough games that Mara and Steve Tisch decide to keep them around to try and develop that quarterback.

Schoen clearly understands both tasks that are on his crowded plate. When he spoke to media at the Combine Schoen talked almost exclusively about 2025. The future beyond that was barely mentioned. Schoen understands that 3-14 can’t happen again.

As for quarterback, Schoen has probably compiled more frequent flier miles and put more effort into trying to find the right quarterback for the Giants for two straight offseasons. If the fruits of that labor are not realized this time around, Schoen and Daboll may never get the opportunity to show that their closely guarded quarterback evaluation process can pay dividends for the Giants.

It is not an enviable position for an NFL GM to be in.

There have been reports that as late as Monday the Giants were not in full agreement in their evaluation of Sanders — at least in terms of what type of draft capital should be used on him.

Giants’ fans clearly don’t think Sanders will be a Giant.

My belief is that the right path for the Giants is the one that seems most likely. Get the best player they can at No. 3 and then circle back to quarterback in whatever way they deem necessary.

The draft winds seem to be blowing in that direction, and toward quarterback for the Giants being a non-Sanders solution.

As we wrote on Wednesday, Todd McShay of The Ringer believes Daboll “is not a Shedeur guy.” He believes Daboll is a Jaxson Dart guy. Both McShay and ESPN NFL insider Peter Schrager have the Giants selecting Carter at No. 3 and then trading back into the latter part of Round 1 to select Dart.

In my view, that is the best chance Schoen and Daboll have of fulfilling both of their short- and long-term objectives. It will be fascinating to see if Schoen can pull it off.

5 things I am really curious about

1. Where will Shedeur Sanders land and, how will Deion react to it — especially if it involves a long fall? If Sanders gets past the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 21, some think he will fall out of Round 1.
2. How high will running back Ashton Jeanty be selected?
3. Will Jalen Milroe sneak into Round 1, or fall into Round 3?
4. Will Kayvon Thibodeaux be a New York Giant on Friday morning?
5. You hear over and over that a number of evaluators think Tyler Shough could actually be QB2 in this class. Who will take the plunge? When?

Things you shouldn’t miss

We have been covering the draft from every conceivable angle for months. There are a few things you should have handy as you track the picks over the next few days.

• The Big Blue View Big Board — See if where prospects are taken aligns with the value we have assigned to them.
• Prospect profiles — There are more than 100 of them.
• Mock drafts — Who is going to come the closest to what the Giants actually do?

Ed’s final mock | Chris’s final mock | Nick’s mock

• Big Blue View Rules for Draft Success — is Joe Schoen paying attention?
• Quarterback Scouting Reports — What NFL Draft analysts, scouts are saying about 2025 class