The New York Giants had one job on Thursday night: crush the you know what out of draft right. And with a class loaded at the top and two top-10 picks in their pocket, there was no excuse not to come away with impact players.
They walked away looking like they pulled off a heist.
The No. 1 overall player on FanSided's Big Board, Arvell Reese was never supposed to be there when the G-Men were up at five. He was obviously No. 1 on New York’s, too, because once Jeremiyah Love and Carnell Tate were gone, the opportunity was sitting right there for them to make one of the biggest steals of the entire draft.
Big Blue could have let auto-draft run and still would have come away winners, but they had more work to do with the 10th pick. Coming away with Mauigoa at 10 felt like the highway-est of robberies. He came in ninth on FanSided’s Big Board, giving the team its next mauler on the offensive line and locking in the tone Harbaugh has been preaching all offseason.
Let’s pick out the biggest winners and losers from an unreal Day 1 of the draft.
Biggest winners and losers as the New York Giants crush the NFL Draft
Winner No. 1: Jevón Holland and Tyler Nubin
There was a lot of chatter that the Giants were looking long and hard at Ohio State safety Caleb Downs. Taking a safety fifth felt aggressive, but the class’ best player is the class’ best player.
To almost everyone’s surprise, New York passed on Downs not once, but twice. He was still available when they were back on the clock at 10, but apparently, Harbaugh believes in the safeties he has. Downs would have been an immediate upgrade over either Holland or Nubin, and at least one of them would’ve been looking over their shoulder pretty quickly.
Winner No. 2: Darius Slayton... for now
Darius Slayton is currently penciled in as WR2 for the G-Men, and that remained the case after Day 1. Receiver was a clear draft need entering the night, but there clearly wasn’t a hunger for one at five with Jordyn Tyson still on the board, and by the time the 10th pick rolled around, he was gone.
Slayton is not out of the woods yet. There are still plenty of opportunities for Big Blue to add another wideout -- including with the 37th pick -- but the 29-year-old survived another night. That’s a win, even if it comes with an asterisk.
Winner No. 3: Joe Schoen
This is exactly what Joe Schoen needed. After squandering two top-10 picks back in 2022 with Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal, the pressure was on to not overthink it again.
Amazing job by Schoen, leaning into Harbaugh’s approach and letting the board come to him. Sometimes the best move is the obvious one, and for once, the Giants didn’t try to outsmart themselves. Funny how that works.
Loser No. 1: Kayvon Thibodeaux's time with Giants
Speaking of Thibodeaux. It feels like every year he’s still in Giants blue, they bring in someone to eventually replace him. First it was Abdul Carter in 2025, and now it’s Reese. At some point, that’s not a coincidence.
How many top-five picks can this team actually spend on a pass-rusher while keeping all of them happy? Or useful for that matter? They say a team can never have too many quarterback hunters, but hunting from the bench won't do this team much good if they can acquire another asset or two by moving on from him.
Loser No. 2: All the one-year offensive linemen signings
New York re-signed Evan Neal, Aaron Stinnie, and Joshua Ezeudu, and added Lucas Patrick and Daniel Faalele earlier this offseason, all on one-year deals. The message was clear: earn your spot.
Auditions closed.
Mauigoa just walked in and made most of that room irrelevant for 2026. The 6-foot-6, 330-pounder might’ve played tackle at Miami, but he’s expected to slide inside and take that right guard job. And spoiler, you don’t spend a top-10 pick on a lineman to have him watch from the sideline.
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