Charles Vitolo’s NY Giants post free agency mock draft 2.0
NY Giants start off with a wild trade down
In my first mock draft of the offseason I went with the most conventional trade down option with the Los Angeles Chargers, only dropping the NY Giants down two slots to #6 while picking up an extra second-round pick in the process. While this remains a solid – and the most realistic – option, it still only leaves Big Blue with three picks inside the top 149.
With GM Dave Gettleman on his last legs, I truly feel that he’s got to do something wild in an attempt to make a big splash and fill out all the holes he’s left this roster with in a major way.
Enter the Miami Dolphins, but not in the typical way everyone is thinking.
Instead of dropping down one slot and picking up just minimal capital in helping Miami select its QB of the future, we try to take advantage of the Dolphins having a big-time offseason and looking to further their quick rebuild by selecting back-to-back in the top-five while shedding some of its war-chest of draft picks.
The Dolphins currently hold a staggering five draft picks in the first two rounds, so this is actually a really intriguing option for them to come away with two top-five picks and still have plenty of capital to work with.
The terms:
In this scenario, Gettleman trades all the way down to pick #18, but also grabs the Dolphins’ third first-rounder in the process (#26), giving the NY Giants two first-rounders right off the bat. But, it gets even better.
In his first trade down ever, the embattled GM also picks up an additional 2020 second-rounder (39) and a 2020 fourth-rounder (141).
In the blink of an eye, the NY Giants now possess a whopping eight picks inside the top 150; talk about being able to address holes in a meaningful way.
The numbers work here, too.
The #4 pick Big Blue currently holds is worth 1800 points. The #18 the team acquires is worth 900 points, #26 is worth 700 points, #39 510 points, and #141 brings back 35.5 points. All-together, the Giants bring back 2185.5 points worth of draft capital according to the 2020 NFL trade value chart and win this trade based on those metrics.
This scenario is realistic, especially with a team trading into the top-five where multiple QB’s are in play. The Dolphins would almost guarantee themselves a shot at Tua Tagavolia or Justin Herbert here to pair with another elite player like Isaiah Simmons or one of the ‘core four’ offensive lineman and only part with an extra 385.5 draft points — they’ve got the war chest to not miss it.
In 2018, the Colts notably picked up almost double the value the draft chart said they should to move down from #3, so picking up an extra 385 points isn’t some type of fantasy — its good business at slightly above the going rate.
Just to lower our now staggering number of picks, we toss in our last seventh-rounder to stay inside 11 draft picks so we don’t have to worry about sneaking too many players onto our practice squad.
While many fans will undoubtedly be upset about moving all the way down to #18, again, we’re not going to be able to meaningfully address all of our needs with the way things currently stand. We also need an edge-rusher quite badly and picking between one (in a weak class) and a center or tackle in round two will be a tough, tough choice.
Now, we potentially don’t have to make that choice and can rack up eight players on rookie deals inside the top 150. By simple math, you’d have to think at least half of those picks work out and now we’re really cooking with gas.
Official terms:
NYG receives: 2020 1st (18), 2020 1st (26), 2020 2nd (39), 2020 4th (141)
MIA receives: 2020 1st (4), 2020 7th (247)