Ahhhh, i don't actually know, I just felt like screaming about the idiots that run the NFL and owners who want money more than results.
The Option Game Pick your option for the questions listed and let's see how much opinion changes between now and the draft. I'm only listing these 6 because they are the players that I have been getting the most messages about. #1 - Shadeur Sanders will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #2 - Cameron Ward will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #3 - Abdul Carter will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #4 - Travis Hunter will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #5 - Ashton Jeanty will go: IN the top 10 picks IN the top 16 picks OUT of the top 16 picks #6 - Tyler Warren will go: IN the top 10 picks IN the top 16 picks OUT of the top 16 picks
#1 - Shadeur Sanders will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #2 - Cameron Ward will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #3 - Abdul Carter will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #4 - Travis Hunter will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #5 - Ashton Jeanty will go: IN the top 10 picks IN the top 16 picks OUT of the top 16 picks #6 - Tyler Warren will go: IN the top 10 picks IN the top 16 picks OUT of the top 16 picks
I like it!! #1 - Shadeur Sanders will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #2 - Cameron Ward will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #3 - Abdul Carter will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #4 - Travis Hunter will go: IN the top 3 Picks IN the top 10 Picks OUT of the top 10 picks #5 - Ashton Jeanty will go: IN the top 10 picks IN the top 16 picks OUT of the top 16 picks #6 - Tyler Warren will go: IN the top 10 picks IN the top 16 picks OUT of the top 16 picks I'll go one further, this is who I believe will be in the top ten as of this week: Abdul Carter Cam Ward Mason Graham Will Campbell Kelvin Banks Jr Will Johnson Josh Simmons Shadeur Sanders Jalen Walker Tetairoa McMillan - Pencil him in to the Saints... Hunter is an anomaly, he isn't the top receiver in the draft, I'd probably put him at #4... He isn't the top CB in the draft, though I think like the teams, he is better at CB than WR.. I don't think the teams are going to put as much stock in a guy taking up two roster spots as the talking heads do. I think his skillset at CB puts him in the 13-18 range in the first round and that's where I think he ends up going. The WR aspect is just a bonus to a really good CB. I think Sanders did a great job of exploiting his athleticism at Colorado which handed him the Heisman, but I'm not convinced it translates to the pros, especially those experts expecting him to play both ways. I see 1-3 plays per game on offense for him in the pros. So, taking that into account, where do you put him based solely on his CB standings? The only way there aren't (3) OTs taken in the top ten this year is if enough teams are convinced they can get a starter in the 2nd round and/or Josh Simmons has to postpone his pro day because he isn't as far along on recovery as he stated at the combine. So, with (3) OT's and at least (2) QBs, that only leaves 5 spots... I think the top QB in my mind will go and I think the top 2 pass rushers in my mind will go and I think the top interior defensive lineman will go.. That leaves (1) spot to go to either a #1 WR, #1 RB, #1 TE or Travis Hunter... I think the TE class is strong enough that there isn't one pushing themselves into the top ten. The RB class is phenominal, this despite have what appears to be a generational talent, I don't think he goes in the top 10 either. That drops me down to the top WR and Hunter... I made my choice above.
Bearing in mind this is pre free agent moving of passers - My most common mock ‘top 3 picks in the draft’ scenario: 1. NYG (TEN) Cameron Ward 2. CLE Shadeur Sanders 3. TEN (NYG) Abdul Carter
Ive seen the scenarios of the Giants moving up to grab a QB of their liking, but imo, its risky for the Titans to move down just 2 spots as Im thinking Cleveland might be really thinking hard at QB also, so with that in mind and the Titans needing a QB it makes all this very, very interesting. On a funny side-note, Charles Davis at NFL.com solved that with having Ward, Sanders, followed by, Jaxson Dart. Wouldnt that be a surprise. This years draft may be one without all the hyped-up, glorified QB's, but its still fun and interesting to see it unfold, because there are a lot of really good non-QB players ranked really high.
