John Mara's quarterback promise: He won't stand in way of NY Giants drafting one

ORLANDO, Fla. - Two decades have passed, but New York Giants owner John Mara will never forget how apprehensive his father was about giving up on a quarterback he liked, respected and believed in.

Ernie Accorsi and Tom Coughlin were sold. The quarterback to lead the franchise into the future was going to be available in the 2004 NFL Draft, and either Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberger would be the target.

The late Wellington Mara needed a lot of convincing that it was time to move on from Kerry Collins, who helped carry his team to the Super Bowl just four years earlier, albeit in a losing effort.

“If [general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll] fall in love with a quarterback and believe it is worth pick number 6 or moving up, I certainly would support that,” Mara said at the NFL Annual Meeting on Monday. "Listen, everybody in the building wants Daniel [Jones] to succeed, but you can never let that get in the way if you make a judgment that there are people coming out in the draft that have a chance to be a really good franchise type players.

"We had that discussion I remember very well back in 2004," he continued. "My father was a huge Kerry Collins fan. We all were at the time. He was reluctant to pull the trigger on such a big trade for Eli Manning. The feeling that Ernie Accorsi had, that Tom Coughlin had, that a lot of people had was, 'Hey, we have a chance to get a long-term franchise quarterback here who can help us win Super Bowls.' So, we went and pulled the trigger on him."

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Without hesitation, Mara offered this promise Monday: if Schoen and Daboll come to him with a similar scenario next month, whether it be for J.J. McCarthy, Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels with Caleb Williams expected to land in Chicago, he will do everything he can to make sure history repeats itself - regardless of how much faith in or love he has for Jones.

Added Mara: "If they have a conviction on a quarterback and they fall in love with a quarterback, I'm certainly not going to stand in the way."

Schoen insists the Giants are not there yet, of course, and there are no guarantees they get there between now and the draft, which begins April 25 in Detroit. The evaluation is ongoing. The interest is real.

The Giants have already had North Carolina's Drake Maye and Michigan's J.J. McCarthy into their training facility in East Rutherford for Top 30 visits. Schoen was at Caleb Williams' pro day last week at USC along with director of player personnel Tim McDonnell. Assistant general manager Brandon Brown and passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney were at McCarthy's pro day in Ann Arbor.

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LSU Pro Day featuring Jayden Daniels is Wednesday; North Carolina Pro Day featuring Maye is Thursday.

And you can bet the Giants will be well-represented at both.

"I know they're looking at the quarterbacks. You've seen that," Mara said. "They've gone to some of the pro day, we've had some of those guys in. I don't think they're even close to making a final determination yet as to which way we're going to go on that. Those discussions will happen over the next few weeks."

Mara said he's been told by the Giants' front office that this is the "most talented group [of quarterbacks] to come out in years."

"There's a lot of strategy involved. Frankly, not everybody has had their Pro Days, and there's some kids we've been around more than others," Schoen said Monday. "It's a good draft, whether it's -- I think [Chargers coach] Jim Harbaugh said it today. If quarterbacks go 1 through 4, at 5 they're getting the best non-quarterback position player in the draft, and we're in a good position at 6.

So I think there's going to be a good player there. We'll look at all options, whether it's going up, back, staying. Ultimately I think we'll end up with a good player."

Even if the Giants draft a quarterback this year, Mara doesn't see that as giving up on Jones, to whom they signed to a four-year contract worth a max of $160 million last offseason. It's essentially a two-year deal worth $82 million with, for salary cap purposes, an additional $22 million of dead money for the 2025 season if the Giants move on from Jones.

"Why not let them both compete?" Mara said. "Let them both compete and let the better man win."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Giants may draft QB even with Daniel Jones, John Mara says