Charles Vitolo’s NY Giants post free agency mock draft 2.0

The NY Giants head into the 2020 NFL draft with a staggering number of holes with a hollowed-out roster. In site expert Charles Vitolo’s mock draft 2.0, he attempts a wild trade down to fill them all.

We are officially in the home stretch of mock draft season, and with the Covid-19 epidemic, there seems to be more hype around mock drafts and the actual draft than usual, which is really saying something. NY Giants fans are very divided (as usual) on where to go with pick #4 and beyond, but one thing is for sure — this draft is as pivotal as pivotal gets for an NFL franchise and GM.

As it stands on 4/13/20, the NY Giants possess major holes at offensive tackle, center, free safety, and edge. Big Blue also has concerns at slot corner, while the team could also arguably use a big-bodied wideout, some kicker competition, a short-yardage runningback, and more depth at inside-linebacker.

Man, that was a mouth full. While having the #4 pick is surely high enough for the team to make a major impact on its future, GM Dave Gettleman parted with a super important draft pick when he traded for Leonard Williams and gave up a top 70 pick for a rebuilding team.

It’s unfair to pin the team’s lack of draft pick depth on that trade alone, but right now the NY Giants don’t possess an extra pick outside of their own until the pretty meaningless 7th round where Big Blue holds three selections.

Common trade down options have been brought up with the Los Angeles Chargers (6) and the Miami Dolphins (5) as most fans understandably don’t want to trade outside of the top 10 after such a horrid last few seasons and with those two teams having a huge need at quarterback.

In my second mock draft, I get a little crazy with the first-round trade down that attempts to go with filling out the roster with solid players rather than swinging for the fences with a single top-five pick and only two picks inside the top 98.

Without any further ado, here is my 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)

1st RD (18th *from MIA*): Josh Jones OT – Houston

Even if NY Giants fans disagree on when it has to happen, every fan would have to agree that his team needs to upgrade the offensive tackle position for the future to protect our most important player in QB Daniel Jones, while also jump-starting 2018 #2 overall pick Saquon Barkley.

While Josh Jones’ name might not right out quite like the typical ‘core four’ offensive tackles in this 2020 draft, it should. Jones was a big-time recruit for former Houston head coach Tom Herman before he bolted for Texas after much success, not seeing Josh Jones’ career through.

Despite a mass exodus of Houston recruits and players, Josh Jones stayed the course and it worked out quite well for him. The Texas native allowed just four pressures on 325 pass-blocking snaps in 2019 and graded inside the top-five all-time in Pro Football Focus‘ college grading system. He’s got the size, athleticism, technique and college results that should translate to him being a long-time starter in the NFL.

In my offensive tackle rankings, I’ve got Josh Jones ranked firmly over everyone’s current darling, Louisville’s Mekhi Becton, who is incredibly raw. Jones would step in and start at left tackle right away, pushing the ever-struggling Nate Solder to either right tackle of the bench where he belongs.

The NY Giants walk away with their left tackle of the future here and still have so many more important draft picks to take shots at filling out the rest of the roster, including another first rounder.

If you would like to see my recent full write-up on Josh Jones, here you go.

1st RD (26th *from MIA*): Grant Delpit S – LSU

While offensive tackle and edge stand out to me as the two biggest needs for the NY Giants, free safety is not too far behind them, if at all. In today’s game, having a true center fielder with the range to effectively patrol the deep parts of the field is inherently valuable.

Few players’ draft stock took as much of a hit as LSU free safety Grant Delpit’s did in 2019 despite him racking up another consensus All-America selection and another first-team All-SEC pick to boot. The main reason for his steep drop from top-ten to possibly out of the first-round altogether has been his perceived tackling struggles.

His tackling did leave a bit to be desired in his 2019 junior campaign, but not nearly enough for me to pass on a player with such a high ceiling at one of the toughest positions to fill in all of football. Delpit played as a true single-high free safety which is something the NY Giants have long been lacking.

He’s got the size (6’3 205 lbs), the speed (4.39 40 time) and the ball-hawking ability (7 picks in last two years) to make Dave Gettleman pull the trigger here. Julian Love is an intriguing option to continue his transition to free safety, but in this scenario we’re able to slide him back into his natural role of slot corner and in essence fill two holes with one selection.

Delpit was a true difference-maker during his entire LSU career that culminated with the squad winning the 2019 National Title. The rangy safety also brings the added dimension of having true blitzing ability as he racked up 7 sacks in his last two seasons.

There is risk involved here if his tackling issues turn out to be half as bad as some project, as you never want your last line of defense not being a sure tackler. However, I’m not nearly as worried about it as most and it hasn’t popped out to me nearly as much while watching his tape as I’ve heard others discussing it.

For all of his “troubes”, Delpit still took home the 2019Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s best defensive back.

Antonine Winfield Jr. is another intriguing option here, but we’re going with the extra size and SEC pedigree here.

