Once the Dexter Lawrence trade is finalized, the Giants will have two picks in the top 10 of the NFL draft.
Again.
They have the No. 5 pick, which they earned the old-fashioned way: By being the fifth-worst team in the league last season. They’ll now inherit the Bengals’ pick, No. 10 overall.
That happened four years ago, when the Giants had their own pick (No. 5) plus the Chicago pick acquired when the Bears traded up in 2021 to get quarterback Justin Fields.
Last time around, it didn’t go very well. Defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux, the fifth overall pick, has performed well enough to have his fifth-year option exercised. The presence of Brian Burns and the selection of Abdul Carter with the third overall pick in 2025 clouds Thibodeaux’s future with the team.
Offensive lineman Evan Neal, taken with the seventh overall pick, has not panned out. He re-signed a one-year deal for the minimum salary after his four-year rookie deal expired.
This time around, Joe Schoen is still the G.M. But John Harbaugh is the head coach. They’ll need to nail at least one, and ideally both, of the selections. Pick the right guys, and then develop them the right way.
The fact that the deal was done five days before the draft becomes a complicating factor for the Giants. The teams picking behind the Giants will try to speculate on the player they want at No. 10. If a team guesses right and leapfrogs the Giants to the ninth spot (currently held by the Chiefs), the Giants will lose the player they may be coveting.
That’s why the best outcome would have been to keep the deal with the Bengals quiet until the pick was on the clock.
The Giants surely won’t admit to the world that they lost the guy they wanted, if someone jumps them in the pecking order and takes their guy at No. 9. Still, if it happens, they’ll know.
It’s possible, frankly, that the Giants have enough guys they want to take whoever is left after the first nine picks are made. If there are 10 players they’d be happy to have, they’re now guaranteed to get two of them.
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