The Giants weren’t expected to draft a quarterback. But the Giants weren’t expecting Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib to be available on the third day of the draft.
And so when Nassib was still available, they traded up to grab him. And Giants coach Tom Coughlin said on ESPN that Nassib was atop their draft board and they simply couldn’t pass up on that good a value.
“He was the number one player on our board at that time. We thought that if we were to lose him in that situation it wouldn’t be smart,” Coughlin said. “We felt very strongly about this young man. We look at him having an opportunity to learn from a great quarterback in Eli Manning, and we thought the value was too high to pass.”
Giants G.M. Jerry Reese echoed those comments on NFL Network.
“We think he can be a starter in this league,” Reese said. “I hope he never gets to play here because Eli is in the prime of his career and we hope he plays a long time here, but we really like Nassib. . . . We like his skill set.”
The presence of Manning makes it entirely possible that Nassib will never start a game for the Giants. But there are plenty of fourth-round picks who never start for the team that drafted them. If Nassib is as good as the Giants think he is, it makes sense to take him, no matter how many more years Manning has as their starter.