captured by the cameras of \u201cGiants Life\u201d in the Giants\u2019 war room<\/a>.<\/p>\nThose cameras brought us new insight into the Giants\u2019 war room on the first night of the 2026 NFL Draft. The moments released by the Giants also give us some tantalizing insights into the Giants\u2019 pre-draft evaluations.<\/p>\n
The Giants\u2019 leadership said after the first night of the draft that they got two of the five highest graded players on their draft board. And while there wasn\u2019t outright doubt as to that statement, there was a tendency to take that statement with a grain of salt.<\/p>\n
The raw responses to how the first nine picks unfolded, however, back up what the Giants said in that first press conference.<\/p>\n
The 2026 draft was an unusual one in that there were few \u201celite\u201d prospects and best players weren\u2019t at premium positions, however the talent pool beyond those few top players was both broad and deep. That made for a very unpredictable first round, starting with the New York Jets at second overall.<\/p>\n
It was widely expected that the Jets would take either Reese or Texas Tech pass rusher David Bailey.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce that shoe dropped,\u201d Schoen said, \u201cwe had an idea how things would fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
As it turned out, the Jets opted to take Bailey, a player with a more defined and conventional role in the NFL than Reese. While Reese was generally considered to have the higher upside among evaluators, he was only a one-year starter in Ohio State with a wide-ranging set of responsibilities. Bailey was the safer pick for the Jets, which made sense for a regime that is building for 2027, but also trying to not get fired in 2026.<\/p>\n
The Jets passing on Reese set the rest of the events in motion.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s what I\u2019m saying,\u201d Schoen said, \u201cif Reese is there, who are the two better players at the value?\u201d<\/p>\n
After the first round, Harbaugh let it slip that Reese was one of the Giants\u2019 two highest-graded non-quarterbacks. The other? Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably Love here,\u201d Schoen said as the Arizona Cardinals were put on the clock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll probably take Love, the running back,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cBut if they don\u2019t, then our top two guys on the board are possibly available.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was real speculation that the Cardinals could trade out of the third overall pick, though that was countered by re-draft rumors that their owner was pushing for Love. Reese being available may have raised the likelihood of a trade, but ultimately the Cardinals took Love, which brought us to the next inflection point in the top 10, the Tennessee Titans.<\/p>\n
It was widely speculated that the Titans would either take Jeremiyah Love or Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles. With Love off the board and Reese surprisingly dropping, that seemed like a natural pick for new head coach Robert Saleh. Instead, the Titans threw the first curveball of the draft and selected Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it Tate?\u201d Harbaugh asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYup!\u201d Schoen replied, \u201cthat\u2019s awesome!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYEAH!\u201d Harbaugh exclaimed, \u201cYes sir! We got our guy!\u201d<\/p>\n
Their guy was, of course, Arvell Reese.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t a surprise that the Giants had Jeremiyah Love and Arvell Reese tied at the top of their board. They were widely considered two of the top players in the draft among public evaluators. While nobody doubted Love\u2019s upside as an explosive playmaker, there were questions as to whether it was worth it for a team to draft a running back in the top five.<\/p>\n
The questions stem from the fact that running backs depend on outside factors more than any other position, and it isn\u2019t clear that the Giants have the environment in place to allow Love to play up to his potential. The Giants had already seen Saquon Barkley \u2014 arguably a better prospect \u2014 fail on a team that wasn\u2019t able to properly support him.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals have even more concerns than the Giants when it comes to supporting a running back, and the potential was there for them to take an offensive lineman in either Mauigoa or Utah\u2019s Spencer Fano. That meant that the potential for Love and Reese, the Giants\u2019 top two players, to both be available at fifth overall was very real.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t know what would have happened if both Love and Reese were available at 5th overall.<\/p>\n
One of Harbaugh\u2019s first statements as the Giants\u2019 head coach was the necessity of building around Jaxson Dart, and Love would have been a step in that direction. However, Reese\u2019s versatility could be one of the keys to instituting a \u201cBaltimore\u201d style positionless defense while his ability to rush the passer as well as cover improves his positional value.<\/p>\n
Speaking personally, I had Love and Reese tied with the second-highest grade among this year\u2019s prospects. They were just two points behind Tate and Sonny Styles, who were tied for my highest grades due to their slightly higher floors.<\/p>\n