Giants sure do have a knack for 1) sucking at the wrong time and 2) not even being good enough at sucking for an easy benefit. If the Titans decide they want a QB they will take one and moving up won't be an option for the Giants. Would be silly to trade back instead of just taking your guy. But my guess is the Giants want to move up very badly. Keeping the coach and GM for a 4th season coming off of 3 wins was... a choice. But it also puts them in the position where they are going to force things to try and save jobs. The big swing and miss on Stafford makes this more likely. I know the Giants *like* Sanders. But I don't know where he sits on their board. I have also heard plenty of people who like Dart more then Sanders or who think this class is sort of Cam Ward and then everyone else. I haven't done a whole lot of film watching on any of them this offseason so I don't have a lot of first hand opinions on the matter sadly.
My preferred option for NY is to overpay for Sam Darnold on a 3 year deal, move down in the first for as much compensation as possible (take a fall for the haul), draft Dart, Ewers or Shough, and prep for a 2026 offseason with 3 basic outcomes - 1. You suck bad enough that taking a passer at the top makes sense 2. You are a middling team that can continue to rebuild by utilizing the currency you get from moving down in this draft 3. Daboll gets lightning in a bottle with Sam and has a viable back-up that can be used as a transition passer if forced to move on from Darnold at the end of his contract You can point to a lot of different nuances within that group of 3, and you wouldn't get much pushback because it's an obvious unknown, but there is no quick turnaround happening for the Giants. This should be viewed as a 3 year build that culminates with Nabers getting the bag when the team is ready to turn the corner and be in competition for the top of the division. Dallas is going to slowly grind to the bottom, but you are up against the wall looking down the barrels of Washington and Philly for what looks like long term firepower. I can easily see a scenario where the rest of the NFC is going to have to sift itself through the funnel of those two teams on the East. The Eagles know how to build and maintain a roster. The Commanders are trying to copy that war plan with an even more dynamic weapon at passer. If the Giants thought it was difficult to get in the mix over the past couple seasons, then they are going to have to reset their strategy to compete for the next decade. That starts with recognizing where they are in the pecking order, what they have on the roster, where they stack up and what can they do in both FA and the draft to fill the gaps. If I have the time today, I'll go after this in more detail, because I got a lot of scribbles in the notebook with the 'NYG' tag above it...
The problem with this is assuming that the GM is capable and that the coach has the ability to survive another poor season. I actually think Daboll is a pretty good coach. He has flaws for sure, conflicts with his DC, weird relationship with the OC... but you don't win coach of the year while figuring out how to hide Daniel Jones with scheme by accident. I have little to no faith in ownership or the GM however. But I went down a rabbit hole and looked at how many HC/GM's survive a 3 win season and how many of them find career success afterwards. Since 2000... the list of coaches to bounce back is 0 people. The list of GM's is Mickey Loomis -- and he did it by firing his HC, hiring Sean Payton and signing Drew Brees the year afterwards. There was another guy in Minnesota who did ok and hung around for a long time who is the only other real positive. Name eludes me at the moment but the guy before their current GM. The bottom line is that I think your approach makes a ton of sense. But I think that organizationally if that was the approach you are going to take you needed to make a change at the top. Are you really going to commit to Daboll and Schoen being able to rebuild this thing at this point? This is a bad team in what is suddenly a very good division and next years schedule doesn't exactly look easy outside the division either. Ownership is keeping it all the same going into year 4 and publicly has said he expects them to win and rumors are privately he gave them a playoffs or fired mandate. If that's REALLY what happened they are already fired and are going to make a bunch of bad short term decisions before they go. They tried to swing big on Stafford and missed. The Giants are now a team that is being used as a negotiating tool and not a serious franchise. Fun times. As for Darnold... I thought he was a legit prospect coming out of school. He certainly had the raw talent but he won't have the support structure in New York he did in Minnesota that's for sure. I didn't watch a lot of Viking's games this year so I don't want to judge him off coming up small in big spots without the context. But I would not be excited about him... I don't know that they will be able to pull it off but it really seems the plan is sign best available FA option (Apparently Rodgers is a serious possibility) and trading up to #1 overall. Schoen and Daboll are just trying to buy time. This is basically what Mara asked for with the situation he created here.
