One of the prevailing arguments during and after the 2019 NFL Draft was whether or not the New York Giants needed to burn the No. 6 overall selection on Duke quarterback Daniel Jones.

Many, including this writer, believe the Giants could have gotten Jones later in the first round (No. 17), or even the second round (No. 37).

Former Giant great and current CBS NFL analyst Phil Simms says don’t believe people like me. There was no way Jones was making it to the 17th pick. He contends that general manager Dave Gettleman was right in selecting Jones at No. 6. and the Giants had no choice but to take him there.

Speaking to Rob Lep, a correspondent for CNN and STATS Sports, Simms was adamant in his stance that Jones would have been gone before the 17th pick.

“I think he’s a perfect fit for the Giants, the offense, the team, the culture here, everything about it. I think they knew what they were doing,” Simms said.

“And, just to dispel any myths – you’re probably the first person I’ll says this to. Daniel Jones, ‘oh ,they should have take him later.’ He was not going to be there. Everybody just trust me, I know. I know. I know for a fact he would not have been there on the 17th pick that the Giants had.

“It’s a quarterback. What are we going to argue ‘Oh, I had him slotted at No. 9.’ Who’s they? Oh, writers and [Twitter trolls]. What, you read online that some guy online who never watched any film telling me who’s going to be drafted where?

“Trust me, not one — multiple — teams were going to draft Daniel Jones before pick 17. I gave you a scoop. Nobody talks about it. I do, though.”

Perhaps Simms is right, but we covered the draft here from a granular level and followed every lead down every alley, dead ends and all. There was no indication that there was team drafting between No. 6 and No. 17 that had interest in Jones.

What teams could Simms be referring to?

The Jakcsonville Jaguars were 7th and they just signed Nick Foles. Detroit and Buffalo at Nos. 8 and 9 would have certainly passed. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati were possibilities, but neither team appeared to be interested in taking a QB that high. No way Green Bay takes Jones at 12. Miami at 13 was said to be interested but that was before they traded for Josh Rosen.

Atlanta was definitely a pass at No. 14 after mortgaging the farm to extend Matt Ryan the year before. Carolina had the 16th pick but they have Cam Newton under contract for the next two years. That left Washington at No. 15 and they were the team the Giants had to worry about the most.

But after the draft Redskins would not admit either way whether they had any designs on Jones. Here’s how I reported it in Giants Wire on May 1:

“We picked the player we wanted to pick,” Washington team president Bruce Allen said in an interview on the NFL Network. “I’m almost positive Dave has no clue what our draft board would be. I don’t know which draft boards he knows, but he doesn’t know ours.” Allen may not be telling the whole story here, either. The Redskins may have tried to move into the top 5 and couldn’t — or wouldn’t — and then lost Jones to the Giants. “Well there were still a lot of good football players and they started to go, bang, bang, bang,” Allen said after the Giants selected Jones at No. 6. “And we felt comfortable that Dwayne was going to come to us, but when it happened, we were excited.”

So, I’ll take Simms at his word and guess the Redskins didn’t want to admit the Giants took their man. But even then, I’d like to know who the other team was. I’m thinking Cincinnati since Andy Dalton is already paid out on his current deal, which expires at the end of 2020.

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