The New York Giants are in a perfect position at fourth overall. They have the opportunity to land an elite draft prospect, but they are also sitting ahead of numerous quarterback-needy teams that might be looking to trade up to draft their signal-caller.
The Giants, at fourth overall, sit ahead of teams searching for a quarterback, such as the Miami Dolphins (fifth overall), the Los Angeles Chargers (sixth overall), and the Oakland Raiders (ninth overall). The Dolphins and Chargers are widely expected to trade up for a quarterback if they must.
Securing Two First Round Picks:
The Giants can capitalize on the Chargers’ and Dolphins’ needs for a quarterback. Miami holds three first-round picks in the 2020 NFL Draft: fifth overall, eighteenth overall, and twenty-sixth overall. The Chargers only have the fifth overall pick in the first round, but they also have the thirty-seventh overall pick (second round).
Miami and Los Angeles are both likely to target the best quarterback available, expected to be Tua Tagovailoa. The two teams may compete for the right to draft Tua. The Giants can capitalize on this competition by creating a bidding war for the fourth overall pick.
It would make sense if the Chargers wanted to leapfrog the Dolphins and draft the quarterback they want before Miami has a chance to. They would only need to move up two spots to get in front of Miami. That should not be too expensive of a trade, right? Well, guess again.
Historically, most trades for quarterbacks involve multiple first-round picks in exchange for the pick to draft the quarterback.Â
In addition to the premium prices that teams pay to draft quarterbacks, the Giants have the leverage to secure additional picks from the Miami Dolphins. New York could tell Miami that Los Angeles has offered the sixth overall pick and the thirty-seventh overall pick for the fourth overall pick, which they plan to spend on the quarterback that the Dolphins want. This would force Miami’s hand and get them to cough up the twenty-sixth overall pick to outbid Los Angeles and win the fourth overall pick.
The Giants, after trading the fifth pick to the Dolphins, would move back one spot and still be able to draft whomever they wanted to draft with the fourth overall pick. In addition to drafting that player, the Giants now hold an additional first-round pick, twenty-sixth overall. This would be the ideal draft-day trade for the New York Giants.
Addressing Positions Of Need:
In this ideal scenario, the Giants move back one spot and still get the prospect they wanted to draft with the fourth overall pick. They could even trade back further and stockpile more picks. I digress, however, and shift focus on whom the Giants could draft in this scenario. Most likely, the pick at fifth overall would be Clemson do-it-all linebacker, Isaiah Simmons.
Simmons perfectly fits the Giants’ defense and would be an X-factor for years to come. But how would the Giants address their other positions of need, such as edge rusher and offensive tackle? Well, now that they own the twenty-sixth overall pick (and have owned the thirty-sixth overall pick), New York can fill one of those needs in addition to landing superstar Isaiah Simmons.
The twenty-sixth overall pick could be used to draft a player such as AJ Epenesa, Zack Baun, or Yetur Gross-Matos, all first-round EDGE prospects. Or, they could spend the pick on offensive tackles, such as Lucas Niang or Josh Jones. One of those tackles might still be available with the thirty-sixth overall pick if they decide to wait and draft an EDGE at twenty-six instead. If the Giants are feeling aggressive and convicted towards a specific offensive tackle, they could even package twenty-six and thirty-six in a trade to move back inside the top-twenty or top-fifteen.
In this scenario, the first two rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft could look like this for the Giants: Isaiah Simmons, AJ Epenesa, and Josh Jones OR Isaiah Simmons and Andrew Thomas OR Tristan Wirfs, Kenneth Murray, and Justin Jefferson.
While this is the ideal Draft-Day trade scenario for the Giants, do not count on this happening. Dave Gettleman has never traded down in a draft before, and there is no guarantee that the Dolphins or Chargers would be willing to trade up for a quarterback. All we can do, as fans, is hope. This would be a perfect scenario for the New York Giants, so we can hope it our pipe dream comes true, but it likely never will.