After the Giants reviewed all the hits and misses on first-round quarterbacks over the previous 10 NFL drafts, head coach Brian Daboll reached a conclusion.
“We’re taking Stroud,” Daboll quipped to a room filled with the Giants’ key decision-makers during a March meeting, as later revealed on “Hard Knocks.”
If only it were as simple as using hindsight.
Daboll’s joke, of course, is that the Giants were one year too late to get C.J. Stroud, who had arguably the greatest NFL rookie quarterback season ever for the Texans in 2023. Meanwhile, the only player drafted before Stroud — the Panthers’ Bryce Young — had one of the worst rookie quarterback seasons ever for a No. 1 overall pick.
