E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he was one of only three sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls until the past few. Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

HERE'S A SHOCKER: WHY DON'T THE GIANTS GO DEFENSE WITH NO. 1?

By Dave Klein
How's this for radical?

Instead of risking their reputation (again), why don't the Giants draft a defensive player with the third pick in the first round of the April 24 draft?

What? No quarterback?

Unless they have every intention of winning the Super Bowl at the conclusion of this season, the recent signing of veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston should provide enough savvy to get them to at least a mediocre level in the 2025 standings.

Then the following year, when the two geriatrics have retired, there will be plenty of time to draft a wizard - or to find another veteran.

Well, before making such an outrageous statement, you'd better have someone in mind, right? Yeah, we do.

Why not take Penn State's edge rusher, Abdul Carter, who is 6-3 and 250 and has caused scouts to compare him to (is this heresy?) Lawrence Taylor.

The first pick is owned, for now, by Jacksonville, and the Jaguars appear determined to select Miami quarterback Cam Ward. But even if they trade it, the only quarterback worth taking that high seems to be Ward, who has risen to the top of every mock draft waiting to be mocked.

Cleveland is up next, and while the Browns need a quarterback, reports are they have not fallen head over heels in love with Colorado's Shedeur Sanders. So if they can't have Ward, they seem to have locked in on another Colorado kid, wide receiver AND cornerback Travis Hunter.

"You would like to plug in a quarterback for the next 15 years," general manager Joe Schoen said yesterday, "but there's got to be one available. They've got to check a lot of boxes."

Which brings us to Schoen and his merry band of magicians. Would they really take Sanders, a guy who even the hopeless Browns don't want?

Probably not. And besides, this would allow the Giants to somewhat make up for the catastrophic blunder by the last general manager, Dave Gettleman, who passed over linebacker Micah Parsons to take wide receiver Kadarius Toney in 2021

And sure, they could better use an inside linebacker, but Carter would be more than satisfactory and might even make the other inside guys wake up and play with more intensity.

Oh, and if the draft committee thinks defense is necessary but not a linebacker (here we go again), they might look at Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham, 6-2 and 255. Placing him next to Dexter Lawrence would almost be illegal.

***** ***** *****

The Giants officially signed Winston yesterday and are within days of doing the same with Wilson (the assumed starter).

This means, at the very least, that head coach Brian Daboll will have a couple of guys who understand the position and have actually had some success at it - especially Wilson, who won a Super Bowl (at Giants Stadium).

Jameis, the first overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft, has played 105 games with 87 starts for the Buccaneers (2015-19), Saints (2020-23) and Browns (2024). He has completed 1,944 passes out of 3,178 attempts (61.2 percent) for 24,225 yards and 154 touchdowns to 111 interceptions and he has rushed for over 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns in his career.

Winston is one of nine players in NFL history to throw for 5,000 yards in a season. He did so in 2019, when he became the first player in NFL history to pass for at least 450 yards in consecutive contests.

But with Wilson on the roster, Jameis might not have a chance to start and will have to settle for being the wise old man who can back up anybody.

Wilson has already established his goals. "I expect to be the starter and come in here and be ready to rock and roll every day," he says. "This team is really looking for somebody to lead in every way in terms of process and the offseason, during the season, our habits and our thought process, how we create a great winning culture, and how do we continue to establish that, to build on things that we do well and things we need to continue to do."

Gentlemen, remove your jackets and let the competition begin.

Questions? Comments?
Send it over to davesklein@aol.com

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