The New York Giants are looking for their franchise quarterback in the 2025 NFL draft. Many expect them to use a high draft pick on a player such as Miami's Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders of Colorado, or Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart.
To land Ward or Sanders, the Giants must use the No. 3 overall selection in the draft. Dart is said to be not as coveted and can be had in the latter half of Round 1 or early in Round 2. The Giants also hold pick No. 34, which is the second section of Day 2 of the draft.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen said he could "go in any direction" in the draft now that he has a full quarterback room. He feels the Giants aren't as desperate now for a quarterback as they were coming out of last season.
"What if there's not a guy?" Schoen posed to the media on Monday at the annual league meeting in Florida.
Sure, he would love to find his franchise quarterback in this draft, but "there's got to be one available. They've got to check a lot of boxes."
The question right now is: Are any of these players worth such a high draft pick? Schoen and his staff will make that determination in the next few weeks. They may dodge a bullet if the two teams ahead of them -- Tennessee and Cleveland -- take Ward and Sanders off the board before they get a chance to draft them.
We say this because the hit rate on first round quarterbacks over the past four years is not very high.
2021: Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields, Mac Jones. Only Lawrence is still with the team that drafted him.
2022: Kenny Pickett. He is on his third NFL team already.
2023: Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson. Stroud has played up to his draft status. Young could be on his way to doing that. Richardson could be on his way out in Indianapolis.
2024: Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix. The class has a ton of potential and is considered one of the best in years. Time will tell.
This year's class is not as strong. Many experts could be propping Ward and Sanders up as a way to get Tennessee, Cleveland, and the Giants to overdraft them. Others could be devaluing them so one of them falls down the order to Las Vegas, New Orleans or other teams looking for a young signal caller.
The truth is, it is a gamble. Ward had a great pro day. Tennessee appears ready to shelve the Will Levis experiment and take Ward first overall. Cleveland can go in any direction. The owner has already cut bait on the Deshaun Watson fiasco, so they could be looking at Sanders at No. 2.
The Giants sent a large contingent to watch Sanders on Friday at the Colorado pro day. They could try to orchestrate a trade with Cleveland, but in listening to Schoen on Monday, that doesn't appear to be likely.
Ward has been compared to Jordan Love by CBS Sports' Dan Schneier with a body type similar to that of Tyrod Taylor. CBS Sports' Dave Richer gives Sanders a pro comp of Geno Smith.
You can take what you want from those comps. Both players are productive at the NFL level, but neither was ready to play right out of the box. With Tennessee and Cleveland, it seems, they'll want Ward and Sanders to play sooner rather than later.
If the Giants land one of those two, they'll be relegated to the bench and/or an emergency role this year. Russell Wilson is the starter and Jameis Winston the backup.
Ideally, for each player, the Giants are their best fit as they will be groomed to play ...
