NFL Draft insider offers Big Blue View insights on a numbers Giants-related draft topics

If the New York Giants are going to make a dramatic move up for a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft, insider Tony Pauline believes Drake Maye of North Carolina would “absolutely” be the Giants’ target.

“He checked so many boxes as far as the Giants system is concerned. He’s a big passer, he’s got a decent arm, he can withstand the rush, he’s not a super RPO quarterback like J.J. McCarthy but he can get outside the pocket and make the throw on the move,” Pauline said on the ‘Valentine’s Views’ show. “I think he’s being a little undervalued at this point in time.”

Maye did not have a great final season at North Carolina, but Pauline pointed out that when the season began there was a debate as to whether he or Caleb Williams of USC would be the No. 1 overall pick.

The Josh Allen comparison is also obvious. When Giants’ GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll were with the Buffalo Bills, the team traded up twice to select Allen No. 7. That despite Allen’s rocky final season at Wyoming and questions about his accuracy.

“Josh Allen played his best football the year prior to him entering the draft and he struggled that last year as a junior at Wyoming and Daboll and Schoen were able to turn him around, so why not Drake Maye,” Pauline said.

The Giants “would consider it” if there was a quarterback such as Maye or J.J. McCarthy available at No. 6, but Pauline said he isn’t ready to say it is definitely time for the Giants to prepare for a post-Daniel Jones era.

“I think that you can’t answer that question because their offensive line was so bad last year. They have a premier left tackle who was down with injury. Evan Neal has not lived up to expectations. They were breaking in a rookie center who played better as the year went on,” Pauline said. “I was not a huge Daniel Jones fan where and when the Giants drafted him all those years ago, but I think it’s an incomplete grade and I think even though they’ve made some moves In free agency to hopefully shore up the unit I don’t think that just drafting a quarterback at number six is going to be the answer ... I think more than anything else they really shore up their offensive line.

“I think it’s going to be tough to make a decision on Daniel Jones either way.”

“Legitimate” concerns about Brian Daboll

Pauline and I discussed the notion that the Giants might not be a stable situation for a rookie quarterback to learn and thrive. Pauline said there are “legitimate” concerns about Daboll’s future in New York, and pointed out that he was writing about strife inside the Giants’ coaching staff before the bombastic report by Jay Glazer of FOX Sports about issues between Daboll and now former Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.

“I think the concern about how long is Daboll going to be there is a legitimate one,” Pauline said. “I wrote an article back in November saying that there was a good chance Martindale and [Mike] Kafka were out and that there were issues with his [Daboll’s] approach.

“It’s absolutely true ... he’s got to show that he can change his approach, and if he does I think there’ll be good things for the Giants.”

Listen to the full conversation below.

Conversation summary

• Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze; are there concerns about Nabers? [1:10]
• Time to prepare for a post-Daniel Jones era? [6:45]
• Trading up from No. 6 for a QB [8:45]
• Concern about Brian Daboll’s future is “legitimate’ [12:45 and again at 20:40]
• Why not Joe Alt? [18:20]
• The ‘rise’ of J.J. McCarthy [24:35]