Giants GM Joe Schoen Reveals Qualities He Looks for in a Receiver

The New York Giants will rebuild their roster this offseason, with their wide receivers as a primary focus. Here's what general manager Joe Schoen is looking for.

The New York Giants haven't had a No. 1 receiver since the days of Odell Beckham Jr, who preceded current general manager Joe Schoen's arrival.

But as Schoen begins his third off-season in charge of shaping the Giant personnel, it's believed that finding a No. 1 receiver is high on his to-do list, a task that he hopes won't be too challenging to fill.

Schoen has had the good fortune of being on teams that have boasted a legitimate No. 1 receiver, so he has a good idea of what to look for, outlining some of those qualities to Mike Florio and Chris Simms of Pro Football Talk during a guest spot this week at the Combine.

"There are little things," Schoen said. "Something as little as blocking. Do you have it in you? It's simple, but that comes from [within a player]. Do you want to make the effort to help your running back out?

"Is a guy is out there blocking his butt off and he's driving a guy into the first row, and he's also a good receiver that runs good routes, after the catch he's running guys over, he's not running out of bounds? There are some things that you can look at that can tell you the makeup of that kind of player. There's a large margin for error at that position, at receiver, when drafting."

Speed, quickness, and the ability to get open are also important, regardless of the role the receiver is asked to play, but for Schoen, the intangibles make the difference.

"What I've found from some of the best [receivers] I've been around is the heart, the competes, doing the little things, the toughness at that position because there are some divas at the position, and they're selfish," he said. "I think the makeup of the player is what will allow those guys to separate themselves."

The Giants draft sixth in this year's order and have projected by several mocks written by national draft analysts to be leaning toward one of Washington's Rome Odunze or LSU's Malik Nabers if the top three quarterbacks (USC's Caleb Williams, UNC's Drake Maye, and LSU's Jayden Daniels) are off the board by the time the Giants go on the clock.

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