Whether you’re a Day 1, Day 2, or Day 3 wide receiver prospect, there’s a very real chance the New York Giants don’t call your name at all during draft weekend. Especially if you’ve seen Warren Sharp’s latest graph on how they’ve handled wide receivers since 2022.
The prominent NFL analyst quantified the total capital used to draft WRs over the past three seasons, and the Giants sit at sixth:
total capital used to draft WRs since 2022 pic.twitter.com/0P1dt7QUJc
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) March 17, 2026
The G-Men being near the top of that chart tells you they’ve poured serious draft capital into wide receivers without getting the kind of return you’d expect. Here they are, once again, needing receiver help entering the 2026 offseason.
They’ve clearly tried to address it, but the payoff just hasn’t been there, which puts the spotlight on development and evaluation more than anything else. If anything, this makes it easier to justify going in a different direction at the position instead of doubling down in the draft again and spending a high pick on a wideout.
So while they’ll likely miss out on adding one in free agency, going the trade route makes a lot of sense, especially for a known commodity who can contribute right away instead of another rookie who may never elevate the passing game like we’ve seen before.
The Giants keep going back to wide receiver and getting the same result
Big Blue has three receivers selected in the past four drafts that fall into Sharp’s analysis, and I’m sure this will catch some flak, but hear me out before we get judgy:
- Wan'Dale Robinson - Round 2 (2022)
- Jalin Hyatt - Round 3 (2023)
- Malik Nabers - Round 1 (2024)
Out of the three players, I see only Malik Nabers being a bona fide success story. I think it’s pretty safe to say Hyatt hasn’t worked out. Through three seasons, he's caught 36 passes for 470 yards and no touchdowns.
Where it gets dicey is with Robinson. I know he's coming off the best season of his career, but he needed Nabers out for 14 games and to be the only option on a team devoid of... anyone else.
Even in the WR1 role, he ended the season with 92 receptions for 1,014 yards and four touchdowns. And those stats are heavily inflated by three games, totaling 28 receptions for 411 yards and a touchdown. Excluding those games, in the other 14, he had 64 receptions for 603 yards and three touchdowns. Taking those numbers, his season averages out to 78 receptions for 732 yards and four touchdowns.
That's fine, but it's nothing to write home about.
It’s not even that the guys they’re drafting are outright failing, it’s that whatever they’re doing just isn’t working -- whether that’s development or their evaluation. They’ve used three valuable picks on receivers with only Nabers to show for it -- and he was as close to a slam-dunk selection as could be. It's time to rethink strategy.
They'll be in the mix for Ohio State's Carnell Tate and Arizona State's Jordyn Tyson at five, but the 2026 receiver class is deep, so picking one later in the draft is also an option. But if this offseason has shown anything, it’s that proven vets are being traded for pennies on the dollar -- Michael Pittman for a sixth, Minkah Fitzpatrick for a fifth. Maybe the G-Men look Cleveland’s way for someone like Jerry Jeudy, who might only cost a sixth (which they have three of).
For a team trying to compete in 2026, that might be the move over taking another flier and hoping they get it right. They keep drafting guys high, yet they still need help. Something’s gotta give.