One week into the 2024 NFL season and the NY Giants have already shown they need a lot of help. From the inability to get the ball to their young up-and-coming receiving core, to not stopping the run, the Giants were a total disappointment. Is another frustrating campaign on the way?
There's a long wait to the 2025 NFL Draft, but if Week 1 was an indication of things to come, Giants fans are already looking on to next year. With what seems to be the Daniel Jones era coming to an end, the G-Men need to find a replacement for him. In this way too early three-round mock draft, the Giants fix three major holes. Of course, a new QB will make his way to East Rutherford:
NY Giants first-round pick: Miami quarterback Cam Ward
In Round 1, Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen go get THEIR GUY, and it's electric quarterback Cam Ward of Miami. Ward was a standout at Washington State before hitting the portal and signing with Miami. Ward has a big arm, can extend plays with his feet, is one of the most exciting players to watch in all of college, and brings instant energy to an offense. He is a gunslinger, has a great pocket presence, and can make plays with his legs if need be. Ward has been lighting it up early on this season.
Last season at Wazzu, Ward put up over 3,700 yards through the air with 25 touchdowns, to go along with another eight on the ground. Ward has to be on the Giants radar, and if he keeps playing like he has been, he will be a Top 5 pick in next year's draft.
NY Giants second-round pick: Arizona cornerback Tacario Davis
The Giants went into this offseason desperately needing to address the CB2 position. While Deonte Banks is still coming along as a CB1, they brought in multiple free agent corners from Tre Herndon to David Long Jr., only to release most all of them during the final round of roster cuts. The Giants chose to go the young route at corner, working Cor'Dale Flott and Nick McCloud on the outside. They re-signed veteran corner Adoree' Jackson, but they need a corner who can come in and immediately claim the CB2 spot. Enter Arizona lockdown defensive back Tacario Davis.
Davis is a big, physical corner standing at 6-4 and 190 pounds. He excels as a press-man corner and could be a great complement to Banks. Often compared to Jets young star Sauce Gardner, Davis has rare size for a corner and has all the physical traits to be great at the next level for a long time. Schoen and Co. said they were happy with not only their draft, but the young corners they have on the roster, but Hard Knocks showed that wasn't the case, as the entire draft room was visibly upset when both corners Kamari Lassiter and Kool-Aid McKinstry went off the board right before the Giants were on the clock.
NY Giants third-round pick: Georgia defensive tackle Nazir Stackhouse
The Giants thought they came a long way with fixing their defensive front with the trade for pass-rusher Brian Burns to go along with Kayvon Thibodeaux, along with finding some undrafted gems in Casey Rogers and Elijah Chatman. That simply was not the case against the Vikings because everyone not named Dexter Lawrence was simply manhandled. The Vikings plan on attack was simple: when Lawrence is on the field we throw, when he's not on the field we run. They executed it perfectly and exposed the Giants.
To help fix the defensive line, the Giants will select one of the biggest interior defensive lineman in the entire draft in Georgia defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse in the third round. Stackhouse is a 6-3, 320-pound run-stuffing nose tackle. He can eat double teams leading to one-on-one matchups for Lawrence, Burns, and Thibodeaux. The Giants need to be able to stop the run without Lawrence being on the field all the time and adding Stackhouse to a front with young developmental pieces like Jordon Riley can help a long way towards showcasing improvements.