LSU’s top draft prospects this year had something that appealed to the New York Giants.

As is now common knowledge, the Giants selected receiver Malik Nabers in the first round of the draft, but things might have turned out differently if Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels had passed over the Washington Commanders, who had the second first-round pick in the 2024 draft.

That’s one of the many things we learned from the Giants’ performance. Hard blowsThis little nugget comes courtesy of head coach Brian Daboll, who, when asked if he would consider a trade to get Daniels in the draft, answered “yes.”

“I think he’s a good football player,” Daboll said when asked what he liked about Daniels. “He’s athletic. He’s dynamic with the ball in his hands, whether he’s passing or running.”

“He’s a rookie quarterback who has definitely done some good things that you’ve seen on college tape. He had 88 yards, 70 yards on scrambles, throws the ball well.”

This weekend will be the first time the Giants have seen Daniels, now with the Commanders, up close since seeing him at LSU’s Pro Day in the spring. Daboll continued to heap praise on Daniels when asked if the LSU product looked like a rookie in his first game, a 37-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Daniels finished the game 17 of 24 for 184 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions, and two sacks for a passer rating of 93.1. He had 88 rushing yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns, leading the Commanders’ running game in Week 1.

““Looks like a good football player to me,” Daboll said. “I’m sure there are plays he’d like to get back, just like we all do, but I think he’s a good football player. I think he’s a good quarterback. I think they’ve got a lot of good players around him.”

“(Commanders wide receiver Terry) McLaurin is an exceptional receiver. Speed. (Commanders running back Brian) Robinson is a tough runner. They brought (Commanders running back) Austin (Ekeler) in from LA. Again, it’s the greatest team sport there is and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

Preparing for a rookie quarterback can be challenging, especially early in the season, although Daboll and the Giants did quite a bit of research when evaluating Daniels this year. Daboll said preparing for a rookie quarterback with a brand new coaching staff, as is the case with the Commanders and Dan Quinn, makes the challenge even greater.

“The quarterback is in his second start, so there’s not a lot of material unless you look back, and there’s a lot of material that we saw at LSU. Again, it’s early in the season, so there’s a lot of material to go over some of the preparation and the things you go through. You make sure you cover the big details.”

These details come from the cutups Daboll saw when he evaluated Daniels before the draft.

“There are cuts I made that I can go back to or look at again and discuss with the defensive team. There’s a little more time for other things, but I put a lot of work into that,” he said. “He only played one game in the regular season, so we’ll take advantage of that. It’s really more about us and how we do things.”

Although Daboll respects Daniels’ game, he is in trouble with his own quarterback, Daniel Jones, who is picking up where he left off last year before his season-ending ACL tear – and not in a good way.

Daboll tried to downplay any budding feelings he had toward Jones, who continued to appear nervous, aimless and insecure in the second year of his four-year, $160 million contract.

Although it is just one game in a new season, there are already questions about when Daboll, who tried to play down any discomfort that might exist with the quarterback after the coach expressed his feelings about Daniels, Hard blowsJones will pull the plug if he doesn’t look the way he did in 2022.

“I would say I had that conversation weeks ago or whenever,” Daboll said of a conversation he had with Jones. “Our focus right now is what we’re doing, which is getting ready for a game.”

Coincidentally, the game is against a quarterback that probably had Daboll wondering, “What if?”