Giants' pick of Malik Nabers a double win for Daniel Jones
Malik Nabers celebrates with fans after being chosen by the New York Giants with the sixth overall pick during the first round of the NFL draft. Credit: AP/Paul Sancya
Daniel Jones has dealt with doubters and injuries, neck scares and torn ACLs, three head coaches and porous offensive lines, not to mention the thankless task of replacing a two-time Super Bowl-winning legend during his time with the Giants. It’s all led to what even his most ardent supporters – dwindling though they may be – would concede, despite a playoff victory, has been a bumpy tenure.
On Thursday night, though, he survived one of the most direct challenges to his title as the starting quarterback of the New York Giants: The early stages of the first round of the 2024 NFL draft on Thursday night.
Not only does he get to keep his job for the foreseeable future, he also received the gift of a suped-up, high-octane, certifiable number one receiver the likes of which he has never before had when his team - yes, we can still call it his team - used the sixth overall pick to select Malik Nabers out of LSU.
And they did it with a viable quarterback, J.J. McCarthy of Michigan, still available to them.
Of course, there are still plenty of sour perceptions that need to be overcome before Jones can fully return to his current role, for which he was selected as the sixth overall pick just five years ago on this very night himself. There is the fan base that ripped itself apart in recent months over its thirst to replace him, many deciding that his production and personality, both tedious, were ill-suited for the task and dreading watching the organization trundle along with him at the helm.
There also hovers over his “victory” the fact that his head coach, general manager, and even his owner, were genuinely open to finding - some would even say ogling -- a new quarterback in this draft who would be an upgrade over him. The Giants worked the phones vigorously throughout the day on Thursday trying to create the framework for a potential swap with New England to pick Drake Maye. That never came together.
The rehabbing of Jones’ torn ACL has gone according to schedule. There isn’t an exact timetable for the healing of these wounds, but predictably there were the obligatory make-up smooches to begin the process Thursday night.
“We had conversations, different plans in place, but we’re ecstatic to have Malik here,” Schoen said. “We got a really good player at a position where we feel like we need to upgrade… Malik was our guy.”
Getting Nabers helps, too. Schoen said he texted Jones the news about the pick before it was even sent in to the league and announced on television.
“He’s fired up,” Schoen said of Jones’ reaction.
The first few top quarterbacks were plucked from the board in a somewhat predictable order, first Caleb Williams going to the Bears followed by Jayden Daniels to the Commanders. When the Patriots took Maye it left McCarthy, a player the Giants had investigated thoroughly, as the only real quarterback option left for their pick. The Vikings were also in discussions to trade up for a quarterback but did not make a deal either. (They wound up getting McCarthy with the 10th pick after a trade with the Jets.).
There were still more chances to select a new quarterback after the Nabers pick, of course, including the possibility that they could trade up into the bottom of the first round or wait until Friday’s second round to pounce on one of the passers that were not among the upper-most echelon. When the Falcons selected Michael Penix Jr. eighth overall, though, those opportunities dwindled. Schoen indicated satisfaction with the quarterback room as currently constructed.
It turns out the Giants draft anniversary that served as the parallel to this one was not the blockbuster move to acquire Eli Manning 20 years ago but the decision to select Odell Beckham Jr. 10 years ago.
Nabers comes from LSU, the same school where Beckham played before he was drafted by the Giants. The divorce between the Giants and Beckham became official just weeks prior to their selection of Jones in 2019, preventing the two from ever being on the same field together. Jones now has something approximating Beckham’s play-making abilities for the first time in his career.
“I’m just hoping to be the best teammate I can be, hit the ground running, and show them the kind of athlete I am,” Nabers said from Detroit after he was selected.
While the Giants’ interest in quarterbacks was genuine, wide receiver fills a more pressing need for a team that Schoen admitted last week is “not one player or two” away from contending for a championship. It also injects some life into an offense that has been mostly moribund for the past two seasons.
“He’s a dog on the field,” head coach Brian Daboll said.
Now they have the player who can be the overall number one threat.
And, they seem to believe, the quarterback to get the ball to him.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
