New York Giants general manager Jerry said Saturday that Ryan Nassib, the Syracuse quarterback the Giants traded up to select in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft, was "just too much value" to pass up.
"We talked about it early this morning that if he was still there, there was no way we were going to pass him up again because he has too much value. We've been thinking about developing a quarterback behind Eli (Manning) for a while now and we think this is a perfect opportunity for us to get a young quarterback with a lot of talent," Reese said.
Reese, as could have been expected, said Nassib was the highest-rated player on the Giants' draft board entering the fourth round. That includes quarterback Matt Barkley, whom the Philadelphia Eagles traded up for to select with the first pick of the fourth round.
"He was just too much value. To be honest, we thought the kid would probably get picked in the second round," Reese said. "He's got the arm strength. We like the accuracy about him. We like that "it" factor on him."
Reese did not speculate on why Nassib, once thought to be a possible first-round selection, dropped into the fourth round.
"We think he has the skill set to be a starter at some point in the league. We think he could be a terrific backup," Reese said. "We have Eli in the prime of his career and you actually hope this quarterback never plays. Again, what if something happens? We want to have a guy ready to go.
"Again, maybe he'll never play here. We hope Eli plays for long, long time and maybe this young man will never play but if he has to play, we think he has a good skill set to help us win football games."