INDIANAPOLIS — Now, things get serious.
There are still two months until the 2024 NFL Draft, but this week’s NFL Scouting Combine can be considered an unofficial soft opening for the most important event on the league’s calendar each year.
Want to rebuild your team? Draft well. Want to be a playoff contender? Draft wisely. Want to win the Super Bowl? Great draft.
The Giants are here in full force — their front office and coaching staff are flocking to all sorts of fact-finding missions. General manager Joe Schon is scheduled to meet with the media Tuesday morning.
Brian Daboll will not be among the 20 head coaches scheduled to speak during his time at the combine. He also did not speak at the event last year, when he was just named NFL Coach of the Year. Daboll believes public comments during the offseason fall under Schoen’s jurisdiction.
Here’s what the Giants need to accomplish this week in Indy.
table talk
If it were up to the Giants, and most teams, the effort involved in negotiating a deal would already be done through regular long-distance communications. Agents prefer to wait and meet in person so they can buy numbers with other teams flocking to Indy. Accordingly, a face-to-face meeting with representatives of Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney will take place.
For Barkley, this is in some ways a continuation of a tedious pursuit that began during the 2022 bye week, with several offers and proposals along the way ultimately shot down by Barkley and his camp. This is a complete first for McKinney, as his four-year rookie contract is up. This will be his first attempt at seeking a new contract. Given the past failures with Barkley and McKinney’s expected top-level financial needs, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Giants leave town without coming close to a deal with either player.
Passer rating
The Giants already have a ton of information and analysis on the top quarterbacks in this draft. Then comes more personal touches. These interviews are important for all players, especially in this position, where leadership traits, the ability to learn on the fly and show calm under pressure are important factors for success. This isn’t just about Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, and Drake Maye. That’s because by the time the Giants come in at No. 6, those three top prospects could be out of the lineup unless they choose to break the bank with expensive trades. Up.
Daboll has risen to prominence in the NFL with quarterbacks, recently giving promotions to offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and quarterbacks coach Shay Tierney. With these three coaches in the room, the Giants should come back with strong information on Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr., and JJ McCarthy.
networking
All the general managers will be in Indy that week, and all sorts of behind-the-scenes conversations will take place as the seeds of future deals are planted. It’s still a little early to actually make draft-related trades. A month from now, things will get serious when it comes to trade discussions at the NFL Owners Conference in Orlando in the last week of March.
This week, Schoen will talk to agents about what some of the Giants’ impending free agents are thinking. The Giants have 24 soon-to-be unrestricted free agents, and he would like to bring back most, if not all, of them at a fair price.
What’s wrong, Doctor?
A big part of this week is the build-up of medical reports on a number of players participating in the combine. This week, nearly every measure of an athlete’s physical ability will be evaluated, including height, weight, vertical jump, 40-yard dash, and hand size.
There are also MRI reports and updates on surgeries, past injuries, and red flags that could rule a player out or move him down the draft board. Players may opt out of participating in certain tests, and these departures are always accompanied by speculation and sometimes innuendo, which may or may not be fair.
meet and greet
If the Giants want one of the top two wide receivers in this draft after Marvin Harrison Jr., they would almost certainly be in a position to take him. It’s impossible to get three wideouts in the first five picks, so either LSU’s Malik Nabors or Washington’s Roma Odunze will likely be on the Giants’ board. Probably both will be there. Now is the time to dig deep with them, make personal connections, ask them tough questions, feed them route-running scenarios and offensive concepts in the film room, and gauge how they respond. .
The same goes for top offensive tackles Joe Alt (Notre Dame), Olu Fashanu (Penn State) and Talese Fuaga (Oregon State). It’s tough to judge big men’s NFL readiness and competitive spirit. The Giants may have gotten this wrong with Evan Neal two years ago, and a mistake like this in the first round is a real setback.
