West Virginia's Will Grier could be best option for Giants' future franchise QB
By Pat Leonard
The future franchise quarterback that the Giants draft this week doesn't need to be the next Eli Manning. In fact, I don't believe that is Pat Shurmur's litmus test at all.
Shurmur is looking for his quarterback -- the one he connects with, the one with the best combination of physical talent, "mental toughness" and proven ability to handle the kind of "adversity" he'll face in the New York spotlight, as GM Dave Gettleman said Thursday.
"I was talking about it with Pat late in the fall," Gettleman said of comprehensively vetting the QBs' backgrounds for the proof. "He said, 'There's a lot of guys that have never had adversity, and you will have adversity up here.' With a lot of these guys, that's a very legitimate question. With some you've got to dig so deep to see where they faced adversity, it's painful."
None of it is hard to find with Will Grier, though. It's all there: the talent, the adversity, and the grown-up responses to an early NCAA suspension, and to his greatest responsibility, as a husband to wife Jeanne and a father to 3-year-old daughter Eloise.
Will Grier has the makings of a Giants-worthy QB. (Darron Cummings/AP)
The West Virginia quarterback's resulting character, accountability and maturity are some of the reasons why Grier is my dark-horse candidate as Shurmur's potential sleeper 2019 draft QB.
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Grier, 24, who finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy race, is a third-round prospect on some teams' boards. But it is believed a few clubs are smitten, and the Giants are a likely candidate.
While Gettleman intends to draft the best player available, with the Giants' two first-round picks at Nos. 6 and 17, Shurmur has been a good soldier backing Manning and deserves his own QB.
They could trade up into the back of the first round for Grier -- like the Baltimore Ravens did last year for Lamar Jackson -- to gain a fifth year of control on Grier's rookie contract and land the Giants three players on the first night of the draft. Or they could hope Grier falls to their second-round pick at No. 37.
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Either way, Grier may present the best marriage of the "value" co-owner John Mara is seeking, and the fit Shurmur needs.
Duke's Daniel Jones of course seems like the obvious fit considering his myriad connections to the Mannings. So Jones' selection would be as unsurprising as Gettleman's hiring as GM.
Daniel Jones. (Michael Conroy/AP)
However, in this pre-draft process, the Giants quietly have been all over Grier, all the way through his April 11 visit to East Rutherford, N.J.
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Gettleman was in Morgantown on Nov. 23 to see Grier go toe-to-toe with Kyler Murray and Oklahoma in a 59-56 shootout loss. Then when Grier (6-foot-2, 217 pounds) and Drew Lock had the same March 21 pro day, Shurmur tellingly went to Grier's pro day with assistant GM Kevin Abrams and director of college scouting Chris Pettit, while sending offensive coordinator Mike Shula and assistant Ryan Roeder to Lock's at Missouri.
Shurmur said at the March NFL owners' meetings in Phoenix that he wants a quarterback who is "genuine" and has "natural charisma." Texas State head coach Jake Spavital, Grier's offensive coordinator at West Virginia, said if that's the case then the Giants have their man.
"When Will gets around people, they want to run through a wall for him," Spavital told the Daily News in a recent phone interview. "He's down-to-earth, encourages and criticizes in a positive manner … His leadership style is very unique and it's pure. It's not fake. It's not rah-rah. Everything is pure and genuine.
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"His poise is his greatest asset. You can't rattle the kid. I've never seen him rattled," added Spavital, who has coached several top college QBs including Case Keenum, who produced under Shurmur on the 2017 Minnesota Vikings. "Will is not gonna let a previous play affect him, good or bad. And his pocket presence where he will hold onto it to make a throw, is the best I've been around. He'll trust protections but still move in the pocket to extend things."
Mountaineers wide receiver David Sills V, an intriguing mid-round prospect who caught a ridiculous 33 TD passes from Grier the last two years, said his QB above all is "a gamer."
David Sills V. (Michael Conroy/AP)
"The biggest thing he does is when the lights come on, he's at his best," Sills, 22, said in a phone interview Wednesday. "He has that 'it' factor. It's not something you can explain, and it's not something everyone has. He's got a huge respect level on the team. It's almost like the players know he's a player but respect him as a coach because he's so advanced and smart.
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"Look at the Texas game," Sills said of Grier's game-winning TD pass and two-point conversion run in the final minute to beat the host Longhorns, 42-41, on Nov. 3. "If the game is gonna end in his hands, he's gonna go win the game."
Grier, who could not be reached for comment, said at the NFL Combine of that Texas win: "I don't get nervous. I don't feel pressure. Those are the times I prepare for my whole life."
His peak ball speed also measured the fastest of all the QBs at the NFL Combine with a score of 59, tied with Boise State's Brett Rypien. That was markedly faster than Lock (54), Jones (54) and Ohio State's Dwayne Haskins (52).
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Grier's maturity through adversity, though, may be what separates and defines him as the "adult" Gettleman and Shurmur seek to handle the New York pressure-cooker.
The prolific North Carolina high school quarterback (Davidson Day) was suspended at Florida after a 6-0 Gators start in 2015 due to a failed drug test. He said he was unaware a supplement he took was banned, but took responsibility for failing to check through proper channels.
Then he transferred to West Virginia, where he and Jeanne, a former Bucs cheerleader, raised Eloise while Grier proved he could carve up Big 12 defenses, as well as, the SEC.
Will Grier. (Butch Dill/AP)
"I think when he was at Florida he had the whole issue that went on there, and I think he got humbled, criticized, and poise comes into it, resilience," Spavital said. "He's been through a lot, seen a lot, had some immaturities he handled, had a baby. And naturally, he's just grown up.
"I think when people get into that situation, having a baby, some people can run from it. But he said, 'I'm gonna be a man about it, handle my business.'"
Grier said he treated being a father and a football player in college "like a profession."
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"I acted as a pro when it came to playing football. I also had academics to take care of," he said. "I was lucky enough to graduate in December of 2017, do a year of grad school, I take that seriously … And I want to be a good husband and father. I take pride in being a hard worker."
Sills admitted: "Playing major college football and having a wife and daughter at home, I'll be honest, that's something I don't think I could handle at this point. It tells you the kind of person he is to handle all that."
The New York spotlight won't intimidate Grier at all, either. His two younger brothers, Hayes and Nash, and younger sister Skylynn Floyd are enormous internet stars with millions of followers. So Grier has learned through his siblings' experiences living daily in the public eye.
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It hasn't made him bashful, though. It's made him ready.
"I believe I'm the best quarterback in this draft," Grier said in February.
On Thursday, the Giants may reveal that they agree.
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