Drafting Shedeur Sanders would be the most exciting thing to happen to the Giants since …
Fill in that blank. Go ahead, do it.
Picking the son of Deion ‘Prime Time‘ Sanders, tabbing the outspoken and confident Colorado quarterback as the new face of New York’s franchise, would be the most exciting thing to happen to the Giants franchise since …
The team’s 2022 Wild Card playoff win in Minnesota? Maybe, but the following week’s 38-7 beatdown in Philadelphia confirmed the Giants season as a house of cards.
Saquon Barkley’s 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year season? That was special, but the team stunk and went 5-11. Barkley’s 91 receptions were inflated by Eli Manning checkdowns under duress.
The franchise’s 2016 playoff berth and 11-5 season under Ben McAdoo? It could have been, but The Boat Trip, a 38-13 playoff stinker in Green Bay and the ensuing season’s collapse removed most fond memories of that time.
No, drafting Sanders would probably be the most exciting thing to happen to the Giants since Odell Beckham Jr. reached his right arm into the sky in Nov. 2014 and plucked a Manning pass out of the sky with one hand for a touchdown.
The catch transcended the football on the field — the Giants actually lost that game. It resonated with star power. It put the Giants on the map because they had Beckham.
Fans would come to MetLife Stadium, win or lose, to see OBJ. He became an international sensation. And his talent offered at least the possibility that the Giants might win again, which they did in 2016, until they didn’t.
Sanders has a long way to go to make the kind of NFL impact that Beckham did here. But the point is that right now, just two days before the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Giants have no obvious way to keep fans in their stadium’s seats past Halloween.
They return a marginally adjusted roster that went 3-14 last season. They face the NFL’s most difficult 2025 schedule by opponents’ win percentage (.574) with the AFC West and NFC North on the slate.
They let Saquon Barkley — their “most popular player by far,” in co-owner John Mara’s words — sign with the Philadelphia Eagles and lead the Giants’ archrival to a Super Bowl in his first season there.
And there is enormous pressure on GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll, regardless of how many sycophants sell a different version of reality.
Another dysfunctional season would be unacceptable, but irrelevance would be worse. Sanders would bring daily intrigue back to the Giants’ building.
He would give fans a reason to spend money on tickets and jerseys and to hope for a brighter future.
He would talk a big game and work to play in big games. His selection would lead the national talk shows, and his already national profile would soar to even more prominent heights.
He would improve the outlook of the business of the Giants, whether or not he improved the on-field product — although he would have the chance to do that, too.
Remember: this is an organization in the process of selling a minority stake of ownership after building the NFL’s worst record (40-91, .305) over the past eight seasons from 2017-2024.
They need new energy.
The Giants’ bottom line needs it — in the wins column, in the dollars and cents column and in the court of public opinion.
Taking Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter at No. 3 overall and trading up into the first round for Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart might be the right football moves, but neither of those decisions would move the needle like selecting Sanders.
The story in that case, in fact, would be as much about the Giants passing on Sanders after all of that work they did on him in the fall, winter, spring and days leading into the 2025 NFL Draft.
There is a distinct possibility they do pass on him. Internally, the Giants have wrestled with disagreements about Sanders as a prospect and pursued questions about his makeup to confirm their evaluations.
Daboll warmed to Dart throughout a detailed scouting process, as the Daily News first reported on April 12. So there is a possibility he will be a Giant by the end of Thursday night, if the Giants trade back up into the first round from No. 34 in the second.
Several NFL sources, however, believe Dart will be the second quarterback taken on Thursday after projected No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward.
It’s possible, therefore, that Dart could end up out of the Giants’ reach with the Saints (No. 9), Browns (No. 33) and Rams (No. 25) considered threats and the Steelers (No. 21) very clearly in the QB market.
That’s where the visits to Sanders, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Louisville’s Tyler Shough come into play. Texas’ Quinn Ewers shouldn’t be ruled out, either. Some NFL coaches prefer Ewers among the second tier of QBs.
Regardless, Schoen and Daboll have to develop conviction here on who they prefer and how they’re going to get that QB. And as ownership, the front office and the coaching staff deliberate, don’t overlook the sizzle that picking Sanders would bring to this franchise, market and fan base.
It just might be the reason that fans are still coming to games this November and December, rather than flying planes with banners over them.
