experts<\/a>\u2019 top overall prospect. Cue a familiar conversation on the positional value of the running back. For those arguing that the Giants only recently moved on from a top back, general manager Joe Schoen pointed out how much has changed.<\/p>\n\u201cThis year\u2019s draft, we talked a little bit about the surplus value, and some of the better players in the draft may not typically be in the highest-paid positions outside of that, so you\u2019re at the mercy of what\u2019s available,\u201d Schoen said. \u201cWhere we are right now is a different place than the Saquon situation. Again, we got a young quarterback, we have a number one receiver, we got (right tackle) Jermaine Eluemunor, the offensive line is stronger. So we\u2019re going to take the best player available, regardless of position, that will help the New York Giants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schoen\u2019s comments on Monday came after new coach John Harbaugh spoke at the 2026 annual league meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you recognize all that. But the business is football,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cYou know, we are a football business. That\u2019s what we do. And, you know, we\u2019re trying to make our fans happy. We want to win games.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd to do that, we\u2019ve got to build the very best team we can. So you build the best team you can with the best players you can get. You know, and you put them out there, and you let them play. So that\u2019s where it starts.\u201d<\/p>\n
When pressed on Love specifically, Harbaugh added many \u201cvery\u2019s\u201d: \u201cI\u2019d probably put very, very good player. Put a couple very\u2019s in front of that, maybe a couple more. He\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harbaugh is gearing up for his first draft with a new team in 18 seasons. The Giants hold the No. 5 pick. Love could very well be in contention for that selection.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s if the Giants hold on to the pick in the first place. If the opportunity to trade back presents itself, Harbaugh said they \u201cdefinitely would be interested in that.\u201d But it\u2019s about working the math out and what it\u2019d take to trade away from each person in each scenario.<\/p>\n
That starts more seriously this week with draft meetings kicking off Thursday. Coaches and players will be back in the building next week as well.<\/p>\n
In addition to the No. 5 selection, the Giants are slated to have six other picks after dealing their third- and seventh-round selections (the former in last year\u2019s trade up for Dart).<\/p>\n
While running back is an interesting conversation given the Giants\u2019 recent history, one of the team\u2019s more pressing needs is a starting right guard. The team re-signed right tackle Eluemunor during free agency but only added returning depth at the guard spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the offensive line is like our team, it\u2019s a work in progress,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cI think we talked about it from day one, that\u2019s where games are won and lost. That\u2019s where it starts. We\u2019ve got to try to build the best offensive line and the best defensive line in football. That\u2019s got to be our goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harbaugh pointed out they still have free agency and the draft to fill roster holes. Last year\u2019s starting right guard, Greg Van Roten, is still a free agent, and Schoen said he is \u201cnot out of the mix at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
But overall, Harbaugh felt that his first go at free agency with the Giants went well, and the team is in good shape as it heads toward the draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to go to the buffet table hungry,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201c(I) think we\u2019re in good position where we don\u2019t have to chase any specific need. But at the same time we understand we still have needs. So that\u2019s going to be a factor in what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 The New York Giants are intimately familiar with the running back market. No reminders are needed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,977,1778,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-556236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-new-york-giants","13":"tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}