{"id":632053,"date":"2026-04-26T13:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632053\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T13:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:02:12","slug":"things-i-think-after-the-ny-giants-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632053\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Things I think\u2019 after the NY Giants 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Giants<\/a>\u2019 2026 NFL Draft is complete. That means it is time for me to offer some \u2018things I think\u2019 about what the Giants have done over the past few days.<\/p>\n

We will begin with a thought on each draft pick.<\/p>\n

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Making me look like a dummy<\/p>\n

I did 10 Giants<\/a> mock drafts leading up to the draft. Not once did I select Reese at No. 5. I also did not select Reese for the Giants in the SB Nation Writer\u2019s Mock Draft.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, when I had Cole Van Weichen of SB Nation\u2019s Ohio State website<\/a>, Land Grant Holy Land<\/a>, on my podcast to talk about Buckeyes prospects, we glossed over Reese because neither of us figured he was a realistic fit for the Giants.<\/p>\n

At least I wasn\u2019t alone. Only 3.7% of mock drafts in our final mock draft tracker<\/a> had Reese going to the Giants. Reese was the sixth choice in the FanDuel betting odds<\/a> to be the fifth pick.<\/p>\n

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All of this because most analysts and teams saw Reese as the next Micah Parsons<\/a>, a player who would move off off-ball linebacker to full-time edge defender in the NFL. The Giants see something else \u2014 an off-ball WILL linebacker who could be turned into a pass-rushing weapon in long-yardage situations.<\/p>\n

Reese adds another versatile front-seven weapon to a Giants\u2019 group that could be scary for offenses to line up against on passing downs.<\/p>\n

A meek-looking pit bull<\/p>\n

Lovers of the breed will be displeased, but I am not a fan of pit bulls. They scare the bejeezus out of me. You might have one and he\/she might be the nicest\/gentlest dog in the world. What an angry or mistreated pit bull is capable of, though, makes pit bulls a non-starter in the Big Blue View household. We have two Japanese chins.<\/p>\n

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Anyway, you don\u2019t care about that. Or maybe you do, since you love pit bulls and now you are mad at me.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Colton Hood is 5-foot-11, 193 pounds. He doesn\u2019t look like a pit bull. He\u2019s not Ndamukong Suh<\/a>. All the draft photos you see of Hood show him looking like a happy, gentle dude.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yet, John Harbaugh said Friday night the second-round pick is a \u201cpit bull\u201d who is \u201ccoming in here and trying to win a starting job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe the Giants really wanted defensive tackle Kayden McDonald in this spot. Maybe they didn\u2019t. They got Hood, and he should help them.<\/p>\n

I am not surprised that the Giants selection of wide receiver Malachi Fields<\/a> after a trade into the third round has quickly drawn comparisons between Fields and former Giant Hakeem Nicks. Both are bigger wide receivers who win at the catch point rather than with speed or quickness, and who help their quarterbacks by making difficult 50-50 catches.<\/p>\n

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I am, honestly, conflicted in terms of how to feel about this move.<\/p>\n

One one hand, I love this type of \u201cthrow it up and let him make a play\u201d wide receiver. I think every team needs one. Eli Manning<\/a>, who was rarely precise \u2014 except for a certain Super Bowl throw to Mario Manningham<\/a> \u2014 benefitted greatly from having Nicks to throw to. Jaxson Dart<\/a> should love Fields, if he is what the Giants traded up for.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, I don\u2019t like trading up and giving up assets. That is especially true when it comes to wide receivers.<\/p>\n

Over the years I have watched the Giants trade up beyond Round 1 to draft wide receivers Sinorice Moss (2006), Ramses Barden<\/a> (2009), and Jalin Hyatt<\/a> (2023). I\u2019m still waiting for one of those deals to work out. Throw in the trades up for DeAndre Baker<\/a> and Deonte Banks<\/a> and it\u2019s no wonder Giants fans might have trade up PTSD.<\/p>\n

