Giants ready to run NFL Draft option with No. 3 pick: Quarterback or best player?
Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) takes part in passing drills during Colorado's NFL football pro day Friday, April 4, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. Credit: AP/David Zalubowski
After all the mock drafts and speculation, the Giants face a simple decision Thursday: Take a quarterback or a highly-touted defensive prospect with the No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft?
It sounds simple but it's not. General manager Joe Schoen hasn’t drafted a quarterback since being hired in 2022. Four quarterbacks took snaps during last season's 3-14 campaign.
The glaring issue from those games was poor play under center. The team certainly believes that way, returning every starter from last season except quarterback. Yet, Schoen committed to the Giants being flexible with their options instead of desperate to find a future gunslinger.
“If you go need-based, that's when, I think sometimes, you can make mistakes at times,” Schoen said last week at his pre-draft news conference. “I like to go in so you're not backed into a corner where you have to take a certain position and you can take the best player available.”
If need was the top priority, the answer is Shedeur Sanders. The Colorado quarterback would bring attention and pedigree to a Giants franchise that’s lacked both at the position for years.
But if the Giants are chasing the best player, they’ll be better suited with Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter or Colorado receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter. Both are regarded as the draft’s best prospects and surer bets as impact players
Who the Giants add depends on the Browns’ choice at No. 2 after the Titans presumably take Miami quarterback Cam Ward at No. 1. Whatever they do, Schoen and coach Brian Daboll made clear there will be an alignment of thinking come Thursday night.
“There is really good communication, and not just with the quarterbacks, with each position. It's OK to disagree,” Daboll said Monday. “You're not going to be disagreeable. Everybody has thoughts and opinions of what they evaluate and what they see.
“At the end of the day, when you're drafting a player, everybody is on board with who you draft and the process which we go through.”
Multiple reports said the Giants did extensive work on Sanders compared to other prospects, leading up to their private workout last week. The Ringer’s Todd McShay, formerly of ESPN, reported this week that people in the Giants’ scouting department favor Sanders while Daboll is more a fan of Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart.
The interest in Dart signals another course. Either the Giants draft Hunter or Carter and try to trade into the back half of the first round for a quarterback, or they trade down from No. 3 to find a quarterback later in the first.
Both are high-risk plans. What if a quarterback isn’t available? What if they wait until Friday and a second-round option at the No. 34 pick like Alabama’s Jalen Milroe or Louisville’s Tyler Shough is a greater risk?
Adding Hunter or Carter would bolster a Giants defense that was upgraded in free agency. It reminds that the team built championship-caliber rosters around the defensive side of the ball.
It also means drafting a player who’ll likely affect this coming season. That can’t be forgotten with both Daboll and Schoen on the hot seat and president/CEO John Mara saying in January he’s running out of patience with the team’s direction.
If the Giants take a quarterback later, that player would likely sit after the team signed Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston. It’s a low-pressure move yet delaying to draft a quarterback could push back other key needs.
The Giants need more depth at defensive tackle behind Dexter Lawrence II and at guard on the offensive line. They could also add another offensive tackle with Jermaine Eluemunor in the final year of his contract and a looming decision on picking up Evan Neal’s fifth-year option.
Whatever the Giants do, how they handle the first round remains important. If Carter’s the pick, then all eyes are on how they find a quarterback.
It’s a decision the Giants will hash out until Thursday night but one they’ll be united on when it’s time to be on the clock.
“Once we come up with who we're taking, regardless of when that is, there is an agreement on all parties,” Daboll said. “We look forward to bringing that player, whoever that player may be, into our building and try to help develop them.”
3 players the Giants could take at No. 3
Abdul Carter, edge rusher, Penn State
Carter spent one season at defensive end for the Nittany Lions and became an All-American with 23.5 tackles for loss, including 12 sacks. His burst off the line of scrimmage combined with great body control and technique have him primed to be an immediate force up front. Imagine him doing that on a Giants team alongside Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Dexter Lawrence II
Travis Hunter, receiver/cornerback, Colorado
What position will Hunter play in the NFL after winning the Heisman Trophy? You draft him and figure that out later. Hunter can be a playmaker on offense or defense and the right team will decide how to use him. The Giants can certainly find room for him despite being deep at both positions.
Shedeur Sanders, quarterback, Colorado
Sanders fits the Giants’ most obvious need despite being the most polarizing quarterback prospect in this draft. He’s accurate on short-to-intermediate throws, well-coached by his father Deion and has the self-confidence needed to be a leader of a team. His flaws - lack of elite athleticism, takes too many sacks - are reason to hesitate but the Giants wouldn’t need him to start week one with Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston in the quarterback room.
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
