The Giants took who they hope is their successor to Eli Manning with their first pick in the NFL draft on Thursday night, taking Duke quarterback Daniel Jones with the sixth overall pick.
Jones has a connection to the Manning family in Duke head coach David Cutcliffe, who has mentored both Peyton and Eli. Jones doesn't have the best physical traits of all the quarterbacks in this class, but the Giants hope he can grow into an eventual starter behind Eli.
Giants general manager Dave Gettleman stressed the importance of drafting a quarterback who has been battle-tested enough to have been able to bounce back and to show that he can handle what may be about to come his way.
"Being the quarterback of a team in this kind of a market is a load, is a mental load," Gettleman said. "You've got to really vet out the backgrounds of these guys ... It's more than just collecting data and looking at a guy's physical talent. It's about his makeup."
Jones gave a first-hand demonstration in overcoming adversity and growing from it at the Senior Bowl in January. On the first day of practice at the event, he threw a pair if interceptions and seemed disoriented by the schemes and systems in place for him. By the end of the week, he was an MVP in the game.
"Just showing the poise and showing kind of a comfort in the offense is something they wanted to see," Jones said of scouts at the all-star game. "At times, I'm not sure I did great with that, to be honest. But in the game, I think I did get comfortable and I got into a rhythm. Hopefully that showed them something and showed them I had the ability to do that and had the resiliency to do that."
His coach at the event noticed.
"He showed a lot of mental toughness," Jon Gruden said. "He had some tough moments ... but he came back the next day and the next day and the next day and showed the right stuff."
The Giants also own the 17th pick in the first round.