RD 2 (36th): Julian Okwara EDGE – Notre Dame

Another player I recently profiled, Julian Okwara has the potential to be a top-tier edge guy with the NY Giants if things work out the way they should. His scheme fit is perfect, and in a really weak edge class, I’m taking the guy with the highest ceiling over the highest floor as we’ve already got a few middle-round edges on this team with high floors.

Okwara possesses plus-plus athleticism and getoff and would likely be Big Blue’s strongest pass-rushing threat the moment he walked through the doors.

Too small to be a defensive end and not quite rangy enough to be a 4-3 outside linebacker, new head coach Joe Judge and defensive coordinator Todd Grahm would have a lot of fun lining up Okwara far outside to take advantage of his burst which could lead to him beating slower offensive tackles with ease.

The major red flag with Okwara is his broken fibula that occurred near the end of the 2019 season. Should his medicals check out, he’s got the most potential to be a double-digit sack guy in this class behind Chase Young.

Gettleman gets the chance to right the (minor) wrong of letting Julian’s older brother, Romeo, walk before the 2018 season and possibly find the Pro Bowl type edge the team so desperately needs.

RD 2 (39th *from MIA*): Lloyd Cushenberry C – LSU

If you frequent the @GMENHQ Twitter page then it’s already no secret to you that I have an unhealthy football crush on former LSU center Lloyd Cushenberry (if you know any solid non-contact therapists open during this Covid-19 crisis, send ’em my way). In all seriousness though, there may have never been a better Dave Gettleman prospect built for the NY Giants than the monster interior lineman.

One of Gettleman’s biggest mistakes has been that he has valued character over talent far too much. However, when you get a player that possesses both of those things in spades while filling a dire position of need, that’s what we call a home run in this business.

Cushenberry was the bonafide leader of LSU’s offense, becoming the team’s first offensive lineman ever to don the number 18 jersey that signifies leadership. The man can flat out play some football, too, as he was a key cog in the offensive line that helped put up video game numbers and break all kinds of records.

In the run game, he’s a beast, consistently getting to the second-level while seemingly most always getting push. In the passing game, he’s not exactly a technician but is never embarrassed and is almost never beaten.

LSU’s offense put an enormous amount of pressure on its offensive line in that it asked almost all of them to do more than the typical lineman due to the fact that they blocked with only five players a staggering amount of the time.

The NY Giants’ offensive line needs a vocal leader to help change the tide right now, and Cushenberry would slide right in to be one of its top players and be a long-time starter.

I don’t see an easier pick in the entire draft for us here as I don’t see there being many ways this pick doesn’t work out.

RD 3 (99th): Jeff Gladney CB – TCU

With all the NY Giants have invested in the cornerback position over the past few years this may seem like overkill, but with all the extra picks we acquired in the Miami trade we’ve got some wiggle room to beef up important roster positions that we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

Even though we’ve drafted FS Grant Delpit in this mock draft, in essence sliding Julian Love backover to slot corner, there is simply no guarantee that he’ll work out as a slot in the NFL. I’ve loved what I’ve seen out of Love so far, but adding Gladney into the mix – who has real potential to be a difference-making slot corner at the next level – we’ve dramatically upped our chances at having a functional secondary.

You can never have enough cornerbacks in this league, and there are plenty of times where you’ve got two slots on the field in dime formations, anyway. Not to mention both played outside in college and should be able to flow between both spots in the pros.

Former third-round supplemental draft pick, Sam Beal, is going to have to earn his way into the fray after his first two seasons have been dominated by injuries. Gladney had a staggering 27 pass-breakups over his past two years at TCU, and even though he played mostly along the outside in college, his 5’10 190 LB frame suits him better to be a slot in the NFL.

Gladney’s biggest strength is being able to mirror receivers, sometimes having trouble with the bigger ones. Sounds like a player that’s due to thrive as a nickel in the NFL and we get tremendous value here due to a deep cornerback class.

RD 4 (110th): Matt Peart OT – Uconn

Again due to the newly found war-chest of draft picks, the NY Giants are able to add depth at another premium position at #110 here. We’ve taken a bit of a gamble on Josh Jones at #18 in terms of finding the franchise tackle in this draft that we so desperately need, taking a shot at on a  high-upside guy like Peart in the fourth-round here only adds percentage points to our aim.

Peart projects as a right tackle in the NFL which is totally fine for Big Blue. His main questions (rightly) stem from his lack of playing against elite competition at Uconn, but when you evaluate his film he stands out as a man amongst boys at that level

He performed well enough at the Senior Bowl to vault himself up the NFL Draft radar and adding him to the offensive tackle room that will now include Josh Jones and Nick Gates for the future gives us less of a chance of having to rely on Nate Solder and Cameron Fleming which is a very positive thing.

RD 4 (141st *from MIA): Michael Pittman Jr. WR – USC

In most years, a 6’3 wideout from USC who was coming off a year that saw him grab 101 balls for 1270 yards and 11 TD’s would never have a shot at falling all the way to the 141st pick — this isn’t most years. In the deepest wide receiver class in quite some time, the NY Giants come away with the big-bodied receiving threat the team so badly needs without investing a premium pick to do so.

