Joe Schoen Doesn't Pull a Gettleman

Going into the 2019 NFL Draft, New York Giants GM Dave Gettleman was looking for a successor to Eli Manning. The previous year, he used the number one overall pick to draft Saquon Barkley. Landing a franchise running back and a franchise quarterback in consecutive drafts would've been quite the feather in Gettleman's cap.

Unfortunately for Gettleman, the quarterback he wanted - Justin Herbert - decided to stay one more year at Oregon. So instead of waiting until 2020 to get his man, Gettleman took Daniel Jones with the 6th pick in the 2019 Draft. To say that pick was a reach would be putting it mildly. Every single draft board had Jones as a late first or early second-rounder at best. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Giants had two first round picks that year - 6 and 17 - meaning they could've taken linebacker Josh Allen with the 6th pick and still had Jones at 17.

While Jones has struggled to deliver on his promise, Allen has become one of the NFL's best edge rushers. Last season he recorded 17.5 sacks. And Herbert, who was drafted by the L.A. Chargers the following year - ironically at 6 - is one of the best signal callers in the league.

Credit Joe Schoen this much: the man takes good notes. Going into this year’s NFL Draft, the Giants once again had the 6th overall pick. J.J. McCarthy of Michigan was sitting there just waiting to be snatched up. His former coach, Jim Harbaugh, raved about him, calling him the best quarterback in the Draft.

But Schoen wasn't biting. In fact, he tried to move up to number 3 to get Drake Maye, whom he believed to be a much better QB, but the New England Patriots were not interested in trading down. So instead of reaching like his predecessor did five years ago, he took the best available player on the board.

Malik Nabers is unquestionably the most dynamic and explosive wide receiver in this year's draft class. The Giants haven’t had a player with this much talent at that position since Odell Beckham, Jr. With the departure of Barkley to the Philadelphia Eagles during the offseason, Nabers instantly becomes this team's number one offensive weapon. Whatever else you might say about how bad things went for the Giants last season, the front office had itself a pretty good night last night.

True, the Giants are still stuck with Jones for at least another season. With the contract he signed last year, there's no way in hell they can cut him; the dead cap hit alone would be $69.3 million. So, like it or not, Danny Dimes will get one more shot to prove he's a franchise quarterback. But this time he'll have an elite receiver to throw the ball to.

As for Schoen, his work is not done. He still needs to find a replacement for Xavier McKinney, who bolted for the Green Bay Packers over the winter. Then there's the offensive line, which continues to need help. In other words, there's plenty of holes still left to fill for Joe.

So far, I'd give him an A for the first day of the draft; overall, an A minus for his tenure as general manger. And that's more than I can say for the guy he replaced.