Pat Shurmur On WFAN: Eli Will Understand If Giants Draft A First-Round QB
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Pat Shurmur is brushing up on his Giants history, and the team's new head coach hopes he can have a hand in repeating the better parts of it.
The Giants own the second overall pick in April's draft. Speaking to WFAN's "The Afternoon Drive" on Friday, Shurmur, who was formally introduced to the media hours earlier, said he recently learned that the last time the Giants drafted second, they selected Lawrence Taylor. The last time they drafted third, they took Carl Banks.
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"Those are two players that helped change this franchise," Shurmur said. "So that's what we need to do. We need to pick a player of that value at that pick and maybe not worry about the rest of it so much."
But the big question has been whether the Giants might use that pick on a quarterback. General manager Dave Gettleman renewed the franchise's commitment this week to Eli Manning, but at 37 years old, the team could be tempted to lock up their QB of the future.
Shurmur's thoughts on the matter? "If it's a quarterback, so be it," he said.
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"And I think Eli understands competition," Shurmur said. "I think Eli understands that he can still be the guy for a period of time. I'm not really worried about that. I just know that I believe in Eli, and as we go through this process, we'll pick the guy who's right for the Giants."
For now, Shurmur says he thinks Manning has "good football left in him, and we're going to try to get the best out of him."
"We need to put in a system of things in place and concepts," Shurmur said. "First of all, we're going to sit down and talk about, 'Here's the things that I like from the last couple of years.' We'll try to employ those, along with the things that we believe in strongly."
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Shurmur wants to see an improved offensive line, whether that means bringing in new players, coaching up the ones already on the roster or a combination of the two.
"I know we have Eli's full attention," Shurmur said. "He wants to be as good as he can be. And we're going to commit to do the things around him to help him. And it first starts by the guys up front."