The New York Giants haven’t been praised on a lot over the past couple of seasons, but one thing the team has seemingly done right in their rebuild is the 2020 Draft. According to Pro Football Focus, the Giants came away with one of the best ten draft classes out of the 32 teams in the NFL, which is the first time in a while that the Giants have ranked in the top ten of something positive.
The fact that the draft class is praised, however, is not surprising. Rather than try too hard to look outside of the box for a home run pick, the Giants took options that look like surefire bets to make an immediate impact using their top selections. Andrew Thomas is regarded as a good but safe pick and second round selection Xavier McKinney is viewed as a steal – along with cornerback Darnay Holmes, who will be joining a position of need for the Giants in the secondary.
Finding steals was even able to push the Giants into PFF’s top ten draft classes for this year.
10. NEW YORK GIANTS
When we have to go into Day 3 to find the first pick we’d disagree with, the chances are that we liked your draft. That’s exactly the case for the Giants, who got a couple of steals according to the PFF draft board. The good news for Giants fans is that both of these steals impact the passing game defensively. Xavier McKinney ranked 19th on the PFF board heading in but was still available for the Giants at pick 36, while Darnay Holmes was the 86th-ranked player on our board and the Giants stole him at pick 110. While they didn’t have too many other big surpluses, the Giants also didn’t have any picks that we considered large reaches, either.
Interestingly enough, the rival Dallas Cowboys had the top ranked class on the list, which will make things more interesting for sure when the Giants meet the Cowboys two times this season in the division. The NFC East has been a relatively open division over the past couple of years and both rookie classes will have an impact on their team’s chances of competing in it.
The Browns come in at number two on the list, but their presence should be a reminder – despite the Browns routinely making waves for having young players, their team hasn’t been able to do much with them and seriously improve their position. The Giants must avoid falling into the same trap. It’s not just about having the best draft class, after all, but how those players are utilized afterwards.
That lesson is one that Joe Judge should know well as a former member of the Patriots organization.