Giants general manager Joe Schoen’s first big swing for a quarterback this offseason was a miss. The Rams are keeping quarterback Matthew Stafford, adjusting the Super Bowl winner’s contract after entertaining trade interest for the 37-year-old.
As promised, Schoen aggressively pursued a quarterback upgrade by targeting Stafford. Granted permission by the Rams to engage in contract talks with Stafford’s agent, the Giants were comfortable offering a two-year deal that included between $90 and $100 million guaranteed, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini.
It’s unclear if the Giants and Rams ever engaged in serious negotiations about trade compensation, but New York’s second-round pick (No. 34) likely would have been a starting point in those discussions.
That Schoen was willing to make such a hefty investment in Stafford illustrates that the GM is committed to finding “the best player available that can help us win games in ’25,” as he said earlier this week at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. Stafford would certainly fit that criteria, but he wouldn’t have gotten the Giants closer to building a sustainable winner given his advanced age.
Building a sustainable contender should be Schoen’s goal coming off a 3-14 season. But Schoen is also under immense pressure to win in 2025 after co-owner John Mara expressed his lack of patience with this regime after consecutive woeful seasons.
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Trading for Stafford would have been “a Hail Mary for self-preservation,” which Schoen vowed to avoid after the season. Stafford would have been a quick fix that would have exhausted financial and draft resources that can be better directed to pieces that can set the Giants up for the future.
So the Rams stepping up to keep Stafford saved the Giants from making yet another short-sighted mistake. But now the question is what is Schoen’s Plan B?
The Giants have shifted their focus to Aaron Rodgers, according to Russini. The Jets have already informed Rodgers that they’re moving on, and they’re expected to officially release the 41-year-old when the new league year opens on March 12.
SOURCES: The New York Giants have interest in Aaron Rodgers and have been discussing the possibility all week, per @DMRussini. pic.twitter.com/bTemAf7xdD
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 28, 2025
Rodgers’ play has declined while distractions around the four-time MVP have increased in recent years. But he offers benefits compared to Stafford, since Rodgers’ contract demands should be significantly cheaper and there will be no draft compensation involved in signing him.
Rodgers threw for 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his return last season from a torn Achilles that sidelined him for all but four snaps of the 2023 season. The Jets went 5-12 with Rodgers as the starter during a tumultuous 2024 season, which led to an organization-wide house-cleaning that extended to the quarterback.
Among other potential options, it’s widely assumed that the Falcons will cut Kirk Cousins after benching him late last season and replacing him with rookie Michael Penix. But Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot continues to insist that the team will keep Cousins as Penix’s backup.
Cutting Cousins a year into the four-year, $180 million deal he signed last offseason would leave the Falcons with a $65 million dead money charge (either all this year or split over the next two years depending on the timing of a release). Cousins would then be in a similar position to Russell Wilson last year, when he was available for a minimum contract with the Steelers because the Broncos were on the hook for the rest of his guaranteed salary after cutting him.
Even though Cousins struggled in the second half of last season, the 36-year-old’s $1.3 million salary would increase his attractiveness as a bridge option. One consideration with Cousins if he becomes available: He could wait until after the draft to sign with a team to avoid a repeat of last year when he joined the Falcons in March only to have them surprisingly take Penix with the eighth pick in the draft a month later. The Giants can’t wait until after the draft to acquire a veteran since Tommy DeVito will be the only quarterback on the roster when the new league year begins in two weeks.
Both of Pittsburgh’s 2024 quarterbacks — Wilson and Justin Fields — are other potential targets, but the Giants will need to wait to see which player hits the market after Steelers GM Omar Khan reiterated the team’s preference to retain one of the two quarterbacks.
There hasn’t been much buzz connecting the Giants to Sam Darnold, who stands to land the most lucrative quarterback contract in free agency after a career year in Minnesota. That could change with Stafford off the board, but there is skepticism from league sources about Darnold’s desire to return to New York after a rough three years with the Jets after being the No. 3 pick in the 2018 draft.
The other significant element of the Giants’ quarterback plan is the draft. It’s hard to imagine the Giants would have used the No. 3 pick on a quarterback if they landed Stafford since their focus would have been supplementing the roster around their veteran starter. But now taking a “big swing” on a QB in the draft becomes a strong possibility.
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There has been speculation that the Giants will channel their efforts into trading up for the No. 1 pick so they’ll be assured of landing their top quarterback. That would be an alarming pivot. If the Giants feel strongly enough about a quarterback in this draft class to give up assets and take him with the No. 1 pick, why would they have pursued Stafford so aggressively?
An executive from another team viewed the Giants’ interest in Stafford as a sign that their early impressions of the draft prospects weren’t favorable. Trading up to No. 1 would feel like another desperate move for a regime that has been flailing at a quarterback solution since arriving in 2022.
It’s important to note that the evaluation of these quarterbacks is still in what Schoen called the “infancy” stage. The Giants’ front office has done extensive scouting and background work on top quarterbacks Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, but coaches don’t join the process until after the season. That’s significant since coach Brian Daboll’s voice will be extremely impactful in the decision. The Giants’ 18-minute interview with Ward this week at the combine was Daboll’s first interaction with the Miami quarterback.
Schoen continues to tout the Giants’ process for evaluating quarterbacks based on how their assessments have compared to the performance of players in recent drafts. There’s no way to verify Schoen’s claims since the Giants haven’t picked a quarterback in his three drafts. The only trackable data point on their quarterback evaluations with the Giants was their decision to give Daniel Jones a four-year, $160 million contract after having close exposure to the QB for a full year.
Shifting from Stafford to a top pick in the draft would be the latest change in Schoen’s plan, which seems to be written in the sand.
Stafford would have been the best path to the type of season that could have saved the jobs of Schoen and Daboll. But the goal should be building a true contender in a division with 26-year-old Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and 24-year-old Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
It’s hard to see the Giants’ path to that goal right now, but Schoen needs to demonstrate the stomach to start building the “right way” as he’s promised since his hiring. Going all-in for Stafford would have been another band-aid for a franchise that needs reconstructive surgery. The Rams spared Schoen from that mistake. Now the GM will regroup and prepare for his next quarterback swing.
(Photo: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
