The New York Giants are doing everything they can to find their next franchise quarterback. They made a strong push to trade for Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford before it was announced that he would be extending his deal with his current team. Now the Giants seem to be turning their attention toward the 2025 NFL Draft with their sights set on the class’s top quarterback prospects.
Giants reportedly have Miami QB Cam Ward atop their draft board
Two quarterbacks stand ahead of the rest of the pack in the 2025 NFL Draft class: Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. The former seems to have separated himself from the latter during the NFL Scouting Combine as the top prospects have met with the NFL’s various franchises.
However, much of the Giants’ reported interest in the pre-draft process has centered around Sanders. They were seen on video at several Colorado practices and general manager Joe Schoen personally attended numerous Colorado football games. But while this may be true and highly-discussed, less-discussed is the fact that the Giants also attended Miami football games and practices during the 2024 season.
So despite the widespread speculation that Sanders is New York’s preferred quarterback prospect, one recent report indicates that might not be the case. Paul Schwartz of The New York Post recently reported that Ward is expected to be the top quarterback on Big Blue’s draft board:
“The Giants are desperate for a starting quarterback and it is expected that Ward will be atop their NFL draft board at the position,” Schwartz reports (h/t WBG84 on X).
Schwartz added that the Giants’ supposed ranking of Ward as the top quarterback in the class seems to be the consensus opinion around the league:
“It remains to be seen if the feeling that has surfaced this week — that Ward has separated himself from Shedeur Sanders as the clear No. 1 quarterback in this draft — comes to fruition on April 24,” Schwartz reported (h/t WBG84 on X).
If the Giants truly do view Ward as the top quarterback in this year’s draft class, and if they feel as though he has elite franchise quarterback potential, then they could make a bold move to secure him.
How could the Giants land Ward in this year’s draft?
Picking No. 3 overall in this year’s draft, the Giants face an uphill battle to land the prospect of their desires. The Giants have to worry about both the Tennessee Titans and the Cleveland Browns taking quarterbacks as they pick No. 1 and No. 2 overall, respectively. Both Tennessee and Cleveland have major question marks under center that could be answered with their first round draft picks.
However, there is a chance one of Ward or Sanders lasts until the third-overall pick — but likely not both. If the Giants want to land their guy, and take away any semblance of uncertainty, they could make a bold move to trade up for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
The Titans have indicated an interest and a willingness in trading down — but not too far. They are determined to land a “generational” prospect and won’t be willing to trade down far enough to miss out on the opportunity to accomplish that goal. The No. 3 overall pick feels like a comfortable landing spot for the Titans where they could move down, accumulate additional draft capital, but still land a top-three prospect in the draft class.
The Giants will need to be willing to cough up that premium draft capital, though. And, considering general manager Joe Schoen’s track record, he will likely be willing to pay the price to get what he wants. Schoen has traded up in the draft twice before (to select CB Deonte Banks in the first round and WR Jalin Hyatt in the third round, both in the 2023 NFL Draft) and has pulled off several trades for veteran players around the league (he orchestrated blockbuster deals for TE Darren Waller in 2023 and EDGE Brian Burns in 2024).
The projected asking price for the first-overall pick would be two Day 2 draft picks, likely two thirds or one third and one second-round pick. To ensure they land their desired franchise quarterback, it feels likely that the Giants would be willing to make that trade.
