Giants’ love for Daniel Jones is ruining the franchise, says ex-NFL GM

The New York Giants went into the 2024 NFL draft with the hopes of coming away with a new franchise quarterback.

After a full-court press to move up in the draft to select UNC’s Drake Maye failed, the Giants then watched other options quickly dissipate and came away empty-handed and are still very much tethered to Daniel Jones for the upcoming season.

There is a possibility they hand the reins to free-agent signing Drew Lock for the interim until they find their new man, but still, they are back to where they left off in 2023.

The Giants appear to be satisfied with moving ahead with what they have in-house and that, says former NFL executive Michael Lombardi, is ruining the franchise.

“I wasn’t surprised at all by that,” Lombardi said on The Sports Junkies on 106.7 The Fan in D.C. this week. “Because if you listened to what John Mara said at the owners’ meetings… he said very clearly, ‘I’ll favor them drafting a quarterback if they’re in love.’ And he used the word ‘love.’”

General manager Joe Schoen did not appear too satisfied with the status quo. He’ll live with it, for now, but said, ‘this is where we are at’.

“I think they were in love with Drake Maye, but I don’t think they were in love with J.J. McCarthy. And remember, John Mara, the president of the team — he’s the reason why Daniel Jones is making all that money — he loves Daniel Jones. He drafted Daniel Jones as the sixth pick overall. Nothing would make them more happy than Daniel Jones being successful. They’re almost willing it to happen. It won’t, but they’re hoping it will.”

Lombardi says the Giants’ ‘love’ for players is bringing them down. They are forgetting that the logo on the side of the helmet is more important than the names on the back of the jerseys.

“They’ve gone 10 years — they’re the only team in the NFC East that has not won the East in the last 10 years,” he said. “They have the worst record in the last 10 years in the NFC East. It’s a shame, because the Giants should be a stellar franchise in the league. But, because they fall in love with their players, they love their players, they make bad decisions.”

Unfortunate, but true.