The New York Giants may find a willing trade partner in the Washington Commanders during the NFL Draft.
The New York Giants have found themselves in a predicament. With the No. 3 pick, they seem poised to take Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter, one of the two best prospects in the class and an excellent pass rusher destined to find success with Brian Burns and Dexter Lawrence by his side.
However, passing up on Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders will keep the team’s long-term quarterback plans unfinished. That’s the right choice, given their consensus rankings and overall upside, but general managers can only survive so long without a franchise quarterback.
As such, New York is linked to numerous trade opportunities, hoping to move up in Round 1 to take Alabama’s Jalen Milroe or Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart. Of course, it takes two parties to make a deal, and there’s no guarantee the most obvious candidates like what Joe Schoen has to offer.
The Washington Commanders might, prompting the question of whether they’d be willing to give a rival a shot at a Round 1 rookie quarterback.
Commanders general manager Adam Peters recently revealed his willingness to trade with NFC East rivals like the Giants at his pre-draft press conference.
“You think about that, but I think it’s, like a lot of things, case by case,” Peters said. “What is the trade, what is the best move for your team? I don’t personally believe in being scared about trading with a team within your division. If you think the trade is good value for you and you can get some good picks to help your team get better, then definitely consider it. Some cases it won’t be. Some cases it will be that we don't want to do that for whatever reason.
“But I don’t think we’ll ever shy away from that, taking those calls. A lot of times you’ll have a lot of trades kind of lined up. In that particular instance, the Eagles trade was by far the best trade in terms of value that we got, so we made that trade.”
Last season, Washington received a handful of picks from Philadelphia for the rights to draft cornerback Cooper DeJean. The Commanders eventually used their Day 2 picks from that deal to draft corner Mike Sainristil and tight end Ben Sinnott (a reasonable swap in hindsight).
New York doesn’t pose the threat that Philadelphia does, and Peters is willing to keep the door open for Schoen in the event the right deal comes to fruition. Whether or not there’s a premium on in-division trades is yet to be seen, but Washington cannot be ruled out of the Giants’ plans on draft night.
