“Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants” has moved on from the Saquon Barkley free agency drama, and is now showing us the team’s pre-draft process. Viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at the visits the Giants had with top ranked wide receivers Rome Odunze, Marvin Harrison Jr., and their eventual pick Malik Nabers.
Early in the episode we see all three receivers sitting next to each other in a Giants meeting room, with wide receivers coach Mike Groh putting them through their paces. He asks them questions, gets their answers, and encourages them to think a little more critically about the situation they were presented.
It was easy to see how much Groh loved being in a room with three young, hungry wide receivers. He ended their meeting by saying he wished the Giants could draft all three of them. And at some point later, team owner John Mara asks Groh which of the three wide receivers he’d take if he had the choice. Without hesitation or even the slightest pause, Groh gave his answer.
“So, you’re on the clock right now, you gotta make a decision, one of those three?” Mara asked.
Groh replied: “I take Nabers.”
While Groh was 100% on Team Nabers, even with Harrison (the son of an NFL legend) on the table, the decision-makers were considering all the options. Picking sixth overall was good, but not if you wanted to draft a difference-making quarterback. The Giants explored trading up to draft a QB, and even invited Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye to visit the facility to see if either would be worth trading up for.
While head coach Brian Daboll and others liked Daniels, after researching the success of quarterbacks who were drafted early, they decided they didn’t have a safe bet at QB and it would likely cost too much (or simply be impossible) to trade up to get a truly game changing QB.
While the episode ends before the draft starts, we already know that the Giants didn’t trade up for a QB and drafted Nabers with the sixth pick — likely knowing that Harrison was too talented to fall to them even with a high draft position. But watching the process is fascinating, and at least fans know it will turn out well — unlike all the Barkley drama they showed recently.
