2018 NFL Draft: Josh Rosen a Giant in a post-Jets trade mock draft

The landscape of the 2018 NFL Draft underwent its first dramatic change Saturday morning when the New York Jets traded from sixth overall to third.

With the New York Giants currently holding the second overall pick, it is a real possibility that quarterbacks won’t just go 1 and 2, but 1-2-3.

Dan Kadar of Mocking The Draft used this week’s mock to take a look at what a post-trade draft could look like. As is increasingly usual as people personally (and emotionally) identify with certain prospects, some Giants fans will be overjoyed, while others are outraged.

Here is Kadar’s pick for the Giants:

2. New York Giants: Josh Rosen, QB, UCLA

It’s difficult to really gauge this pick. Penn State running back Saquon Barkley makes a lot of sense, as does Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson. It’s just hard to get fully on board with a running back or guard having as much franchise value as a quarterback. That’s even considering that Eli Manning will play another season or two. Rosen is the draft’s best quarterback. Don’t get too cute.

Raptor’s Thoughts: It is overwhelmingly likely (at this point) that the first three (and even five) picks in the draft will be quarterbacks. After all, so many teams need quarterbacks and due to Darnold and Rosen, draft has been hyped as a “Quarterback Draft” for years. In fact, the hype has only gotten stronger with the emergence of Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen.

The fact that the pick is Josh Rosen is sure to delight everyone who, like Dan, believes that he is the best quarterback in a draft replete with potential franchise signal callers (I’m not there yet, and won’t be anywhere until I get done with our Quarterback Series). It will also worry everyone concerned about Rosen’s injury history and potential personality fit that might might jive with the Giants’ brass — and considering how tied at the hip a franchise QB is with his head coach and GM are, that fit is even more important than scheme fit.

(Even if he isn’t the jerk he’s made out to be by some, nobody I’ve come across really disputes that he has a forceful personality that could, at least, rub some the wrong way).

The question of whether or not one of those the teams drafting a quarterback is the New York Giants remains to be seen.

The fact also remains that after the most disgusting season in recent memory, and as the “experienced, stabilizing” options, Pat Shurmur and Dave Gettleman know they will not get a honeymoon period. They know they have to win now, and might decide that the best way to do so is to leverage the second overall pick into a number of players who will help immediately.

Assuming Gettleman and Shurmur believe they have enough pieces in place to win enough games to keep themselves off the hot seat, and they do believe that Josh Rosen is not only a compatible personality but also more likely to be Matt Ryan than Chad Pennington, then this is a fine choice that should set up the future of the franchise.