How Serious Were Patriots About Swapping Places with Giants?

According to multiple reports, the New York Giants were on a mission to secure a trade-up in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft with an eye on North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye. However, as we have noted in the past, it takes two to reach a deal. But when one side is “iffy,” the deal quickly dies on the vine.

That’s what happened with the New England Patriots, who held the third overall pick in the draft and who had indicated that they’d be willing to listen to offers.

Despite being “willing” to entertain offers from teams looking to come up for a quarterback, the Patriots stood pat and drafted quarterback Drake Maye, believed to be the apple of the Giants’ and Minnesota Vikings’ eyes. 

To prove how serious the Giants were about wanting Maye, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN, the Giants offered their 2024 first- and second-round picks, plus their 2025 first-round pick, only to be rejected.

The Vikings, who had two first-round picks this year, offered an even sweeter deal consisting of both picks plus their 2025 first-round pick for the No. 3 pick and two mid-round picks. 

Both teams were told no, as the Patriots made Maye the highest-selected quarterback in the Kraft family’s ownership tenure. Moreover, it’s probably fair to say that the Patriots, wanting a huge “bag” for the third overall pick, really had no intention of moving out of that spot, barring some desperate team offering a Ricky Williams-type deal.

The Vikings went to their Plan B, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, at pick No. 10. Meanwhile, rather than reach for a quarterback at pick No. 6 or settle for another option, the Giants stuck to their board and continued to fill out the holes on the roster.

That decision leaves some wondering what the Giants plan to do at quarterback if Daniel Jones is either not medically cleared or if he is cleared and struggles yet again.

The answer, as it apparently has been all along, is Drew Lock, himself once a first-round draft pick. The team believes in head coach Brian Daboll’s ability to develop quarterbacks, which appears to be the “break glass in case of an emergency” plan for the position.

If Lock, who is signed for one season, ends up looking good if given a chance to play, the Giants will have a stop-gap solution if they need to pivot away from Jones. But if Jones comes back and plays as he did during his contract year, then all this talk and speculation about his worthiness to quarterback this team will have been for naught.

* The Patriots signed outside linebacker Oshane Ximines, a former Giants third-round draft pick who was part of the Odell Beckham Jr trade with the Cleveland Browns. Ximines joins former Giants outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins, who was hired as the Patriots head coach for Jerod Mayo’s staff after being fired by Giants head coach Brian Daboll.