Former NFL MVP and current analyst Boomer Esiason warned the New York Giants about spending a high draft pick on a quarterback and keeping 2023 Week 1 starter Daniel Jones on the roster through the 2024 season.
Per Ryan Chichester of Audacy, Esiason explained during Wednesday’s edition of WFAN’s “Boomer and Gio” program why the Giants would have to part ways with Jones this offseason if they take a quarterback with the sixth pick of the draft or trade up for one.
“If you draft a kid, and trade up to get him in the first round and put him in that locker room, and Jones is still there, it’s not fair for the kid,” Esiason said. “And it’s certainly not fair for Jones. Because all Jones is going to be answering is about this kid they just traded up to draft. The moment you trade up to draft somebody is the moment you tell him, ‘You ain’t our guy and you ain’t good enough.'”
On Wednesday afternoon, NFL insider Albert Breer suggested the Giants won’t be able to draft USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels or UNC’s Drake Maye. By Wednesday, whispers about the Giants possibly trading up for Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy or selecting him at No. 6 largely disappeared. Breer wrote that “McCarthy may well make it to” the Minnesota Vikings at the 11th choice.
The Giants could select the best non-quarterback at No. 6 and then take a flier on somebody like Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. later in the draft.
It’s widely thought that the Giants will have to wait until next offseason to escape Jones’ contract if they replace him atop their depth chart. However, Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post is among those who pointed out that the Denver Broncos ate a record dead cap charge to release veteran Russell Wilson in March. In other words, the Giants theoretically could find a way to move on from Jones sooner rather than later if they didn’t want him sharing the quarterback room with a rookie.
Esiason proposed that the Giants “may have to add some incentive for a team to take” Jones off their hands similar to how the Jets got rid of Zach Wilson this week. According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, the Jets attached a seventh-round draft pick and agreed to pay $2.75M of a $5.5M salary so the Broncos would accept Wilson in return for a sixth-round selection.
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