Revisiting NY Giants’ 2018 NFL Draft: What ‘mistakes’ were made? What could’ve been different?

Round 4 – Pick No. 108: QB Kyle Lauletta, Richmond

The Giants’ selection of Lauletta is among the more puzzling of the Gettleman era.

Fully committed to moving forward with Manning for at least one more season, the Giants already had a mid-round developmental quarterback; Davis Webb, and with a new general manager and coaching staff in place decided to take another in Lauletta.

Choosing Lauletta in a class that included Darnold, Allen, and Jackson felt like Gettleman and the Giants covering their bases and taking a lottery ticket at quarterback.

Spoiler: their ticket didn’t cash.

Lauletta appeared in just one game for the Giants, a disastrous 0-for-5 showing in Week 17 of his rookie season in mop-up duty against Washington, and has since bounced around the Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, and Cleveland Browns’ practice squads.

What might have been different?

There was an embarrassment of starting caliber talent on the board in the fourth-round of the 2018 class, and the Giants came away with a player who threw five incompletions before getting cut out of training camp the following summer.

Here’s who was on the board when the Giants chose Lauletta:

S – Troy Apke (pick No. 109): 62 total tackles and one INT in 33 games

WR – DaeSean Hamilton (pick No. 113): 81 receptions for 833 yards and 5 touchdowns in 46 games

S – Jordan Whitehead (pick No. 117): 219 total tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 2 sacks 3 interceptions, 17 pass breakups in 41 starts

CB – Taron Johnson (pick No. 121): 186 total tackles, 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) in 20 career starts

TE – Dalton Schultz (pick No. 137): 76 receptions for 737 yards and four touchdowns in 43 games

The Giants would have been significantly better off with any of these picks, and each would have filled a glaring deficiency on the roster at the time.