The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft is just eight days away, and the Giants find themselves in a very favorable spot with the No. 3 overall pick.
With Miami quarterback Cam Ward a virtual lock to go first overall to Tennessee, most mock drafts have Colorado WR/DB Travis Hunter and Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter as the next to players to go off the board, which means one of them (or perhaps both if Cleveland decides to draft a quarterback) will be available to the Giants at No. 3.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen met with the media on Wednesday and discussed both players, while also noting the Giants are obviously still in search of their next franchise quarterback.
“Where we are, you’d like to have a young, franchise quarterback. I think every general manager would,” Schoen said. “Everybody wants that, but the value has to be right. If you get that one wrong — you’ve just got to get that right. So, when you’re in the position to get the right one at the right time, that’s when you pull the trigger.”
And while there’s a chance the Giants could select Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders if he’s available at No. 3, it could be Sanders’ teammate, Hunter, who brings his “unique” skill set to New York.
“Travis is a unique individual. …He’s fun to watch,” Schoen said. “It’s unique, the ball skills, the route ability, and then also the ability to go to the other side and play corner. Like, you just don’t see that very often. A lot of times if these guys can’t catch or can’t play receiver, then they get moved to DB, but this guy can do it all. He’s also a great kid.
Hunter has said on multiple occasions that he still wants to play both sides of the ball in the NFL, and he believes he can excel at both defensive back and receiver.
So where would he play with the Giants?
“It would be hard to keep him off the field and he’s motivated to play both ways,” Schoen said. “You’re always worried about the length of the season with the NFL, 17 games, training camp. And if he gets hurt doing something that he’s not doing full-time, you’re going to kick yourself, but he’s a unique athlete who I think will be able to do both.”
“We’re in a unique position where we have three good receivers and we like our secondary right now,” Schoen added, “so our situation would be unique, so we would not be afraid to play him on both sides of the ball.”
As for Carter, the big storyline for the Penn State edge rusher has been the stress reaction in his left foot that was discovered during medical evaluations at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
But Schoen was quick to dispel any notion that Carter’s draft stock has been affected, noting that having a surplus of pass rushers is never a bad thing.
“He was here on Friday… Feels good, he’s working out, he’s running,” Schoen said. “He didn’t even know that he had it. He went to the Combine and it was news to him, so I don’t think there’s going to be much room for pause there.
“He’s only played one season off the edge and had a really good season. Then you’ve got Kayvon [Thibodeaux], you’ve got [Brian] Burns, you’ve got [Dexter Lawrence] inside, so it gives you a lot of options. He’s a versatile player, he’s young, he’s 21 years old, an exciting player to watch. But yeah, you can’t have enough pass-rushers.”
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