One Giant Leap, Part II: Building a Champion
The New York Giants plan to shock the football world this season. In Part II, we dissect how GM Joe Schoen put philosophy into action, from saying goodbye to Saquon to finding his own "Steve Smith."
Miss Part I? Catch up here.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Emotion must never cloud judgment in this seat. Even the nice guys make cold, calculated, correct decisions.
Joe Schoen wasn’t afraid to defy his boss… or the quarterback he had just signed to a monster contract.
Fact: One year after paying Daniel Jones, the New York Giants general manager was willing to move up from No. 6 overall to No. 3 and draft a quarterback.
Schoen and Eliot Wolf, the Patriots’ personnel boss, had conversations earlier than the one that aired on “Hard Knocks,” too. Most occurred when Jones’ health was still a mystery. Off a torn ACL, he wasn’t even running yet. Schoen cites the fact that there are other players on the current Giants roster who still aren’t the same from their own ACL recoveries and brings up Von Miller’s admission in Buffalo that he shouldn’t have even played a down last season. The Giants had no clue if their quarterback would be ready for training camp.
So, he was honest with Jones. Told him the Giants were considering drafting a quarterback.
Schoen didn’t want Jones to be surprised if, say, LSU’s Jayden Daniels was seated inside this cafeteria on his pre-draft visit.
The conversation between quarterback and general manager never aired.
Jones was not happy.