Giants and Cardinals raise eyebrows in the first round of the NFL draft

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The NFL draft is always one of the biggest sports stories of the year.  Emotions run high.   Often time tears of joy can seen on the faces of players and their families as young guys are selected to embark on a career in pro football. And then there are the tears on the faces of New York Giants fans after their team selected Daniel Jones with the sixth pick of the draft.  To clarify, those weren’t tears of joy.

Eli's going, but when?

The Giants need to look for a replacement for Eli Manning has been well documented.  Many Giants fans were upset when the Giants didn’t get involved in Quarterback Palooza last season and drafted Saquon Barkley instead in the first round of the 2018 draft.  Personally I don’t blame the Giants for taking Barkley last season, but the selection of Jones with the sixth pick of this year’s draft is puzzling.  I don’t know much about college football players, but guys that do seem to think this selection is a real reach.  It seems like a pick Eli Manning would have made.

Why at number six?

There was lots of sentiment for the Giants to take Josh Allen with the sixth pick to shore up their defense.  Allen was immediately taken by the Jaguars and former Giants head coach, Tom Coughlin with the seventh pick.  The Giants could have conceivably drafted Allen and gotten Jones with the 17^th pick in the first round.  The Giants may have been afraid the Redskins would have picked him off with the 15^th pick in the first round.  More about that later.  As for now, the Giants have their future franchise QB Daniel Jones.  While Jones may prove to be a franchise QB, the question is will he be the franchise QB of a franchise that goes 4-12.

When you have two QBs ………..

The Arizona Cardinals picked Kyler Murray with the first pick in the draft.  That’s interesting because they picked Josh Rosen in the first round of last year’s draft.

The Cardinals reportedly only shopped Josh Rosen on the night of the draft.  They found no takers willing to trade a first round pick for Rosen.  If they are willing to take a second round pick, they might find a taken in the Miami Dolphins.  Actually, it seems like the Giants should have talked to the Cardinals earlier.

Risk vs. reward

As for Murray, he seems like a big boom or bust gamble. That seems like a big risk to take with the first choice of the NFL draft.