Giants roll dice with QB Davis Webb as Eli Manning's potential heir

Did the New York Giants find Eli Manning’s eventual successor in the third round of the NFL draft on Friday night?

Davis Webb has a lot of work ahead to begin answering that question. But this much is certain: Webb was a value pick at No. 87 overall for the Giants, who needed to draft another quarterback sooner than later to develop behind their 36-year-old starter.

Since the Giants drafted Philip Rivers and flipped him for Manning in 2004, they’d drafted just three other QBs: Andre Woodson (sixth round in 2009), Rhett Bomar (fifth in 2009) and Ryan Nassib (fourth in 2013), who hasn’t signed anywhere since his contract expired in March.

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Webb – a graduate transfer from Texas Tech last year who threw for 37 touchdowns in his lone season at California – must make the transition from the “Bear Raid” offense to an NFL scheme, get comfortable with the mechanics he has been tweaking and prove he can put his sporadic accuracy behind him.

But in interviews with USA TODAY Sports before the draft, several NFL scouts compared Webb favorably overall to last year’s No. 1 overall pick out of Cal, Jared Goff. He’s got a big frame (6-foot-5, 229 pounds) and a big arm, is a better athlete than you’d expect and, above all else, is going to work at his craft.

Few better places to apprentice than under a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback in Manning and a smart offensive coach in Ben McAdoo, who you can bet will enjoy adding a football junkie like Webb to the QB room.

Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.

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