As the first round of the NFL Draft has concluded, one team that immediately saw disappoint from fans was the New York Giants. In the first round, the Giants had picks #6 and #17. Up until their picks were in, there remained much speculation as to who Dave Gettleman would select as the Giants’ newest additions.
He ended up making the wrong decision with his first pick. With the sixth pick in the NFL Draft, the Giants selected QB Daniel Jones out of Duke University. The faces of the Giants’ fans that attended the draft said it all in regards to how we were all feeling. Ohio State QB Dwayne Haskins was still on the board, and somehow, he wasn’t picked by the team many of us projected him to go to. The Giants messed up badly.
Haskins Fits The Giants’ Needs
There’s no doubt that the Giants’ are in need of a quarterback. Their offense isn’t designed around a quarterback who’s necessarily a runner. They need a pocket passer who’s accurate, has a strong arm, and can throw with confidence. Dwayne Haskins checks all of these boxes. At 6’3″ and 231 lbs, he’s a near-perfect mold as to what a traditional pocket passer should be.
For Daniel Jones, he checks in at 6’5″ and 221 lbs which is a good size for the Giants as well. However, this expands outside the facts of how big or small a player is. When comparing these players side-by-side, it’s clear that they have similar builds and strengths, but it’s the weaknesses that make the difference as to why Daniel Jones was the wrong choice for the Giants.
Strengths
Dwayne Haskins
Despite being young, Haskins proved his worth at Ohio State. One strong ability that he possesses is his powerful arm. In his one season at Ohio State, he flourished when it came to using that arm to push the ball downfield at the pace the Buckeyes needed. With that came the ability to throw a good and consistent deep ball coupled with lofting in touch passes as well.
Although the Giants traded away their only consistent deep threat, they still missed out on a quarterback who could hit those deep passes at a more efficient rate than Daniel Jones. And, if that deep ball isn’t available, Haskins also has proved to be comfortable and patient in the pocket, resulting in fastballs into some tight windows.
Daniel Jones
With a similar build, Daniel Jones also possesses the same strengths as Haskins. Jones being smaller than Haskins gives him the ability to be more mobile than people think. With the difference in weight between the two players, Jones turns into less of a pocket passer and more of a guy who can buy more time for his offense and/or pick up yards on the ground. However, that isn’t always beneficial for Jones, as it greatly contributes to his weakness as well.
During his time with Duke, he showed he can read defenses and adjust. Like Haskins, he can throw the ball downfield with the incorporation of lofting in touch passes. Tight window passing is another similarity he shares with Haskins. But, as alluded to before, it’s the weaknesses of Jones that makes him the worse choice.
Weaknesses
Daniel Jones
This is where the Giants made the mistake in picking Daniel Jones over Dwayne Haskins. Jones has played three seasons at Duke and problems have been consistent throughout. As I said before, Jones is able to extend his time in the pocket which obviously becomes more beneficial for the offense. On the flip side, he tends to hold onto the ball too long. In the NFL, he needs to adjust that to play with next level defenses. Decisiveness and failure to get the ball out fast enough are two things that are critical to excel at if you want to be a great quarterback in the league.
Jones had tendencies at Duke to force the ball into some tough coverages which had him making throws he had no business even considering. For Jones, those are two problems he currently faces as he enters the league. To cap it off, he doesn’t have experience in the big moments (to be covered later on). As anyone would say, he’s obviously going to improve with coaching and experience. But, with Haskins, those aren’t part of any of his weaknesses.
Dwayne Haskins
Shifting gears to Dwayne Haskins, his weaknesses include experience. He was just a one-year starter at Ohio State which has people questioning if he’s ready to lead an NFL franchise. As I said previously, Haskins has a potent pocket presence and patience which is impressive considering his sole year at one of the best colleges for football.
He’s young, though. His field vision needs some work, and he needs to be consistent when it comes to his decision-making. But, at Ohio State, he never held on to the ball too long to the point where it was a constant problem like Jones. Haskins is a young quarterback and isn’t perfect by any means, but comparing his strengths and weaknesses to Jones, the Giants had more to work with when it came to the Ohio State Quarterback.
Competition
Daniel Jones
I believe that when comparing two players, you must look at the strength of the opponents they had to face. If I’m the Giants, I want a player who’s played in some of the biggest games that college football has to offer. In Daniel Jones’ three years as a starter at Duke, he has played in the ACC, which is on the lower end of the power five conferences. Of course, it’s worth noting that football is a team sport. No one player can do all the work for a team. But, we must recognize the degree of competition that each player had to face.
Duke was nowhere close to the conference championship discussion. The ACC has been Clemson’s conference for years now. Jones’ most notable game was against the Temple Owls in the Independence Bowl. This isn’t really a game that most people watch.
Dwayne Haskins
Dwayne Haskins played at THE Ohio State University. Ranked sixth in the nation at season’s end, Haskins kept Ohio State in the conversation for the College Football Playoff all season long. He showed his poise and professionalism the most after trailing Penn State 14-26 with seven minutes left.
With little time on the clock, Haskins would lead a comeback. This included quick, precise passes as well as impressive ones across his body. To be on the road against a top conference opponent shows that he’s ready to play at the next level.
Ohio State plays in the Big Ten which is always competitive, year in and year out. In one of the biggest rivalries in all of sports, Haskins led a torching of #7 Michigan, beating them 62-39. He’d cap off his amazing season with a 28-23 victory in the “Granddaddy of them all,” the Rose Bowl, over the Washington Huskies. Against a tough schedule, Haskins put up 50 touchdowns and a Heisman Finalist bid.
In his first season starting at Ohio State, Haskins played in the tough games that college football offers. Being in the Rose Bowl and in contention for the College Football Playoff reflects how much the Giants’ made a mistake. As Uncle Mike said during the draft, “If you draft a QB from Duke, you deserve everything that comes to you.”
Drafting a quarterback who played in a subpar conference and no meaningful football games doesn’t really make sense. Quarterbacks such a Kyler Murray and Dwayne Haskins give that extra reason for teams to draft them because they’ve faced the best college football has to offer, while Jones faced these top teams only a handful of times.
Tying It All Together
Haskins would end up going #15 to the Washington Redskins. At the spot that should’ve gone to Daniel Jones, Washington got a gem. On the New York side of things, it’s more so the fact that they passed up on Haskins when he was still on the board. If the Giants were to pick up a strong defensive player at fourth and then pick up Jones at #17, that would’ve been a different situation.
No one knows how these two quarterbacks will perform. We’re just projecting based off what we’ve seen already. But, like most Giants’ fans, it’s safe to say they made a huge mistake passing on Dwayne Haskins for the multitude of reasons stated above. It’s only fitting that Haskins was drafted by the Redskins. Perhaps this is the start of the newest rivalry in the NFC East.
How was day one of the draft for the New York Giants? Did they make the right decision picking Daniel Jones over Dwayne Haskins? Let me know.