When it was all said and done, the New York Giants stood pat and selected wide receiver Malik Nabers with the No. 6 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
They did this despite having quarterback options like Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., and Oregon’s Bo Nix still on the board.
Once the Big 3 quarterbacks were off the board, specifically a quarterback they tried to trade up for in Drake Maye, the Giants’ plan was always to stick at No. 6 and take Nabers if he was available.
ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reported that the Giants didn’t have high enough grades on the second tier of quarterbacks.
At that point, Plan A for general manager Joe Schoen and Co. was to stay at No. 6 and select explosive LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers, which they did. The Giants didn’t have high enough grades on the second tier of quarterbacks — J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix — and grabbed a No. 1 receiver, which Jones has never had.
The Giants did exhaustive work on the quarterback class so they must have had strong convictions that going with Nabers was the right choice.
They haven’t had a wide receiver with the WR1 upside that Nabers has since the Odell Beckham Jr., and it was arguably their biggest need going into the draft.
There is still a massive question mark for the Giants when it comes to the quarterback position, but it was clear they weren’t going to reach for a lower-graded prospect simply to fill a need.
For more Giants coverage, check out Kevin Hickey’s work on Sporting News.
