Giants took ‘one more swing’ on Cam Ward with last-second NFL draft call to Titans

Joe Schoen knew what the outcome of this phone call would be. But as the general manager of a Giants team searching for a long-term answer at quarterback, he had to do his due diligence.

As shown in the team’s “Giants Life: 2025 NFL Draft” show posted online Thursday, Schoen stood up from his seat to call Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi to take one last crack at moving up from No. 3 to No. 1 in an attempt to get Miami quarterback Cam Ward.

“Were you waiting for this? Are you gonna pick?” Schoen says to Borgonzi before breaking out in laughter. “I had to do it, I had to do it. All right, man. Well, good luck to you man. I was gonna wait and just call you now on the clock, so I figured you guys were picking. But thought I’d give it one more swing.”

Giants GM Joe Schoen calls Titans GM Mike Borgonzi at the start of the 2025 NFL Draft. YouTube/New York Giants

Schoen then sat back down between owner John Mara and head coach Brian Daboll, telling the room, “Tennessee’s gonna pick. I think Ward’s going here.”

The top two went as expected for the Giants, as they anticipated Ward going to the Titans and Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter going No. 2.

Schoen says in “Giants Life” he team caught wind about a week before the draft that a team other than the Browns would be picking at No. 2; the Jaguars traded up to take the two-way star.

The Giants then took Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter at No. 3 and traded up to take Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart at No. 25.

The Post’s Paul Schwartz reported hours before the first round of the draft that the Giants would make a last-ditch effort to trade with the Titans, but that they understood Tennessee was extremely unlikely to trade down.

From right: Titans GM Mike Borgonzi, QB Cam Ward, Warren Moon, Amy Adams Strunk, head coach Brian Callahan and president of football operations Chad Brinker. Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Dart was the second QB off the board and there were only two quarterbacks taken in the first round in what was considered a weaker draft class for that position.

Shedeur Sanders, once projected as a top-three pick, fell all the way to the Browns at No. 144 in the fifth round.