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Generally, go up and get a quarterback. Otherwise, just let the board come to you.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope Fields doesn\u2019t follow the Moss-Barden-Hyatt path.<\/p>\n

Mining for gold in Round 6<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know about you guys, but I joined BBV\u2019s Chris Pflum in being nerdy enough to watch the board once the draft got part way through Round 5 and begin to hope certain players might last until the Giants picks at 186, 192, and 193 in the sixth round.<\/p>\n

It was annoying watching players like safety Jalon Kilgore and running back Adam Randall<\/a> come off the board. No guarantee the Giants would have been interested.<\/p>\n

The Giants followed an old George Young Planet Theory philosophy in the sixth round. They drafted nose tackle Bobby Jamison-Travis, offensive tackle J.C. Davis and a linebacker\/special teamer in Jack Kelly.<\/p>\n

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I have no idea if any of those guys will be good NFL players. I do know I love the priority of adding big guys and special teamers.<\/p>\n

Other thoughts\u2018Kudos\u2019 to Joe Schoen<\/p>\n

Not for the reason you might think. Sure, it looks like the Giants came away with a good haul. I have a different reason.<\/p>\n

By trading the Giants\u2019 fourth- and fifth-round picks on Saturday, and not foolishly acquiring a seventh-round pick somewhere along the way, the general manager made my weekend a bit easier.<\/p>\n

I had to sit by the laptop and wait for hours until the Giants had an opportunity to pick in the sixth round, and that enabled me to get a lot of my Saturday night\/Sunday morning work done well ahead of time.<\/p>\n

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So, thanks for making my weekend just a little bit easier, Joe!<\/p>\n

It is easy to be optimistic today<\/p>\n

Giants fans should all be optimistic right now. It\u2019s been a terrific offseason with the hiring of a future Hall of Fame head coach, free agency, and now a draft that is being widely lauded.<\/p>\n

A note of caution, though. You are supposed to feel good today. I think Giants have had the right to feel good coming out of all five of Schoen\u2019s drafts.<\/p>\n

Winning the draft isn\u2019t, though, winning on the field. It\u2019s time for the Giants to begin doing that before they, and the fan base, can really begin to feel good.<\/p>\n

Monday will be interesting<\/p>\n

The Giants spent time before the draft visiting with several free agents of interest. As of 4 p.m. ET on Monday, veteran free agents who sign with new teams do not count against the compensatory pick formula. Will D.J. Reader or Odell Beckham<\/a> be Giants by Monday night?<\/p>\n

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I think I need to thank my staff<\/p>\n

We have been on an amazing run at Big Blue View, with interest skyrocketing since the hiring of Harbaugh. The last three days have seen roughly a million page views around here. It is gratifying that so many people love our work, and are trusting us. I have to thank this group \u2014 Chris Pflum, Nick Falato, Tony Del Genio, Sam Kirk, James Hickey, David Hartman \u2014 for everything they have done to help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Giants\u2019 2026 NFL Draft is complete. That means it is time for me to offer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[255680,133474,64,63,306078,199826,31388,5126,306031,148081,1274,10286,142536,232765,306075,1245,306076,1242,593,168746,306074,306077,85,48148],"class_list":{"0":"post-632053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-adam-randall","9":"tag-arvell-reese","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-deandre-baker","13":"tag-deonte-banks","14":"tag-eli-manning","15":"tag-giants","16":"tag-hakeem-nicks","17":"tag-jalin-hyatt","18":"tag-jaxson-dart","19":"tag-joe-schoen","20":"tag-john-harbaugh","21":"tag-malachi-fields","22":"tag-mario-manningham","23":"tag-micah-parsons","24":"tag-ndamukong-suh","25":"tag-new-york-giants","26":"tag-nfl","27":"tag-odell-beckham","28":"tag-pit-bull","29":"tag-ramses-barden","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-the-giants"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}