If the Giants can’t get Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward at the top of the draft, they’ll have to pivot somewhere else – but at this point, if that happens, what are they selling to the fan base to be optimistic for next season, thinking that Brian Daboll just needs his guy to succeed?
The thing Gio believes, watching the Commanders’ run to the NFC Championship Game, is that it’s all about the quarterback, so it is IMPERATIVE they get it right this time.
“The Commanders’ story, to me, the resurgence…a lot of people are involved in it, new ownership, new culture, Dan Quinn, but the point I’m getting to is this is all Jayden Daniels,” Gio said. “They might have been slightly better if they didn't get him, but this resurgence is all him. And when you have somebody back there that you believe in, then the rest of the team starts believing. Kliff Kingsbury looks like a genius again, and Dan Quinn looks like a genius, and it’s all him. It’s incredible how a great player like that can buoy so many people around him.”
“You see what a talented young quarterback can do for you, and the Giants have the third overall pick. Titans need a quarterback, Browns need a quarterback, Giants need a quarterback,” Boomer said. “They won that one game, the Colts game, and here we are.”
The question is who Tennessee takes at No. 1, because the Browns won’t take Shedeur Sanders in Boomer’s eyes, fearing an Eli Manning situation, and that leaves the Giants prime for Prime’s son – but what if Sanders goes first to Tennessee, and Cleveland takes Ward?
“If the Giants stay at 3 and they take Shedeur if he's still there, then he fell to them and it's kind of like an easy decision; No. 1, you get to choose between two guys because it fits a need, and they have to take him because they have to have someone to build around.”
“It happens every single year as teams are just desperate, and they think that if they get a guy in here, we’ll make him great, and they convince themselves of that,” Gio said. “I think that’s what happened with the Vikings and JJ McCarthy, and I think the Giants are gonna feel that way too, and what's going on with the commanders is gonna be another reason why there's so much pressure on the Giants to be able to try to match that.”
Gio thinks Tennessee takes Cam Ward, which made Boomer wonder if the Raiders then jump up to No. 2 to grab Sanders, and the Giants get frozen out – and that’s when Boomer asked what they’re selling if that’s the case.
“The beautiful stadium they play in, the game day experience,” Gio said with a laugh.
“I was talking to one of my Giants fan friends yesterday who basically is sick to his stomach over the fact that he's got to watch Washington and Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game, and the fact that they're gonna have to deal with Saquon Barkley for another couple of years and Jayden Daniels probably for the next 10 years,” Boomer replied. “And, he was talking about MetLife and how it was so dismal and dour and negative and pessimistic, and I said, look – if the team was 8-1 instead of 1-8, you'd be screaming about home field advantage and what a great atmosphere you have. It's just that your team has been so bad for so long that now that drips into the conversation that you don't like the stadium.”
Gio said ‘nobody ever liked that place’ and it’s a ‘bottom five stadium,’ but hey, maybe if the Giants get the right guy and turn it around? And, what happens if they don’t?
“What if they draft Quinn Ewers or Jaxson Dart? They could turn out to be great and really good pros, but if it’s one of those guys that they draft, are you or any Giant fans running to go re up your season tickets?” Boomer asked. “Fans are clamoring for something, and there's a pretty good nucleus for the Giants too if they all stay healthy, but where’s the electrifying, galvanizing player like the Washington Commanders?”