The New York Giants are set to have a pair of high first round draft picks if the standings hold, and there’s no solid verdict yet on which way the team is likely to go with them. That’s because the Giants are essentially on the verge of needing a complete rebuild, and have plenty of spots where they could add talent.
With that being said, some spots are more in need of the talent than others. The latest mock draft from CBS Sports will be controversial with Giants fans, because it has the team making some arguably questionable decisions in regards to which positions to target.
New York Giants take LSU CB Derek Stingley Jr. with 6th pick
CBS has the Giants choosing to target the cornerback position with the 6th overall pick. While James Bradberry has indeed had a down season compared to last year, that would still be quite the strange decision from the front office considering the other larger needs the Giants are dealing with at the moment.
Stingley would make the, at times, stingy Giants secondary even better. He has legitimate All-Pro skills on the boundary.
Stingley is the top ranked cornerback in this year’s class, and it does look like he could have the All-Pro skills that CBS mentions. But at this point, the Giants having better coverage isn’t going to help much if the offense can’t score points and the defensive line can’t put pressure on the quarterback.
It’s safe to say the Giants aren’t going this route, and that there would be an uproar if the Giants GM ignored every other need to take a corner.
Giants take Pitt QB Kenny Pickett with the 7th pick
This one is a bit more spicy. The Giants taking a quarterback in this draft isn’t impossible, but it would be a majorly controversial move. Still, CBS projects the Giants taking Kenny Pickett with the 7th pick and moving on from Daniel Jones.
Pickett’s a New Jersey kid with loads of collegiate experience. He’ll understand what it means to be the quarterback in New York City’s media market. He can ball too, thanks to deceptive improvisation, above-average arm talent, and good accuracy.
The fact of the matter is, even if the verdict on Daniel Jones will potentially be decided after this season, the Giants aren’t in a good position to replace him this year regardless of what they decide. Even if the organization wants to have a clean slate and move on from Gettleman’s quarterback, this is an uncertain class without a standout player such as Joe Burrow or Trevor Lawrence.
Additionally, the Giants have one of the worst offensive lines in football right now. Just like many have argued that even more successful quarterbacks would fail with the Giants due to their poor pass blocking, it’s easy to argue that even a top tier prospect would crash and burn when forced to play behind the Giants line.
All in all, it’s not entirely out of the question for the Giants to move on at quarterback this year. We’ve seen a trend recently of NFL teams being less patient with the position, after all. But such a move would be extremely controversial to say the least, and would miss a chance to address the rest of the things that are holding back the roster on both sides of the ball.