Of interest to Giants? Cardinals open to trading 4th overall pick
Arizona Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort mentioned recently that the team was open to listening to trade offers for their fourth overall selection in the upcoming NFL Draft. Could this be of interest to the New York Giants?
In reality, the only way we will see the Giants move up from pick six to pick four is if they are going to take a quarterback. Daniel Jones is still under contract for three more seasons, but as the old saying goes, the best time to draft a quarterback is when you really don’t need one.
Jones is coming off an ACL injury, and has dealt with neck injuries prior to that. Before his 2023 season ended, he was battling up and down play, averaging just 5.7 yards per pass attempt with two touchdowns to six interception. From a cap perspective, the Giants can get out of Jones’ deal following this season.
Of course, nothing is certain this time of the year, but Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels seem to be the consensus top two picks in the draft.
We also are confident in saying that New England is going to take a quarterback at pick three, and that will either be Drake Maye or JJ McCarthy. The Giants have reportedly had both players in for pre-draft visits.
The Cardinals, who have the fourth overall pick, and the Los Angeles Chargers at pick five, aren’t in the quarterback market. However, with Minnesota holding two first round picks, they are primed to make the jump from pick 11 into the top five to select a quarterback.
If the Giants also find themselves in the quarterback market, the Vikings are the primary reason why they would feel the need to trade up to pick four rather than hoping a quarterback falls to them a sixth overall.
In terms of draft capital value, the Giants rank 12th in the NFL. This is largely due to them picking at the front end of each round. In terms of total draft picks, the Giants only have six selections, with only two teams having fewer.
That in itself makes moving up more difficult because GM Joe Schoen will go from already having not many selections to having even fewer.
Using the trade value chart as our guide, if the Giants were to make that leap from pick six to pick four, they would have to part with their third-round pick and perhaps could receive the Cardinals’ fifth-round pick in return to help the math workout. This chart, of course, doesn’t take into account that the demand might drive the value up as well, forcing the Giants to part with even more.
On top of all of that, the Giants very well might not even be in the quarterback market, and Schoen is just doing his offseason due diligence at the position like every general manager should.
How the Giants have gone about this offseason tells us that an early first-round quarterback is not on their radar. Drew Locke has stated that the starting job belongs to Daniel Jones, while it was reported that in an exploratory meeting with Russell Wilson, he was made aware that he wasn’t going to be guaranteed the starting job.
Schoen mentioned at the NFL combine that it’s a good quarterback draft class, and not only at the top. Perhaps Michael Pratt from Tulane or Spencer Rattler from South Carolina are two quarterback options for the Giants later on in the draft.
If the Giants hang tight at pick six, while they probably won’t get their quarterback, they will have the opportunity to land one of the top wide receivers in this year’s class, most likely either Rome Odunze or Malik Nabers. Finding a true No. 1 target in the passing game is a top priority for the Giants this offseason.
Given all of these factors, I would guess that we aren’t going to see the Giants trading up from pick six to pick four in this draft. In fact, given the depth of this year’s draft class at receiver and along the offensive line, coupled with the Giants only having six draft picks, perhaps trading down is an even more in-play option for them.
