There’s nothing like the good old-fashioned Friday news dump, and with the start of the 2025 NFL free agency period just days away, we have a potentially explosive transaction that broke Friday night that could have implications for the April draft, specifically for the New York Giants.
For those who haven’t heard, the Seattle Seahawks are trading quarterback Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders. That move gives the Raiders, who didn’t have a quarterback option on their team, an experienced starter.
From the New York Giants’ perspective, the trade between the Seahawks and Raiders potentially removes the Raiders from the list of teams that might be looking to trade up in the draft order for Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders.
The trade also opens up a need for the Seahawks, who could be planning to pursue one of Sam Darnold or even Aaron Rodgers, two of the top quarterbacks set to hit the free agency market.
The trade also potentially impacts the first round of the draft. If the Giants are planning to stay put at No. 3 and take a non-quarterback prospect, such as Colorado cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter or Penn State edge Abdul Carter, and want to get back into the bottom of the first round for a quarterback, such as Jaxson Dart.
With the Seahawks drafting 18th, that boxes the Giants into a corner as it would take quite a bit of capital to get ahead of Seattle in that case. That's why the Giants might be rooting for Seattle to get one of the other veteran quarterbacks on the market.
The other side of this coin is that if the Giants were looking to drop a few spots in the first round, the Raiders' chances of being a potential trade partner would probably vanish.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen told reporters at the combine that they like about six or seven guys for whom they presumably have a first-round grade.
If the Giants can’t move up to No. 1 for Ward, whom more and more draft analysts are saying is the best quarterback in this draft, will they stay put and go best available?
We won’t get the answer to the draft question for another month, as right now, the veteran quarterback carousel is spinning—a carousel the Giants hope will deliver them a guy who can give them winning quarterback play for the short term.
