The New York Giants, coming off a dismal 3-14 season, own this years No. 3 overall draft pick and the four-time Super Bowl-winning franchise has no greater need than at the most important position on the field — quarterback. After releasing 2019 first round draft pick (sixth overall) former Duke signal-caller Daniel Jones in November, the Giants divided the remaining starts between Drew Locke and Tommy DeVito who managed to win just an aggregate total of one game.
In an attempt to solve what Giants correspondent Darryl Slater of NJ Advance Media called their “desperate quarterback mess,” fourth-year general manager Joe Schoen has been reeling in a parade of aging veterans approaching the end of their respective careers.
Russell Wilson, the 37-year-old 2013 Super Bowl winner with the Seattle Seahawks, reportedly met with Giants officials on Friday — one day after the East Rutherford, New Jersey-based team hosted 40-year-old Joe Flacco, winner of the 2012 Super Bowl when he was the Baltimore Ravens’ starter.
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But Schoen’s first choice is reported to be 41-year-old, 20-year veteran Aaron Rodgers. The Giants, according to a CBS Sports report, have offered a larger dollar figure to Rodgers than the Pittsburgh Steelers, believed to be the other top contender for Rodgers services after the future Hall of Famer managed only five wins for the New York Jets last season.
Patriots Backup QB May Have NFL’s ‘Strongest Arm’
Rodgers, like Wilson and Flacco, also claims a single Super Bowl championship on his resumé, that one coming in 2010 when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Steelers 31-25.
But what if the Giants fail to land any of the old-timers vying for their starting quarterback job? With the Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns possessing the 2025 No. 1 and No. 2 draft picks, respectively, and both of those teams also in dire need of a quarterback, the draft is not looking good for the Giants. The consensus top two quarterbacks in the draft — Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders — are likely to be gone by the time the Giants are on the clock.
There may be another answer. According to the 169,000-follower X (formerly Twitter) account NFL Rookie Watch, the Giants reportedly have “significant interest” in trading for perhaps the most athletically gifted, if unrefined, quarterback in the NFL, New England Patriots 2024 sixth-round draft pick, 193rd overall, out of Tennessee — Joe Milton III.
“Some NFL scouts around the league believe Milton has the ‘strongest arm’ in the NFL right now,” wrote the NFL Rookie Watch account in a Friday post. “The Patriots QB is a HOT commodity.”
The post came with a video of Milton launching what appeared to be 80-yard passes as part of his offseason training regimen.
Milton Comes With Low Risk, High Reward for Giants
Milton, 25, who will be entering the second year of his $4.2 million, four-year rookie contract would represent a low-risk, high-reward investment for the Giants. Much of his trade capital comes from Week 18 of the 2024 season when Milton led the Patriots to their fourth and final victory, albeit against a squad of mainly backup players for the Buffalo Bills.
In that game, Milton scored a 111.4 passer rating with 22 completions in 29 attempts including one touchdown and zero interceptions. Milton also ran for a touchdown — and threw was what recorded as the second-fastest pass in NFL history, at 61.71 mph.
Milton, who was the 2023 Orange Bowl MVP for the Tennessee Volunteers in their win over Clemson, was a surprise draft pick for the Patriots last year, after they had already drafted their quarterback of the future in North Carolina’s Drake Maye at No. 3 overall. But according to Patriots Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf, Milton simply had “too much talent” to pass up.
“Just watching him throw the football is unbelievable. Six-foot-five, 245 pounds, he’s got a rocket for an arm, he’s athletic,” Wolf said at the time. “We feel like there are some things there that we can work with and develop.”
The question for the Giants is — do they feel the same way?
