The assumption among the football world was the New York Giants selected Eli Manning's heir when Big Blue snagged Davis Webb in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Giants CEO John Mara pumped the breaks on that supposition during a Tuesday appearance on The Rich Eisen Show.
"I am in the room with [general manager Jerry Reese] and I do give the final approval to everybody that we take," Mara said of the Webb pick. "But I was hoping that we would take a quarterback at some point. I've always held the belief that you could never draft too many of them. I think it's a little too premature to be anointing this guy as the heir apparent to Eli. [Webb] hasn't set foot on the field yet. But he has a lot of talent and we're looking forward to seeing what we've got when he gets here. But let's not, as Bill Parcells used to say, let's not get his bust ready for Canton just yet."
The key for Mara is to let Webb develop before deciding whether he can be the future of the franchise.
"But no, listen, he's a talented guy but let's let him get on the field and let's let him play in the preseason and develop," Mara said. "If he's the successor, that's great, but if not, then we'll find somebody else."
The Giants admitted this year that Eli Manning is on the "back nine" of his career. With Manning turning 36 years old, New York is prudent to begin thinking about a successor.
Webb entered the draft with most analysts believing he needs time to mature into a starting-caliber quarterback. Learning behind Iron Man Manning could be the best education if Webb is to be the next torchbearer in New York. Of course, some Giants fans thought they had the next hot young project when they used a 2013 fourth-round pick on Ryan Nassib, who is now a free agent.
