{"id":209097,"date":"2026-04-25T01:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T01:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/209097\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T01:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T01:32:16","slug":"new-york-giants-select-cornerback-colton-hood-with-37th-pick-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/209097\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Giants select cornerback Colton Hood with 37th pick in 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The New York Giants drafted Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood with the 37th pick\u00a0in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft. He was the third cornerback taken.<\/p>\n

Hood had his best season in his lone year at Tennessee after playing in the rotation alongside two-way Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter at Colorado in 2024 and redshirting his first season at Auburn in 2023.<\/p>\n

Hood, who didn\u2019t play defense until his junior year of high school, gave up just 28 receptions on 52 targets and surrendered only one touchdown on 451 coverage snaps. Two Georgia receivers said he was the best corner they faced in college. He scored a pair of touchdowns last season, one on an interception against Mississippi State and another on a fumble in the Vols\u2019 season opener against Syracuse, playing his way into semifinalist honors for the Thorpe Award as college football\u2019s best defensive back.<\/p>\n

He thrived in Tennessee\u2019s man-heavy defensive scheme but is still raw as a prospect with only 13 career starts, despite his strong production.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Beast\u2019 breakdown<\/p>\n

Hood ranked No. 30 overall, and as the No. 5 cornerback, on Dane Brugler\u2019s big board<\/a>. Here\u2019s what Brugler had to say about him in his annual NFL Draft guide<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cHood embraces press-man challenges and is the type of balanced, scrappy athlete who can attach himself to receivers and make things difficult for the offense. He has the talent and wiring to be an early NFL starter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coaching intel<\/p>\n

What an SEC offensive coordinator had to say about Hood in Bruce Feldman\u2019s mock draft<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s tough and physical and has the speed to run with guys. We thought he\u2019s pretty handsy and not as talented as (Jermod) McCoy, but he is a good player. He plays the run well and will tackle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Dochterman grades the pick<\/p>\n

The Giants continue to make a case for the best draft. Hood was a first-round cornerback at a position of need, and the Giants plucked him in the second round. He\u2019s an immediate starter. Hood (5-11 \u00bd, 193) put together a solid senior year for the Vols. He scored touchdowns on an interception and a fumble return while breaking up nine passes. Grade: A<\/p>\n

How he fits<\/p>\n

The Giants lost cornerback Cor\u2019Dale Flott in free agency, which left a major void after his emergence last season. Hood has the potential to replace Flott immediately and long-term.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot, 193-pound Hood thrived in a man-heavy scheme at Tennessee. He\u2019ll be comfortable playing press coverage in defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson\u2019s system. Hood ran a 4.44-second 40-yard dash, so he has the requisite speed to cover receivers deep. He\u2019s a capable and willing tackler, which is a prerequisite in John Harbaugh\u2019s defense. Hood will compete for a starting job as a rookie with the hopes he develops into a long-term starter. \u2014 Dan Duggan<\/p>\n

Depth-chart impact<\/p>\n

The Giants return Paulson Adebo after a disappointing first season as the team\u2019s No. 1 cornerback. After losing Flott, the Giants signed Greg Newsome to a one-year, $8 million contract. If Newsome is at the top of his game, he can be a quality No. 2 corner. But the 2021 first-round pick\u2019s career trajectory is headed in the wrong direction, so Hood will get the opportunity to push for the starting job immediately. Even if Hood doesn\u2019t beat out Newsome for the starting job, the rookie will upgrade the corner depth. \u2014 Duggan<\/p>\n

They also could have picked \u2026<\/p>\n

Cornerback was one of the obvious positions to target for the Giants with their second-round pick. The other positions that stood out as possibilities were defensive tackle and wide receiver. The Texans traded up from No. 38 to get ahead of the Giants and took Ohio State defensive tackle Kayden McDonald with the 36th pick. Georgia\u2019s Christen Miller and Texas Tech\u2019s Lee Hunter were defensive tackles still on the board. If the Giants preferred to add a weapon for quarterback Jaxson Dart, they could have targeted a group of wide receivers headlined by Washington\u2019s Denzel Boston. \u2014 Duggan<\/p>\n

Fast evaluation<\/p>\n

The Giants had plenty of needs entering Day 2 of the draft. Defensive tackle seemed like the natural target as they aim to offset the departure of All-Pro Dexter Lawrence, but the Texans may have thwarted that plan by jumping them for McDonald. Rather than reaching for another defensive tackle, the Giants turned to Hood to upgrade a shaky secondary. \u2014 Duggan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft. The New York Giants drafted Tennessee cornerback Colton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,2683,11,10,30580],"class_list":["post-209097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-giants","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-tennessee-volunteers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}