The New York Giants were on the clock with the #3 pick in this year's NFL Draft and speculation about them drafting Sanders, or any QB, had come to an end. The question now was would New York choose an impact defensive player or go another route.
The Giants went with the most sure-fire pick in Abdul Carter out of Penn State. The pass rushing specialist has been compared to the likes of Michah Parsons, and last week in this space I wrote how he was the perfect fit for the terrorizing defense the Giants are putting together.
With the addition of Carter, the G-Men now have three of the most dangerous pass rushers in the NFL along with Brian Burnes and Dexter Lawrence. It was also reported by Adam Schefter that minutes after they drafted Carter GM Joe Shoen said they were picking up the contract of Keyvon Thibodeaux. Their front line might be the best in football.
Carter, who is the first Muslim player ever drafted inside the top 3 grew up an Eagles fan but immediately turned his allegiance to New York saying "I'll be playing in the biggest city in the world - it's a blessing. New York is bigger than Philly. I'm all New York- Big Blue. Philly is in the past."
The Giants weren't done there though. As speculation across the networks kept discussing the fall of Sheduer Sanders, the Giants traded up to #25. Most speculated that Sanders was headed to New York but instead the Giants selected another QB, Ole Miss's Jaxson Dart.
They moved up nine spots in the draft by giving up a comp 3rd round pick and a 2026 third and took their QB of the future, they hope. Dart represents the type of QB that Daboll has wanted all along, since he left Josh Allen. Dart accounted for almost 25% of Ole Miss's rushing yards, he is a true big arm and big leg signal caller. Daboll has wanted that sort of mobility in the backfield.
The excitement for Dart needs to be tempered, at least momentarily, because it doesn't look like they are in any rush to hand over the reins to the youngster just yet. Shoen said of Dart "He can come in, sit behind a couples veteran QBs and learn." and Daboll agreed by saying "Russ will be our starter."
The Giants had as good of a first round as this town has seen in quite some time, and most draft grades gave them an immediate A. I couldn't agree more, this was a spectacular night for Big Blue.