The New York Giants have been the center of attention for the last four weeks. That is because their team is starring in the new “Hard Knocks: Offseason” series. The series focuses on transactions and the 2024 NFL Draft from the Giants’ perspective.
Last night, Episode 4 was released to the public. In this episode, the Giants broke down their plan of attack for the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Ideal Quarterbacks Out of Reach
Throughout most of the offseason, the New York Giants were trying to trade up in the draft to select an elite quarterback. It was known early on that the Chicago Bears were going to stay in the top spot to select USC QB Caleb Williams.
The two other quarterbacks discussed for high draft picks were Jayden Daniels from LSU and Drake Maye from North Carolina. The Washington Commanders held the second overall pick and needed a quarterback. Considering they play in the same division as the Giants, New York was not optimistic they could make a deal with them.
As a result, Giants GM Joe Schoen exerted a lot of energy and effort into trying to acquire the third overall pick from the New England Patriots. In the end, the Patriots let Schoen know on the day of the draft that they were going to sit where they were and likely select a quarterback.
Desirable Skill Players
In this episode, it was revealed that the Giants had two skill players they were seriously considering taking with the sixth overall pick. One of those players was WR Marvin Harrison Jr. from Ohio State. However, it was assumed that he would be taken off the board before the sixth pick came up.
Then, there was WR Malik Nabers from LSU. The Giants liked him so much that even certain members of their coaching staff revealed that they would take him over Harrison. Sure enough, this is who the Giants ended up selecting with the sixth overall pick.
In an emergency scenario, the Giants also looked at WR Rome Odunze from Washington and TE Brock Bowers from Georgia. However, New York would have looked to trade down if those were the only two options left on the board by the time the sixth pick came up.
New York Giants Plan of Attack
Credit: Getty Images
So, what did the Giants’ plan of attack look like? Well, Schoen conceded that the top three quarterbacks would not be available to the Giants. This made them hyper focus on Harrison and Nabers. New York was content to take one of those two wide receivers with the sixth overall pick.
Schoen predicted that the Cardinals would take Harrison and the Chargers would take OT Joe Alt from Notre Dame. He ended up being correct with both of those predictions along with the top three quarterbacks not being available.
However, he did present a scenario in the event Harrison and Nabers were both taken before their pick. In that situation, the Giants would have tried to trade with the Chicago Bears and take their ninth overall pick.
With that pick, Schoen assumed the Titans would draft a tackle, which they did. Schoen also assumed the Falcons would take a defensive lineman. However, Atlanta stunned everybody by taking a quarterback. Regardless, the Giants would have drafted Odunze in this scenario and Bowers if he was not available.
As you can see, things went pretty much according to plan for the Giants in this draft. Now, we will have to wait and see if it was the right plan.
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