The New York Giants are putting on a masterclass at keeping everyone in the dark about what direction they’re leaning with the fifth overall pick.
There are really only two options:
- Keep the pick and take someone at five.
- Trade back and acquire more draft capital.
Option two feels like the smarter strategy -- the Giants aren’t exactly swimming in draft capital. But with a weak quarterback class and a class that lacks top-tier talent in general, it’ll be tough to find a partner looking to move up. As for option one, there are about five clear prospects in play: Miami OL Francis Mauigoa, Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love, and the Ohio State trio of SAF Caleb Downs, LB Sonny Styles, and WR Carnell Tate.
Ask a Giants fan which route they’d prefer out of any of those outcomes, and I’m willing to bet there’s a difference of opinion. Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon took a look at what he thinks will happen and what should happen, and the outcomes are vastly different. He believes they’re going to draft Styles, but should trade back.
Giants stuck between what makes sense and what likely happens at No. 5
The case for Styles was simple: "The extremely athletic first-team All-American suits John Harbaugh's approach and fills a need at the same time."
And Gagnon's not wrong. The 6-foot-5, 243-pound linebacker would be an unreal get for Big Blue at five. It's not every day that a player's comp is a mythological creature, but "unicorn" feels fitting. New York signed Tremaine Edmunds earlier this offseason. They also re-signed Micah McFadden. Off-ball linebacker might not seem like a need, but Styles would be an upgrade over both and give Harby his usual middle-of-the-defense terror -- think Ray Lewis, C.J. Mosley, Roquan Smith.
And while adding a unicorn demon as the green-dot leader of the D is enticing, it might not be their best course of action. Perhaps moving back for more assets makes more sense.
For the trade back, Gagnon wrote: "They already added a veteran off-ball linebacker in Tremaine Edmunds this offseason, and they need to focus on the trenches anyway."
It's important to note that the article came out before the G-Men traded Dexter Lawrence away for the 10th overall pick, which could change their tune on trading back, but for the sake of argument, that route still holds a lot of value.
This isn't considered a deep draft. The consensus is that there are a bunch of eventual starters in the mid rounds, but the first round doesn't have the top-tier talent teams usually oggle over. It might make more sense to trade back and get as many eventual starters to flesh out the roster than reach on a guy who wouldn't be a top-five pick in another draft.
We'll see which way they go when they're on the clock on Thursday.
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