Could Giants target Kirk Cousins as Daniel Jones replacement?

A plethora of NFL writers and reporters expect that the New York Giants will either give Daniel Jones one last chance to prove he can be the club's franchise quarterback or use a high 2024 draft pick to acquire Jones' eventual replacement. 

For a piece published Thursday, Gilberto Manzano of Sports Illustrated suggested that Giants general manager Joe Schoen should at least consider signing Minnesota Vikings signal-caller Kirk Cousins assuming Cousins reaches the open market next month. 

"Pairing Cousins with coach Brian Daboll would be fun to watch," Manzano explained. "Daboll is regarded as one of the best play-callers in the NFL, but his offensive scheme struggled due to poor quarterback play last season between Jones, Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito. New York has about $19M in cap space to possibly make a run at Cousins." 

Additionally, Manzano pointed out that mock drafts shared by outlets such as ESPN and CBS Sports routinely predict that none of the advertised top quarterback prospects in this year's draft class will be available to the Giants at pick No. 6. 

There's plenty to unpack here. 

Last week, Charlotte Carroll of The Athletic noted that the Giants could extend their available salary-cap space "to more than $80M." That doesn't mean Schoen would pay Cousins, and there's no reason to believe the veteran coming off a torn Achilles who turns 36 years old this August would want to join the Giants. 

The Giants probably won't trade Jones in 2024 and, thus, are stuck with the 26-year-old's contract for at least one more season. Paying him to essentially take a redshirt year and sit behind Cousins makes little sense for anybody involved, especially if reports claiming that Schoen will let star running back Saquon Barkley reach free agency in March are accurate. 

Big Blue finished the 2023 season 6-11 and may need to hit multiple home runs in free agency and the upcoming draft to compete for even a wild-card playoff berth next season with or without Cousins on the roster. Schoen almost certainly will target a legitimate backup in free agency who could push Jones during summer training camp sessions, but Cousins likely isn't on the executive's wish list.