Giants GM defends drafting Daniel Jones: 'We'll find out how crazy I am'
New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman used the No. 6 overall pick in last week’s NFL draft on Duke quarterback Daniel Jones — a move that has been widely criticized.
Gettleman, though, isn’t letting critics get to him. He’s standing by his decision.
"In three years, we'll find out how crazy I am," Gettleman said Monday, via NBC Sports.
Gettleman claimed that there were two other teams in the league who would have taken Jones before the Giants’ second first-round pick at No. 17, which is part of the reason he made the move to take Jones early.
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While Jones is expected to backup 38-year-old Eli Manning this season — and likely for the rest of Manning’s career, however long that may be — Gettleman said he simply found his man in Jones.
And when you find your quarterback, he said, you don’t mess around.
“I agonized over that,” Gettleman said, via NBC Sports. “I agonized. Before the draft, we discussed that thoroughly as a group — first last Friday, then again Wednesday. Obviously we had great regard for Josh Allen. But the one thing I have learned is you don’t fool around with a quarterback. If he’s your guy, you take him. If you put 32 general managers in a room and gave ‘em (truth serum), every single one of them would tell you a story of how they got cute in a draft and it cost them a player they wanted.
“So you don’t get cute there. You don’t get cute with a quarterback.”
Either way, Gettleman clearly believes in himself and in his pick. He said his past experiences in the league — he spent five years as the general manager for the Carolina Panthers before moving to New York — should be more than enough proof for fans to support his moves.
“The bottom line is, I have confidence in what I do and who I am,” Gettleman said, via NBC Sports. “I’ve been a part of organizations that had pretty good quarterbacks — Jim Kelly, John Elway, Kerry Collins, Eli Manning, Cam Newton. I’ve led a charmed life with the quarterbacks on the teams I’ve worked for. I know what good ones look like.
“The other thing is, resumes matter. Every once in a while, I wish the people taking the shots would take a minute to look at my resume. I’ve been a part of teams that went to seven Super Bowls. I had a hand in some of them. But today, there’s no patience. And there’s no room for civil discourse in our society, which I find sad.”
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