A Giants-Patriots trade to make good on ESPN promise and end the Daniel Jones era

The New York Giants had a bit of buyer's remorse on quarterback Daniel Jones. After signing Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract, Jones was limited to six games due to a neck injury and a torn ACL. Through the pre-draft process, the Giants did their homework on the top quarterback prospects to potentially land Jones' successor.

One of the more well-known things from the NFL Draft through reporting and in HBO's "Hard Knocks: Offseason Edition," was that the Giants were trying to land the No. 3 overall pick from the New England Patriots. The quarterback they had their eye on was North Carolina's Drake Maye. But, the Patriots opted to keep the pick to select Maye for themselves. With that, the Giants are sticking with Jones for another year to see if he can prove he's the answer.

But what if Jones doesn't do so? After all, he did showcase similar mistakes in his preseason outing against the Houston Texans that have plagued him throughout his career.

Well, ESPN's Field Yates unveiled his first mock draft for 2025 on Wednesday. In said mock draft, Yates has the Giants landing the first-overall pick from the Patriots to land Georgia quarterback Carson Beck.

"As we know, quarterbacks are almost always gravitating toward the top of the board, as eight of the past 10 first overall picks have been signal-callers," writes Yates. "The Patriots just used the No. 3 selection on Drake Maye in April, so chances are they'd be listening on trade offers if they landed the No. 1 pick next year. In this scenario, the Giants come calling for a second straight year and this time get a deal done. This projected trade would involve multiple picks, including New York's No. 6 selection."

This would be welcome news for Giants fans who are done with Jones. General manager Joe Schoen was pretty aggressive in trying to secure a trade with the Patriots for the third overall pick. So, what would it take for Schoen to get a deal done with the Patriots this time?

A Giants-Patriots trade that lands New York their QB of the future

There were various reports regarding what the Patriots wanted from the Giants for the No. 3 overall pick. ESPN's Jordan Raanan said that the Patriots were looking for the Giants'No. 6 overall pick, their 2024 second-round pick, and their 2025 first-rounder for the No. 3 pick.

During "Hard Knocks," Schoen was filmed calling Patriots director of player personnel and de facto general manager Eliot Wolf to see what it would take to land the No. 3 pick. Wolf said they were comfortable holding the pick, but said he would consider, "if you offer us 1, 2, 3 this year, 1, 2 next year."

It probably won't take the offer Wolf was suggesting, considering the Patriots don't need a quarterback next year. They drafted Maye to be their signal caller of the future. So, the asking price may not be as lucrative as that to move on from the pick. The Patriots are in a position to move down, accumulate more draft capital, and bolster their overall roster.

This is a somewhat similar trade to what the Carolina Panther gave up in 2023 to secure the No. 1 overall pick from the Chicago Bears to select Bryce Young. However, the Bears gave up a second-round pick in 2025, not in 2024 alongside their first-rounder.

Beck shined this past season for Georgia, throwing for 3,941 yards, 24 touchdowns, and six interceptions 72.4 percent of his passes. Yates writes that Beck "is a silky smooth pocket passer with excellent 6-foot-4 size and enough mobility to navigate inside and outside the pocket."

If the Giants like a quarterback enough and they win too many games to land the first-overall pick, they will have to move up to ensure another organization doesn't draft the one they want. It will take a lot, but if the Giants feel this will provide them long-term stability at the position like they had with Eli Manning, they will have to pay the price.