Peter Schrager
NFL Insider and NFL Reporter
Each week, FOX Sports NFL Insider Peter Schrager opens his pocket book and provides his tackle three of the league’s greatest storylines. Here are his takes forward of Week 12, together with how the Giants misplaced a franchise QB, the Eagles’ thriller man on protection and Terrell Suggs’ case for the Hall of Fame.
The Giants QB dilemma
It’s nothing new to say that the Danny Dimes period of the Giants is over in New York. After six years and with a number of exit ramps within the contract after this season, the Giants will begin somebody apart from Daniel Jones at middle subsequent season.
This weekend it will likely be Tommy DeVito’s flip and $5 million offseason free agent acquisition Drew Lock can be up as an choice. But Week 1 in 2025? This is the place it will get fascinating. You see, the large QB Draft was in 2024; not in 2025. The Giants had a premium choose (sixth general) however determined to take their greatest large receiver on the board, Malik Nabers, over the 4th, fifth or sixth quarterback on their board. This is a wonderfully justifiable choice, no matter what occurs to these gamers over the course of their NFL careers. The Giants had been devoid of playmakers on the roster, Nabers undeniably is, and Jones was nonetheless simply 16 months away from a playoff victory in Minnesota. But man, eight months later, the 2024 Draft and every little thing that got here with it are nonetheless being mentioned in league circles.
Overall, the Giants and common supervisor Joe Schoen have already produced a implausible 2024 draft class. From high to backside, whether or not it is Nabers, Tyler Nubin, Dru Phillips, Theo Johnson, or rising working again Tyrone Tracey, Jr ., the Giants have some rising expertise amongst their first-year gamers.
But the looming QB gap is one thing to consider.
The wildness of getting cameras — even when somebody edited or filtered — all through the complete pre-draft course of has solely added intrigue to the Giants’ 2024 offseason. And whereas the choice to maneuver on from Saquon Barkley is essentially the most scrutinized choice from HBO’s “Hard Knocks” offseason program, the conversations about Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye, and New York’s apparent curiosity in each, change into extra fascinating solely as a result of their play exceeds expectations. The seasons Daniels and Maye are having – each glorious – can solely be made worse by the one Bo Nix is having for a 6-win Broncos workforce. Now, from dependable sources, it seems that Washington was not buying and selling the No. 1 choose. 2, no matter what was provided. And New England common supervisor Eliot Wolf simply picked up the cellphone when calling for provides for Maye. Can you crush the Giants for passing on Nix? Eh, 5 different quarterbacks had been taken earlier than him and it seems that Sean Payton had his coronary heart set on Nix in a manner that no different NFL choice maker has.
But what if?
Let’s additionally return a couple of months earlier than the draft. The Giants had been 2-8 a yr in the past right now when, inexplicably, Tommy DeVito and New York reeled off three straight victories, together with a shocker over the playoff-bound Packers. At 5-8, the Giants had been alive and enjoying impressed soccer heading into the vacation season. There had been TV commercials, an invite to the NFL Honors and hysteria over “Tommy Cutlets.” But these three wins value the Giants a precious draft place heading into April’s essential occasion. In sixth place, New York was caught behind three quarterback-needy groups. And pretty much as good as Nix is now, there have been few groups pushing for him within the high 10, not to mention Michael Penix or JJ McCarthy. We have not seen a lot from Penix (restricted motion whereas on mop-up obligation) or McCarthy (injured), however thus far each have gotten optimistic opinions from sources on their respective groups.
Last yr’s NFL Draft produced six first-round QBs who will begin within the league within the subsequent few years. This yr’s draft? The acquainted names are there, sure. Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders, Quinn Ewers, Jalen Milroe, Carson Beck and Garrett Nussmeier are all QBs at large title packages who’ve had their moments. But aside from Sanders, I do not suppose many scouts view any of them on the similar stage as Caleb Williams, Daniels, or Maye. Our job is to construct the draft and the intrigue of a primary general choose and not using a slam dunk might be good for content material. But I do not hear scouts speaking about these guys like they did with the Big 3 from a yr in the past. At least not at this level. It can be an understatement to easily say that this is not a “QB draft,” however there are much more questions on this general crop than final yr’s, which noticed 6 signal-callers drafted within the high 12.
So, that is neither right here nor there, but it surely’s undoubtedly value pondering: What if DeVito hadn’t gotten these three straight wins a yr in the past? Would the Giants have Daniels or Maye underneath middle and settle at QB? Schoen has an enormous choice forward of him, and the alternatives may not be as enticing as they had been a yr in the past if the Giants had a barely higher choose.
