Even though the Los Angeles Rams and quarterback Matthew Stafford both reportedly want to extend their working relationship through at least the 2025 season, NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah (h/t Dan Parr) continues to link Stafford with a New York Giants team in desperate need of an upgrade at the position.
For a piece published Friday, ESPN’s Aaron Schatz shared why, if necessary, Giants co-owner John Mara should block general manager Joe Schoen from trading for Stafford this offseason.
“Are the Giants just a veteran quarterback away from winning? The best-case scenario for adding Stafford is probably a wild-card team in a difficult division where the Eagles just won the Super Bowl, the Commanders went to the NFC Championship Game and the Cowboys will likely rebound with a healthy Dak Prescott. Stafford might help everyone in New York keep their jobs for another year, but that’s not a bold move. It’s not the kind of move that will build a Super Bowl contender for the Giants,” Schatz explained.
NFL insider Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports reported earlier this week that “the belief is a first-round pick would probably be the asking price should the Rams choose to make a deal” regarding Stafford. There is no world where Schoen should be permitted to give the Rams the third overall choice of this year’s draft for a 37-year-old who is closer to retirement than to his physical prime, and one could argue Stafford isn’t worth overall selection No. 34 for a Giants team that finished this past season at 3-14.
“Only nine out of 46 teams have made the playoffs under the current division format (since 2002) after winning three or fewer games in the previous season,” ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi noted on Friday. Thus, the math suggests the Giants won’t be ready to win anything of note before September 2026.
Numerous reporters have predicted throughout the winter that Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, the top two quarterback prospects in this year’s class, will be on the board for the Giants at pick No. 3.
“Neither Ward nor Sanders is seen as good as last season’s six first-round quarterbacks,” Schatz continued, “but it’s a shot the Giants really need to take if they want to be bold and build a winner.”
Schatz is hardly the only analyst/reporter who thinks the Giants trading for Stafford before this year’s draft would be silly when a potential reclamation project quarterback like Justin Fields of the Pittsburgh Steelers could hit the open market on March 12. Perhaps Mara will get a little more involved in the club’s handling of its quarterback situation after he didn’t force Schoen to re-sign running back Saquon Barkley last offseason.
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