Pittman’s detractors have pointed towards speed as the biggest reason why he won’t thrive at the NFL level, yet the former USC star quieted those concerns to a degree by running a 4.53 which was better than most expected. Far from an elite 40 time, Pittman Jr. plays much faster on tape which is always much more important, anyway.

The son of a former NFL runningback, Pittman Jr is shiftier than most wideouts, particularly those at his size. Most importantly, Pittman had just a 2.8% drop rate during his time at Southern Cal which puts him in the upper echelon of hand talent in this – or any – wideout class.

He’ll give Daniel Jones the big target he’s been longing for.

RD 5 (150th): Malik Harrison ILB – Ohio State

Following our basic premise of adding players from mostly elite college programs, Malik Harrison would slide right into the NY Giants’ inside-linebacker group with a real chance to make an impact on day one.

We are all hoping that Ryan Connelly goes through a smooth recovery from his ACL tear, but just in case, we’ve got another potential rookie dynamo on our hands here in Harrison.

A high school quarterback and a former top-50 “athlete” recruit at Ohio State, Harrison found his niche as an uber-athletic linebacker at Ohio State that culminated with a third-team All-American selection in his senior year.

Harrison led the Buckeyes in tackles in both his junior and senior campaigns, and his senior campaign saw him round out his game while adding 16.5 TFL, 4.5 sacks and 4 passes defended. He’s a legit thumper that can change the tide of a game with a single hit.

Even with the addition of Blake Martinez in free agency, Big Blue is lacking linebackers that can really cover for the most part.

Malik Harrison fixes that on day one.

RD 6 (183rd): Cole McDonald QB – Hawaii

Former Hawaii quarterbacks have mostly gotten a bad name at the NFL level, and for good reason. For years Hawaii quarterbacks put up huge numbers in their air-raid offense only to flop – even at the backup level – in the NFL. Cole McDonald is not your typical Hawaii QB.

Even though his passing stats are on par with his predecessors, McDonald ran a blistering 4.54 40 at the 2020 NFL combine. He’s a real threat in the read-option game and it’s a real positive that he’s similar in style to Daniel Jones in case he does work out to be the long-term backup QB.

Make no mistake about it, though, McDonald can still sling it. The 6’3 QB had TD/INT splits of 35/14 and 36/10 in 2019 and 2018.

The fact that the new CBA allows for 55 total active players (up from 53) and 12 practice squad players (up from 10) makes this more realistic.

While Colt McCoy should work out fine as a backup for one season during a rebuilding year, this franchise needs a quarterback it can trust to sling it should ‘DJ’ ever go down again when the team is competitive, and McCoy is not that.

RD 7 (218th): Rodrigo Blankenship K – Georgia

If you’re doing a 2020 NY Giants mock draft and not mocking America’s favorite kicker to Big Blue in the 7th round, are you even mock drafting, bro?

In al seriousness, it’s been so common for good reason — it makes sense. Aldrick Rosas has already made an All-Pro team in his young career, but he’s also struggled mightily in his two other seasons, including in 2019 where he was struggling to even hit extra points.

Rosas signed a beefy second-round RFA tender that includes a $3M salary, but it’s not guaranteed. He could use someone to push in him training camp, and Blankenship would do just that with a real chance to even beat him out.

Worst case, we try to sneak him onto the practice squad or use him as trade bait. It’s worth noting that there is a real chance he is gone before the 7th round, which is uncommon for kickers, due to his big-game experience and winning the 2019 Lou Groza award as the nation’s best kicker.

RD 7 (238th): Michael Warren RB – Cincinnati

In what may be my favorite pick of this entire mock, the NY Giants save the best for last when they extract major value out of the 7th round by selecting the monster that is former Cincinnati runningback, Michael Warren.

Even though Big Blue has one of the best ‘backs in all of football and added Dion Lewis this offseason already, the team still has a need for a short-yardage back that can get those tough half-yards the squad has struggled to get on third downs in recent years. Warren will do that in spades and in style.

The mammoth 5’11 222 pound runnigback racked up 36 total TD’s during his last two years at Cincinnati and somehow didn’t fumble over 507 carries. Sign me up.

Conclusion

Again, this draft might leave some wanting more for elite talent at the top of the draft, but I truly feel if we take this route and land Josh Jones at #18 we nix that problem while adding all kinds of draft picks to play with. The NY Giants are far more than one player away to fix this mess, and you can see the type of effect having eight picks in the top 150 would have on this football team.

We managed to find a way to fill just about every hole on this team (potentially and on paper, of course) while adding depth at premium positions.

We found our left tackle of the future, a ball-hawking, rangy free safety, a high-upside edge, a real intriguing slot corner, depth at ILB and OT, a big-bodied WR that would go much-higher in any other year, a potential backup QB of the future and even a short-yardage monster RB.

Oh, and the coolest kicker of all time, to boot.

While it remains a long-shot that this type of trade down all the way to #18 could happen, Dave Gettleman needs to be open to all options to try to really jumpstart this rebuild.

Collecting a cache of picks as we did here would do just that.