Alright. This is the live performance.
And right here comes DeVito once more. And guess what? He may do it once more. There’s magic there.
But in fact, we’ll be speaking lots about Sanders and his NFL future over the subsequent six months. He has the products and might pitch them. More than simply Deion’s son, he has proven flashes of elite playmaking, decision-making and management traits. And if there’s one school participant he may embrace and have a leg up on within the New York market, it may be him — a younger man who has had the highlight shone on him in a manner that not even Caleb Williams did in school. But if the Giants win a couple of extra video games, they might play with out being within the dialog. We’re nonetheless a number of months away and we’ll be all-in come draft time, however make no mistake: draft place issues. And the identical goes for these seemingly “meaningless” video games.
Tommy DeVito is again at middle for the Giants following the benching of Daniel Jones (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
Sizzle Hall of Fame Credentials
There might be a debate about one other Giants QB, Eli Manning, and whether or not he’s worthy of being a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Someone who should not have a lot debate? Another first-year eligible participant: Terrell Suggs. Cards on the desk, I’ve been an “alternate” Hall of Fame voter prior to now, and I like the Hall, however I have never had a lot to do with it lately. This yr’s crop of eligible first-year gamers is the very best we have seen since Randy Moss and Brian Urlacher’s workforce a couple of years in the past. There’s Eli and Suggs, however there’s additionally Adam Vinatieri, there’s Marshawn Lynch and there is Luke Kuechly. Joe Staley may additionally attain the ultimate 15 this yr.
I believe Suggs needs to be a primary poll man. He ranks eighth on the all-time sack record with 139 sacks in 17 seasons. All seven gamers forward of him are Hall of Famers; there are seven gamers behind him who’re within the sport. He can be a two-time Super Bowl champion, profitable one with the Ravens and one other as a mid-year addition to Andy Reid’s Chiefs’ first Super Bowl-winning workforce in 2019. He obtained the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, a Defensive Player of the Year and is likely one of the first guys to come back again from a torn Achilles and make a full restoration. How many go rushers can say they had been a dominant pressure for 17 seasons?
The rings are there. The statistics are there. The victories are there. But it is a wealthy lesson. Time will inform.
Will Terrell Suggs make the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first strive? (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
Offseason Value Signing
Howie Roseman is a two-time Executive of the Year and the signing of Saquon Barkley from the rival New York Giants has already been heralded as among the best free-agent strikes in current reminiscence. The choices of rookies Quinyon Mitchell within the first spherical and Cooper DeJean on this yr’s second draft are additionally already residence runs. But the most important worth transfer of the complete 2024 offseason was the signing of linebacker Zack Baun for lower than $2 million. Baun, who defensive coordinator Vic Fangio joked about a couple of weeks in the past when he mentioned the entrance workplace noticed him as a particular groups man, has emerged because the Eagles’ greatest tackler and defensive stalwart within the center. A place that has lengthy been a frustration for Eagles followers in Philadelphia, the ILB position was crammed admirably by Baun in his first yr in inexperienced. Coach Nick Sirianni known as the Philadelphia Eagles’ offseason acquisition of linebacker Baun a “residence run for the group.”
Two weeks in the past, he was the NFC Defensive Player of the Week. Last week, he made 14 tackles and the game-saving cease of Jayden Daniels on a 4th-and-1 play within the fourth quarter.
As far as Baun is worried, he isn’t an in a single day success story. He was a defensive chief and star on the University of Wisconsin. A 3rd-round pick of New Orleans, he was seen as a particular groups man, the place, whereas he excelled, that is not what you sometimes search for in a third-rounder. Baun, 27, signed a one-year contract value simply $1.6 million — simply above the NFL league’s fifth-year minimal wage of $1.5 million — with the Eagles in March.
In New Orleans he by no means performed greater than 30% of his workforce’s defensive snaps.
In 10 video games as a starter in Philadelphia, Baun recorded 102 complete tackles, a mean of 10.2 per sport, the very best quantity at the moment within the NFL. He performed 95% of the workforce’s defensive snaps. He continues to be solely 27 years previous and his greatest soccer continues to be forward of him.
In Baun, Howie Roseman has struck gold… once more.
Zack Baun was the unsung star of the Eagles protection in 2024. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
NFL STATS OF THE WEEK
Detroit Lions 50+ level video games from 1920 to 2023: 3
Detroit Lions 50+ level video games in 11 weeks in 2024: 2
Peter Schrager is an NFL Insider for FOX Sports and host of “Good Morning Football” on NFL Network. You can comply with him on Twitter at @PSchrags.
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