In 2019, the New York Giants came to believe that their starting quarterback of the previous 15 seasons, Eli Manning, was reaching the end of his career. Manning brought the Giants their only two Super Bowl wins since 1990, both times defeating the heavily favored New England Patriots. In the 2007 season, the Patriots entered the Super Bowl undefeated with 16 regular season wins and two playoff victories without a single defeat. But that was before Manning and the Giants ended their bid for NFL history.
With the Giants defense holding the Patriots, whose offense averaged 36.8 points per game in the regular season, to just 14 points, Manning connected with receiver Plaxico Burress on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 35 seconds remaining to give the Giants a 17-14 win.
Manning did it again four years later, beating the 15-3 (including playoffs) Patriots in yet another Super Bowl, again by just four points, 21-17.
Giants Glory Days Are Long Forgotten
Those were the glory days. But they were long forgotten eight years after Manning’s second Super Bowl title when the Giants used the sixth overall pick in the NFL draft to take Duke University quarterback Daniel Jones. The Giants clearly had high hopes for Jones. After just two weeks of the 2019 season, they benched Manning â the quarterback who had started every Giants game since the opening of the 2005 season, save for one game in 2017 â and handed the starting job to Jones just two weeks into the season.
Unfortunately, Jones turned into one of the great busts in NFL draft history. After he compiled a record of 22-44-1 over his six Giants seasons, the team finally released him on November 22, 2024. But neither of his replacements, Drew Lock or Tommy DeVito, did much better â though the Giants did get a 45-33 win over the Indianapolis Colts behind Lock in Week 17. Still, the Giants ended the season at 3-14, the worst record in the 100-year history of the franchise.
So what do they do for a quarterback now? The Giants own the No. 3 pick in the 2025 draft, but this is not a good year for quarterbacks. At least one mock draft sees them taking Miami QB Cam Ward with the pick, but that prediction counts on the Tennessee Titans who are widely expected to take a quarterback with the No. 1 pick, snubbing Ward.
New York Urged to Look to New England for Next QB
According to Giants writer Anthony Nivardo of Empire Sports Media, however, there is another option for the Giants to full their quarterback role, and it comes from the same team that the Manning-led Giants upset in the Super Bowl â twice.
“One name receiving buzz in trade rumors following the conclusion of the NFL regular season is New England Patriots rookie QB Joe Milton III,” Nivardo wrote. “The Patriots selected Milton in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft despite drafting Drake Maye with the third-overall pick in the first round of the same draft. Mayeâs presence on the roster as the teamâs next franchise quarterback could make Milton expendable and available for trade this offseason.”
Milton has earned the nickname “Bazooka Joe” for his rocket-like arm. Milton was described by Lance Zierlein, a draft expert for NFL.com, as a “rare physical specimen … gifted with a cannon for a right arm and can throw the ball as hard or as far as you want.”
In his lone start as a rookie, against the Buffalo Bills in Week 18, Milton sidearmed a pass clocked at 62 mph, the second-fastest ever recorded in NFL history.
Milton is also an economical option, with three years remaining on a rookie contract that pays him just $4.2 million.
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