With the fifth overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, the New York Giants select – drumroll please – Arvell Reese! It turns out, teams truly can't have enough pass-rushers.
The positional value stans are going to have a field day with the Giants taking another pass-rusher at five, but this one comes with a bit of a twist. Reese wasn’t the name most people expected to hear here when the G-Men were on the clock. Carnell Tate, Jeremiyah Love, and Sonny Styles all felt like the obvious direction, and instead, Big Blue zigged. In part because Tate and Love were off the board, but still. Best player available is always the best strategy.
Reese jumped onto the scene after a strong first season as Ohio State's starter. He turned in an All-American performance with 10.0 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. He's a 6-foot-4, 241-pounder who can play anywhere on the defense, giving Harby the perfect defensive chaos agent.
Let's live in the backfield.
Giants take Ohio State LB Arvell Reese with No. 5 pick in 2026 NFL Draft
Earlier this offseason, the Giants signed free agent Tremaine Edmunds to a three-year, $36 million deal. They also re-signed Micah McFadden to a one-year prove-it deal after missing the season with a Lisfranc injury. The moves came shortly after the G-Men cut the $9 million proverbial cord with veteran backer Bobby Okereke. They also traded Dexter Lawrence to Cincinnati. It's a new-look defensive front seven.
But apparently, Harby’s got an affinity for linebackers and pass-rushers. Can you blame him?
He fits what this defense is about to become under Harbaugh. At Ohio State, he lived in the backfield as a hybrid defender, and that’s not changing anytime soon. He’s going to be asked to rush, drop, spy, and adjust on the fly, and that kind of movement skill at his size shows up in all the right spots. Harbs has always had guys who can wreck games up front, and Reese has that kind of upside.
The pass-rush room is already loaded with Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, and Kayvon Thibodeaux. That’s what makes this interesting. The Giants didn’t need another one. They wanted one. They're going to make a lot of quarterbacks uncomfortable. I'm here for it.
He and Carter figure to be the next great Giants defensive duo for the foreseeable future.
Reese figures to carve out a role right away, whether that’s off the edge or moving around as a chess piece. Teams don’t take players like this top five to keep them on the sideline. It might not have been the pick everyone expected, but it’s one that tells you exactly what the Giants want this defense to look like.
And with the 10th pick looming, the party is just getting started.
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