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by Spiro Kasabian @NYspawtsguy_spi

Kyler Murray Joins 2019 Quarterback Class

Kyler Murray has made some noise this week.  The Junior out of Oklahoma has declared for 2019 NFL Draft.  This is significant for several reasons.

Kyler Murray was drafted by the Oakland A’s with the 9th pick of last year’s MLB draft.  It was always assumed the Murray was going to play football at Oklahoma this year, but once he was done playing football, he would come to play for the Oakland A’s.

Change of Direction:

Murray flipped the script. He went on to put up an electric 2018 season in which he won the Heisman Trophy and led the Oklahoma Sooners to the College Football Playoffs.  Murray’s new direction changes the landscape of the 2019 NFL Draft for many teams, namely, the New York Giants.  Depending on how he performs and measures out (roughly 5’9” and 190 LBS) at the NFL Combine, there are several draft experts that see him going in the top half of the 1st Round.

Murray joins the, often dubbed, “weak” 2019 Quarterback Class that also features Dwayne Haskins (Ohio State), Drew Lock (Missouri), Will Grier (WV) and Daniel Jones (Duke).  For such a weak class, it is crazy to see Mock Drafts projecting all four Quarterbacks to be taken within the first 15-20 picks.  Four teams will believe, after the 2019 draft, that they will have their Quarterback of the future.

Where Does This Leave the New York Giants?

This leaves the New York Giants in an optimal position with the #6 pick in the 2019 Draft.  Let’s play the scenarios out. The Giants fall in love with one of Haskins, Murray, Lock, Grier or Jones and make that pick at #6.

  • The Giants find a trade partner willing to trade 2020 draft capital to move up ahead of the QB-deprived Jaguars. The Giants use that draft capital to get their man in the 2020 NFL Draft (Tua Tagovailoa, Jake Fromm or Justin Herbert).  This would be my preference if I was Dave Gettleman.
  • A team trades up to jump the QB-needy Giants and Jaguars to take Dwayne Haskins or Kyler Murray (or both if they both perform at the combine). That leaves the Giants with one of the ELITE defensive players in Quinnen Williams, Josh Allen, Brian Burns, Clelin Ferrell, or Ed Oliver.

  • Haskins is gone, and the Giants do not value trading back or any of the remaining Quarterbacks. The Giants are still left with plenty of defensive talent to choose in the Front Seven (Ferrell, Lawrence, Polite, Oliver), Secondary (Murphy, Williams, Thompson), or Offensive Line (J. Williams).

The Giants have more options now that Kyler Murray has decided to enter the 2019 NFL Draft.  What this also does, is take four more teams out of the mix for a Quarterback in the 2020 Draft. If the Giants decide to punt on taking their quarterback of the future in 2019, they will have fewer teams to contend with in 2020.  By my count, the list is at about twenty teams that have their quarterback position settled for the near future.  That is not counting where the likes of Derek Carr, Nick Foles, Teddy Bridgewater, Jameis Winston, and Marcus Mariota end up.

Whatever the Giants decide to do, they simply need to have conviction and get the right guy.  The opportunity to get out of “QB Hell” is there. Now, we as Giant fans must have faith in Gettleman and Shurmur to make the right choice.