2024 NFL Draft rumors: Giants ownership reluctant to trade up for QB after paying Daniel Jones

2024 NFL Draft rumors: Giants ownership reluctant to trade up for QB after paying Daniel Jones

In recent weeks, almost all of the NFL Draft speculation has surrounded which quarterbacks will be selected, and in which order, after USC’s Caleb Williams comes off the board with the Bears’ No. 1 overall pick. The Washington Commanders are expected to take a quarterback at No. 2, and while the New England Patriots are also in the market for a QB at No. 3, there are multiple teams jockeying to get up to that spot and/or the Arizona Cardinals’ pick at No. 4 to land the QB of their choice.

One of those rumored teams has been the New York Giants. General manager Joe Schoen acknowledged as much earlier this month, even while maintaining that the team could go in a different direction. The Giants currently have the No. 6 overall pick, and would probably have to move up to land whichever of Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy is available at Nos. 3 or 4.

According to The Athletic, though, Giants ownership could be reluctant to make that move after the team paid Daniel Jones with a four-year, $160 million contract last offseason. Via Diana Russini:

This general manager, Joe Schoen, did not draft Daniel Jones, but he did give him that contract last year. There was a time where I was digging on trying to find out if they were willing to trade up. There have been some mocks out there that had the Giants moving up to go get a quarterback. It was explained to me that that was just a really tough sell to ownership after giving Daniel Jones that contract last year that we’re going to now give up assets to replace a quarterback that we’re paying $40 million. I think there’s a really small chance that they do that. I think there’s a better chance that they trade out for more picks.

This, obviously, is not good team-building process. It’s called the sunk-cost fallacy, where you feel like you have to double-down on a previous move because it cost you a lot to make that move.

Jones is set to hit the Giants’ books for $47.9 million in 2024 and $41.6 million in 2025, but the Giants can trim $19.4 million from that 2025 number by releasing Jones after this season, or $30.5 million by designating him as a post-June 1 release next year. Getting onto a rookie-contract timeline would allow the Giants to better build out their roster, and with as many needs as they have at the moment, that might be a good idea. If ownership doesn’t want to go in that direction, though, it’s unlikely to happen.

That makes it especially notable that earlier this offseason, owner John Mara expressed a lot of confidence in Jones.

“I still have a lot of confidence in Daniel,” Mara said, per NFL Media. “I think the Daniel that we saw in 2022 is the real deal. Last year he was hurt, a lot of his offensive linemen were hurt, and things just did not go our way. But I still have all the confidence in the world in him. Hopefully he will be able to go by training camp, and yes, I think we all expect him to be the starter in 2024.”

However, Mara did also said that he’d be willing to support a move up the board if the front office felt strongly enough about making it. “If they fall in love with a quarterback and believe that it’s worth pick No. 6 or moving up, I certainly would support that,” Mara said at the time, per ESPN.

It remains to be seen how the top few picks will play out, but the Giants are clearly in the market for a passer, even while they have a ton of other needs to fill. If or how they are able to do that is the more pressing question.