Will Giants look for Daniel Jones' successor during Day 2 of NFL Draft?

Daniel Jones will be the Giants' starting quarterback this season, but his future beyond that isn’t very clear. It’s entirely possible they will look to find his successor in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Unless they do that this year instead.

Though that may seem unlikely, and perhaps a little bit crazy, the Giants haven’t exactly been ignoring the quarterbacks in the class of ‘22. They’ve even paid particular attention to one of them -- North Carolina’s Sam Howell -- sending a large group that included their quarterbacks coach to his Pro Day on March 28, and reportedly inviting him in for a pre-draft visit this weekend.

That could all be just a smokescreen, or even just due diligence. Or it could be a sign they’re interested in drafting him, perhaps as high as the second round.

That would be a bold and risky move for a team with so many holes, who could conceivably find a starter at any number of positions with the 36th overall pick in the draft. It would be less risky, but perhaps just as bold, if they took a quarterback with one of their two third-round picks (Nos. 67 and 81), if Howell even lasted that long.

But there is some logic behind the Giants taking a quarterback on Day 2 of the draft. There is obvious uncertainty about Jones’ future, so much so that the Giants seem unlikely to pick up his fifth-year option for 2023, which they must decide on by two days after the draft. And there is no potential long-term replacement on the roster since his backup, Tyrod Taylor, will be 33 in August, and third-stringer Davis Webb hasn’t thrown a pass in a game in the five years since the Giants took him in the third round in 2017.

Taylor signed a two-year deal with the Giants, so he could be the “bridge starter” next season as the Giants develop whatever young quarterback they draft in 2023. But there is no guarantee they’d even be in position to draft a quarterback they really like then.

So if they like Howell – a 6-1, 218-pound three-year starter who scouts say has all the tools, but lacked the consistency in college – why not add him to the quarterback room now? It gives him a year to learn Brian Daboll’s offense, and a year for Daboll and GM Joe Schoen to evaluate his potential.

Maybe he’d develop into a potential future starter if they bail on Jones. Or maybe he just gives the Giants another option to consider at the NFL’s most important position. And the new Giants regime certainly seems interested in keeping all their options open for the future at that spot.

The only real issue for the Giants is how high they’d be willing to pick a quarterback, and whether Howell – or any others they might like – will still be there if they wait. They have five picks in the first two days of the draft, and likely need starters or impact players at right tackle, edge rusher, cornerback, and tight end, at least. There is no way they’d use one of their two first-round picks on a quarterback (Nos. 5 and 7), and it will certainly raise some eyebrows if they do it with the fourth pick of the second round.

Those two third-rounders feel like a safe spot, but it’s hard to say if Howell will be gone by then. There are some people who think he could squeeze into the first round, depending on how many quarterback-needy teams decide to use a first-round pick at that position. But if he doesn’t, who knows where he’ll end up. Teams that need quarterbacks tend to pick them early. When quarterbacks slip out of the first round, they tend to drop.

Remember former Giants backup quarterback Ryan Nassib? There was talk in 2013 that he might be the first quarterback picked, perhaps by his old Syracuse coach, Doug Marrone, who was then the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. But when Marrone took E.J. Manuel with the 16th overall pick instead, Nassib slipped all the way to the Giants in Round 4. In 2020, Jake Fromm, who started two games for the Giants last season, was thought to be a Day 2 pick, but he ended up falling all the way to Round 5 where he was picked by Schoen’s Bills.

Even last year, after five quarterbacks went in the first 16 picks of the draft, the next one wasn’t selected until the last pick of the second round.

So it’s hardly inconceivable that Howell could fall to the third pick of the third round, where the Giants could be waiting. They scouted him in person several times last season, including once by then-assistant GM Kevin Abrams, who is now the Giants’ senior VP of football operations. They sent quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney and Director of Player Personnel Tim McDonnell to Chapel Hill, N.C., for his Pro Day. And now he’ll meet with Schoen and Daboll in person.

That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. It also doesn’t necessarily mean nothing, either. It just looks like the Giants are exploring every possible option in their search for their Quarterback of the Future.

They still swear they believe it will be Jones. They seem to sincerely hope it will be Jones. But they might be ready to hedge their bets at quarterback with a Day 2 pick in this year’s draft, just in case it isn’t.