The New York Giants hold the 25th overall pick in the first round of this year’s draft and will undoubtedly be targeting a wide receiver. At least three wide receivers are expected off the board in the first round of this year’s draft.
Some of the top WR talents in the class will be the main targets for the Giants, but will those players still be on the board when the Giants are on the clock? New York may need to consider trading up to land an elite playmaker in the first round of the draft.
Should the Giants trade up to draft the top WR?
If the Giants are looking to land a prospect like USC’s Jordan Addison or TCU’s Quentin Johnston, they may not be able to wait until the 25th pick. Addison and Johnston are receiving buzz as top-15 draft picks in April. If New York wants to land one of these playmakers, they may need to be aggressive to make it happen.
Last year, the Detroit Lions made a trade that the Giants could look to replicate. The Lions traded up from the back end of the first round to draft WR Jameson Williams with the 12th overall pick (NFL.com). The Lions traded picks 32, 34, and 66 to the Minnesota Vikings for picks 12 and 46. New York may need to sacrifice similar assets to move up for a guy like Addison or Johnston this year.
If the Giants fail to draft one of the top wide receivers in the first round, they could look to address the position in round two. Players like Nathaniel “Tank” Dell or Josh Downs could be potential fits with Big Blue. But again, the Giants would likely need to trade up to draft these players, considering they hold one of the last picks in the second round (57th overall).
However, there is also precedent for a second-round trade-up, too. The Packers sent two second-round picks (picks 53 and 59) to the Vikings to move up to the 34th overall pick in last year’s draft for North Dakota State receiver Christian Watson (NFL.com).
Big Blue only has one second-round pick in this year’s draft, but they do have two third-round picks. If the Giants find themselves in a similar scenario, they could ship their 57th pick and their two third-round picks to a team at the top of the second round to move up for wideout.