The Giants land Sisi Mauigoa<\/p>\n
The Giants had to get right back to work after turning in their selection of Reese, and the next four picks were wild.<\/p>\n
The NFL\u2019s decision to limit the clock to just 8 minutes in the first round made for a hectic night for us on the outside, as well as ratcheting up the tension in war rooms.<\/p>\n
The Giants not only had to keep track of the players coming off the board, but also of trade calls coming in and trades happening around them. Most notably, the Browns moved out of sixth overall, trading down three spots with the Kansas City Chiefs, who selected CB Mansoor Delane.<\/p>\n
All the while, another of the Giants\u2019 Top five players was falling. \u201cWe got a chance to take two of our top five players,\u201d Schoen said. \u201cJust stay and don\u2019t be cute.\u201d<\/p>\n
We know Reese was tied with Love as the Giants\u2019 second-ranked player. The other player in their Top 5 who was falling was Miami right tackle Francis Mauigoa. And he somehow fell right into the Giants\u2019 lap after the Browns took Utah right tackle Spencer Fano at 9th overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got him! We got him!\u201d Harbaugh exclaimed when the Browns made their pick, leaving Mauigoa to the Giants.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know you are who I wanted from day one, man!\u201d Giants\u2019 offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren said on the call to Mauigoa. \u201cYou are going to make this team better. Bring that physicality in, that leadership you talked about. I can\u2019t wait to get you here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Giants pretty much knew that the Cleveland Browns would take an offensive tackle ninth overall with wide receivers Carnell Tate and Jordyn Tyson off the board. What they didn\u2019t know was whether the Browns would take Mauigoa or Fano, so they had a contingency plan in place.<\/p>\n
Mauigoa was the Giants\u2019 guy. They wanted the big mauler from Miami and were prepared to trade out of the 10th overall pick if the Browns took Mauigoa.<\/p>\n
The Giants received trade offers after the fifth pick, but were resolved to stick and pick if Mauigoa was there. However, we also know that they never believed before the draft that they\u2019d be able to land two of the top five players on their board. So it made sense to have a trade agreed upon if the Browns took the player they (the Giants) had graded more highly.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t know who the Giants would have traded with, nor the exact terms agreed upon. We do know from what the team released that the Giants agreed to swap two later picks, and their second-round pick (which became cornerback Colton Hood) would be moved as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish we didn\u2019t have to give away 37,\u201d Harbaugh said.<\/p>\n
As it turned out, the Giants didn\u2019t have to trade. However, we can infer a couple interesting tidbits about their board from the fact that they were ready to move if Mauigoa wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n
First, we know that the Giants weren\u2019t as enamored with Ohio State safety Caleb Downs as many believed during the pre-draft process. We know from the fact that they were ready to trade down that Downs was not among the top 5 players on the Giants\u2019 board. If we set Francisco Mendoza aside as a QB, and eliminate Reese, Mauigoa, and Love, then we\u2019re left with two of edge David Bailey, WR Carnell Tate, WR Jordan Tyson, or CB Mansoor Delane to round out the Giants\u2019 Top 5.<\/p>\n
We can also infer that the Giants believed there was a fairly significant drop-off after the top five. Even if Downs was sixth on their board, there was enough of a separation between he and Mauigoa that the Giants obviously believed that adding draft capital was the greater value. Considering they agreed to move off 37th overall, even with a swap, the Giants were likely not nearly as high on Downs as pre-draft reports led us to believe. It also suggests that they didn\u2019t believe Penn State guard Vega Ioane has the same upside as Mauigoa, either.<\/p>\n
Schoen also seems to intimate that the Giants believe that the trade partner in question would be moving up for an offensive tackle. That could narrow the list of potential suitors down considerably. The Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New England Patriots all selected offensive tackles in the first round.<\/p>\n
The Giants were without a third round pick, so that could have made a the Dolphins and Steelers, both of whom had multiple 3rd rounders, more likely partners. Though we may never know what would have happened if the Browns had selected Mauigoa.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Giants none-in-a-million scenario came to pass, and their pipe dream of landing both Reese and Mauigoa became a reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe didn\u2019t mock that one \u2026 That was a pipe dream.\u201d Those were the words of New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[167478,189201,349,99],"class_list":["post-632686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-new-york-giants-discussion","tag-new-york-giants-draft","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632686","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=632686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}