This week, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen and more Giants staff will scout (and coach) some of the nation’s top college prospects, who will practice with and compete against each other at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
The Senior Bowl has not only historically been important for the Giants but for Schoen in particular. While he was in Buffalo as assistant general manager (2017-21), the Bills selected 14 Senior Bowl participants in the NFL Draft, including quarterback Josh Allen.
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That emphasis has continued with Schoen in New York. Three of 11 selections participated in the Senior Bowl in his first draft with the Giants — cornerback Cor’Dale Flott, tight end Daniel Bellinger and linebacker Darrian Beavers. In his second go-around in 2023, two of the Giants’ seven picks were Senior Bowl participants — center John Michael Schmitz and running back Eric Gray.
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Senior Bowl practices begin Tuesday in Alabama. Here’s a Giants-centric primer to get you ready for the week.
Draft situation
After finishing the season 6-11, the Giants secured the No. 6 pick. Barring a trade, it will be the fourth time in franchise history the team will select sixth, last picking quarterback Daniel Jones in 2019 at that spot.
Here’s what the Giants are looking at in terms of draft capital, with the order not yet officially sorted.
• one first-round pick (No. 6)
• two second-round picks (No. 39 and No. 47, from Seattle via the Leonard Williams trade)
• one third-round pick
• one fourth-round pick
• one fifth-round pick
• one sixth-round pick
The Giants could also receive compensatory picks via the recent update to the Rooney Rule, which awards picks to teams who lose minority coaches and/or executives to other teams. If the Giants lose offensive coordinator Mike Kafka to a head-coaching job or assistant general manager Brandon Brown to a GM job, they’d receive comp picks.
If they lost one, they would receive third-round comp picks in 2024 and 2025. If they lost both, they’d get third-round comp picks in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
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Giants coaches on staff
Not only will the Giants be in town to scout prospective talent, but some of the current coaching staff will get a closer look than most.
Quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney and assistant special teams coach Mike Adams will be coordinators for the game. Tierney will serve as the offensive coordinator for the National team while Adams will serve as special teams coordinator for the American team. The Senior Bowl is using a “Coach Up” format in which assistants and coordinators are placed in elevated and different positions from their current jobs. GMs and head coaches of all non-playoff teams and teams eliminated in the wild-card round had the chance to nominate personnel.
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Worth noting: Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka is serving as head coach of the West team at the East-West Shrine Bowl. Offensive assistant Angela Baker will be the tight ends coach for the West team. New special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial will act in the same role for the East team.
Giants’ positions of need
Quarterback
Ah, to draft a quarterback or not to draft a quarterback, that is the question. At No. 6, it’s likely the consensus top two quarterbacks (USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye) will be gone before the Giants select. Maybe the Giants will consider trading up. Or maybe they’ll fall in love with someone who could still be on the board at No. 6. Or maybe they’ll just be content to stick with Jones.
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But even if the latter is true, the Giants might still want to add a fresh face to their quarterbacks room. And that player could be someone they scout at the Senior Bowl.
We’ll get into some of the key quarterback names in Mobile to watch, but with Tierney having a front-row seat and being able to coach those quarterbacks, you can’t discount this position.
Wide receiver
We wrote about wide receiver as a position of need last season and that remains true this year but in a more definite sense: The Giants need a true No. 1. Their receiving corps started to fill out nicely toward season’s end with young players like Wan’Dale Robinson and rookie Jalin Hyatt starting to find a groove.
But there’s no true go-to guy. Tight end Darren Waller had potential to become that player, but his injury problems resurfaced and that never came to pass. The Giants finished with the second-fewest receiving yards (3,351) in the league this season. If the Giants don’t pick a new quarterback, they’ll have to give a lot of consideration to using the No. 6 pick to add another weapon for Jones.
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Outside linebacker
The offensive line is a clear weakness for the Giants but one that’s been discussed ad nauseam. So I figured I’d shed light on another area in need of improvement, and that’s the outside linebacker group. The position didn’t make many changes last offseason going into 2023 with the pass rush led by Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari. Both are talented young players, and Thibodeaux delivered a strong second year (11.5 sacks).
But Ojulari missed six games with injury after missing 10 the previous year and wasn’t very effective (2.5 sacks) when he was on the field. This group needs help, especially with veteran Jihad Ward (five sacks) likely heading to free agency. The Giants can’t ignore this position for the second year in a row.
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Players to watch
We leaned on The Athletic’s resident prospect expert, Dane Brugler, and his keen analysis for a few names Giants fans should keep an eye on this week.
Bo Nix, QB, Oregon
As mentioned, quarterbacks will be especially important to watch given the Giants’ draft position and Tierney’s role in Mobile. Nix and the two quarterbacks below will be on the National team coached by Tierney. Though the Giants selected a wide receiver in Brugler’s most recent mock draft, Nix is Brugler’s highest-rated quarterback who will be at the Senior Bowl.
“He understands where to go with the football, and his scrambling can give defenses fits,” Brugler said. The 6-foot-2, 217-pound Nix threw for 4,508 yards, 45 touchdowns and three interceptions this season. He’ll be 24 years old at the time of the draft.
Michael Penix Jr., QB, Washington
Penix, 23, led the Huskies to the college football national championship game, coming up short to Michigan and new Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh. Penix is viewed as “probably the most polarizing quarterback in the draft,” Brugler wrote. While Penix is seen as a great passer, there are several areas of his game (and medical history) that complicate his projection. The 6-3 Penix threw for 4,903 yards, 36 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season.
Sam Hartman, QB, Notre Dame
The 24-year-old Hartman isn’t included as one of the picks in Brugler’s two-round mock draft. But it’s important to note Hartman given he’s on the National team with Tierney. The 6-1, 210-pound Hartman threw for 2,689 yards, 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
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Adisa Isaac, edge, Penn State
As Brugler notes, Isaac is long and athletic and coming off his best season. He may not be a Day 1 guy but is worth monitoring. The 6-4, 249-pound Isaac finished with 23 solo tackles and 7.5 sacks to go with one forced fumble.
Tyler Guyton, OL, Oklahoma
Given the Giants’ offensive line issues, we do at least have to include one offensive lineman here. We’ll highlight a tackle, given Evan Neal’s struggles. Enter the 6-7, 327-pound Guyton, whose name is picking up more steam heading into Mobile. He’s projected at No. 24 in Brugler’s mock, but as Brugler writes, “Based on his raw traits, Guyton could go much earlier than this.”
WR Xavier Legette, WR, South Carolina
Like the quarterbacks, some of the top projected wide receivers won’t be in Mobile. But there are plenty of names in Brugler’s sights worth monitoring. Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy brought up Legette on The Athletic Football Show, and now I’m curious about the 6-3, 227-pound Legette, who had a breakout fifth season at South Carolina. In 12 games, Legette had 71 receptions for 1,255 yards (second-highest single-season mark in school history) and seven touchdowns. Brugler notes that while “Legette needs to continue developing his route tempo, his film gives off DK Metcalf vibes with his explosive speed and physicality to be a match-up weapon.” Intriguing indeed.
(Photos of Michael Penix Jr., Joe Schoen and Bo Nix: Tom Hauck, Justin Casterline and Ric Tapia / Getty Images)