The New York Giants only just finished with the 2019 NFL Draft and fans are still getting used to their picks, both the good and the bad ones. However, the mock draft business is one that never stops, and analysts are already predicting how the upcoming season will go now that we have a better idea of what NFL lineups are going to look like this year. With that comes predictions about draft positions and about who each team will take next year.
The Giants were, of course, featured in the 2020 mock draft that was recently released by CBS. CBS has the team picking slightly lower than they did this year. Specifically, four picks lower at 10. Despite taking Daniel Jones not being the smartest choice, it might be a good thing that the Giants already found their quarterback if that is indeed the spot where they pick.
By the time the Giants pick, CBS predicts that top QB prospects Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert will have been picked by the Raiders and Jaguars respectively. The Giants, however, may end up with something of a need at receiver around the 2020 Draft, depending on the performance of Sterling Shepard as well as newly signed Golden Tate this season.
The Giants will very likely miss out on Odell Beckham’s talents now that Beckham is in Cleveland, and they passed on the chance to find a player to fill that role when they became one of the many teams to pass over Ole Miss receiver and eventual Seahawks draft pick D.K. Metcalf. While the team did draft Darius Slayton, Slayton was a mid round pick who will likely take longer to come into his own, and fills a different role.
But that role could be filled by the player that CBS mocks to the Giants in 2020, Laviska Shenault Jr. The Colorado junior reached just over 1,000 yards receiving as a sophomore and scored six receiving touchdowns, while playing on a team that isn’t the best. Impressively, Shenault also picked up around 100 yards and five touchdowns on the ground the same season. As a junior, it looks like Shenault could have one of the best years in the PAC-12.
Here’s what CBS had to say about the pick.
If Dave Gettleman has his way, Daniel Jones will be in Year 2 of his three-year plan to have the No. 6 pick in the 2019 draft to sit behind Eli Manning. But this is good news for Eli, who gets a big downfield target as New York tries to replace Odell Beckham.
But the NFL is a wild and unpredictable league and there’s no guarantee the circumstances are right when the 2020 Draft happens. A team could be needy at wide receiver and end up higher than the Giants, or the Giants could end up drafting higher after a poor season and decide to focus on another position of need, or they could even end up trading their pick or drafting lower as other teams finish with worse records.
That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s not interesting to speculate. There are, after all, a few long months before the preseason.