ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter appeared on a New York Giants podcast with Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News and was adamant about the fact the Giants’ third selection in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft was firmly being played by the Giants and was not going to be subject to a trade of any kind.
That also includes a trade to the Los Angeles Rams for starting quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Giants’ 1st-Round Pick Is Not Available for Trade, Says Adam Schefter
“There is no way in hell that the Giants are giving up the third overall pick for Matthew Stafford,” Schefter said to Leonard.
Schefter went one step further and said the Rams’ first priority is to re-sign Stafford, and there is an offer on the table now for the former Georgia quarterback to remain in Los Angeles for the balance of his career. Further, according to Schefter, Stafford “would like to be back in L.A.”
Just had @AdamSchefter on Talkin' Ball with Pat Leonard. He told me "there is no way in hell that the #Giants are giving up the third overall pick for Matthew Stafford" if trade talks ever occur. But it might not even come to that.
Schefter said the #Rams' "first priority" is to… pic.twitter.com/vKUqwoXSQA
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) February 13, 2025
“Let me be very clear: That pick is not in the conversation if Matthew Stafford and the Rams can’t get a deal worked out,” Schefter said. “And if Matthew Stafford becomes available and all of a sudden the Giants surface as a contender, if all of those things happen and they could — if all those things happen, there is no chance in hell the Giants are giving up the third overall pick for Matthew Stafford. Zero.”
The Rams and Stafford are reportedly working on a new deal as he has two years left on his existing deal with $58 million due for 2025 and 2026. All but $4 million of that figure is fully guaranteed.
Stafford is only scheduled to make $27 million in 2025 and $31 million in 2026 between salaries and roster bonuses. The $63 million fully guaranteed on the extension he signed in 2022 has also since been dwarfed by Trevor Lawrence’s $142 million fully guaranteed contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars among others.
While Schefter was quick to say Stafford would not go to the Giants for the third selection, he was mum on whom he thought the Giants would pick with that selection.
In the NFL Draft, the Giants could go with either quarterback Cam Ward from the University of Miami, quarterback Shedeur Sanders from Colorado, or several other qualified, non-QB candidates such as Travis Hunter, Abdul Carter, and others.