If I were forced to put money down on them? Shedeur out of the top 10 Ward in the top 10 Carter in the top 3 Hunter in the top 10 Jeanty in the top 16 Warren in the top 16
It's more looking at it through the prism of what I would do, not all things (unfortunately) considered. I'm not really looking at it past how I would build it if I were in control of it. It's something I can't predict, so I keep it simple. I wouldn't read too much into that. Stafford never really wanted to leave the West coast, so he was using anything he could as leverage to get paid and stay. You probably shouldn't have any kind of excitement for any free agent signing that happens this year, and you should temper your enthusiams if they go after a passer at the top. There is a lot of work to be done with that roster before they can be competitive beyond a hot streak. Other than your receiving room, I'm not sure you have a positional group that would be considered #2 or better in the division, if compared.
Rick Spielman. Credit Sam's success, imo, to the mentorship of the 'QB Whisperer' Kevin O'Connell. The O-Line was very spotty and didnt protect him very well in pocket pass plays, but Darnold pulled off 14 wins, not by his talents only, but team effort. He did well in Minnesota, because he fit into an enjoyable team effort with good coaching. Darnold also had some decent weapons and a ground attack at times that enabeled him to do well. I cant help but realize the huge mistakes made with Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley, that must be haunting to you and all Giants fans. These moves will take time to over-come.
1 - Shadeur Sanders will go: IN the top 10 Picks #2 - Cameron Ward will go: IN the top 3 Picks #3 - Abdul Carter will go: IN the top 3 Picks #4 - Travis Hunter will go: IN the top 3 Picks #5 - Ashton Jeanty will go: IN the top 10 picks #6 - Tyler Warren will go: IN the top 16 picks
Lack of excitement and tempered enthusiasm is kind of what it means to be a Giants fan post 2011 lol. Actually I suppose pretty much every year except a handful in my entire life as a fan... Honestly I wasn't expecting much out of *this* season. I just wanted a football team that resembled football, maybe even was fun to watch at times. I am so down on everything I haven't watched much tape. I have 3 games of Ward under my belt and that's it so far. Usually I know how I feel about a QB in general terms after 3 games and then I watch everything I can get my hands on to hammer down on stuff and check my initial thoughts. I... don't know how I feel about Ward at all. Which is very strange for me. And he is allegedly the best of the bunch? Giants roster is a mess. Gettleman was one of the worst GM's in football... and his replacement took his bad roster and let most of the talented players leave. Each decision in a vacuum was defensible. But the collective effort of the Giants GM was to get worse every season he has been in charge and to let Xavier McKinney and Saquan Barkley walk in the name of "cap health" after handing Jones a big "prove it" contract. I don't really see an end in sight. They are going to waste Nabers rookie deal and the prime of Dexter Lawrence's career just trying to get competitive. The WR room is...weird. Seems like they are going to let Slayton walk and while he's not anything special he's a decent WR2/3 with speed on the outside. I don't feel confident in anyone at that position other than Nabers. Robinson is just so.... small. Unless you have a QB that's hitting him on time, with good ball placement, on the move he just isn't going to matter all that much... Oh and he was firing off complaints on socials about his YPR after the season.
The issue with Jones wasn't just how predictable the outcome was. The real issue was they felt like they needed 6 years to figure out he was just the guy they drafted from Duke. The Barkley decision is what it was. Schoen is a new GM who is running the organization like a grad student who is following the "positional value 101" textbook. He doesn't seem to have any sort of sophistication with the cap and is obsessed with "cap health" which is a figment of his imagination as long as your owner is willing to give you cash to work with. (The REAL advantage the Eagles have is Laurie has 0 issue with handing out cash today to keep the roster primed all the time) I'm actually ok with letting Barkley walk. The Giants didn't have the ability to maximize him the way the Eagles do. And they were just going to waste the rest of his productive years as well. It wasn't necessarily the right decision for the offense/franchise but I understand. Thanks for the input on Darnold. I have a suspicion the Giants will have a hard time getting him to consider coming back to that building if I am being honest. Even in a different jersey if I were him I would want no part of the Meadowlands.
