Insider says Giants’ interest in drafting a QB was a smokescreen

Linked to both North Carolina’s Drake Maye and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy in the weeks leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft, many wondered if the New York Giants would make a move up for a quarterback in Round 1.

Despite the weeks of speculation that the front office was looking to find Daniel Jones’ successor, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on Monday’s “Pat McAfee Show” that the Giants were never really interested in a signal-caller at all but were actually trying to orchestrate their own perfect storm.

“I believe the Giants wanted Joe Alt to slide to them,” Schefter said. “… I think some of this quarterback talk for the Giants might have been a little camouflage to try to get somebody like Minnesota to trade up because if they traded up to the Chargers spot at 5 and got J.J. McCarthy, Joe Alt would’ve slid right to the Giants’ slot at No. 6 and that would have been ideal for a team that last year allowed its quarterbacks to be sacked 85 times.”