Each day leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft — April 23-25 — TeamFB7 will break down a different team’s biggest draft need and the best selection to address it. Granted, teams will most often use their first-round pick on the best available player/value and not necessarily always their biggest need, so this isn’t going to compile together into a mock draft in the end. It’s more a breakdown of how each team could best address its most paramount priority if it chooses.
The New York Giants made the biggest splash in the annual coaching market when they moved swiftly to lock in former longtime Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.
Harbaugh brings instant credibility and stability to a franchise that has just two winning seasons and four failed head coaching hires in the 10 years since the Tom Coughlin Era ended.
But that’s only part of the equation. The Giants also need to substantially upgrade their roster if they’re going to return to postseason contention.
And New York’s efforts in free agency were overall underwhelming.
They signed a lot of players, sure, but only four to any notable contracts ($5 million or more per year). Those were tight end Isaiah Likely (3 years, $40 million), who followed Harbaugh from Baltimore; re-signed offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (3 years, $39 million); veteran linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (3 years, $36 million), a savvy pickup from the Bears; and cornerback Greg Newsome II (1 year, $8 million), formerly of the Browns and Jaguars.
Now, the Giants turn the focus to the 2026 NFL Draft later this month, where they hold the following picks — listed by round (overall pick): 1 (5), 2 (37), 4 (105), 5 (145), 6 (186), 6 (192), 6 (193).
New York will have its choice of impact players with that No. 5 selection — the question is what do the Giants need to prioritize most with that prime pick?
What Is The Top Priority Need For The New York Giants In The NFL Draft?
The Giants could honestly go a few different ways with their first-round pick.
The only positions they don’t need to consider at No. 5 are quarterback (building around second-year starter Jaxson Dart), tight end (Likely), offensive line (strong at both tackle spots with LT Andrew Thomas and Eluemunor at RT and too soon in draft to address needed upgrades on the interior), EDGE (second-team All-Pro Brian Burns and big investments in recent top-5 overall picks Kayvon Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter) and DL (Dexter Lawrence is a strong anchor in the middle, and there’s simply no DT worth considering in the top half of the first round).
That leaves the Giants with the most wide-open range of possibilities yet in the top 5 of this draft.
They could arguably prioritize any of these positions, given needs and available top-end talent:
Running back
Cam Skattebo, a fourth-round pick last year, became something of a fan favorite during his injury-shortened rookie season, but he averaged just 4.1 yards per carry (410 yards and 5 TDs) and is more ideally suited as a No. 2 RB. Ditto for Tyrone Tracey Jr. (4.2 YPC, 740 yards and 2 TDs) and Devin Singletary (3.7 YPC, 437 yards and 5 TDs). Three No. 2s don’t make up for not having a true No. 1. Collectively, it’s one of the least exciting RB groups in the league.
Consensus top RB prospect Jeremiyah Love, out of Notre Dame, could already be off the board if the Tennessee Titans take him at No. 4, as many draft gurus project. But that’s no given — and taking pressure off Dart by leaning heavily on the run game would make a lot of sense.
Wide receiver
But so too would giving Dart better targets in the passing game.
The Giants get emerging young star wide receiver Malik Nabers back following an ACL injury that ended his 2025 season after four games. He’s a true No. 1 WR who put up 109 catches for 1,204 yards and 7 TDs as a rookie in 2024, but the rest of the depth chart is severely lacking.
Wan’Dale Robinson left via free agency to the Tennessee Titans after a breakout 1,000-yard season (but it wasn’t worth matching the 4-year, $70 million contract he received). That leaves Darius Slayton (37 catches for 538 yards and 1 TD in 2025) and newly signed Darnell Mooney (32-443-1 with the Falcons) as next options right now. Both are uninspiring low-end No. 3-caliber WRs.
There is a consensus on the top three WRs in this draft: Ohio State’s Carnell Tate, Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson and USC’s Makai Lemon — all with a chance to go in the first half of the first round. But all feel like a reach at No. 5, unless the Giants are blown away by Tate (51 catches for 875 yards and 9 TDs in only 11 games last season for Ohio State — but just 7 catches for 82 yards and a TD combined in the Buckeyes’ two College Football Playoff games).
Linebacker
Signing Edmunds was a great move for New York. He’s an eight-year NFL veteran who has put up at least 100 tackles every season, including 112 last year with the Bears along with 4 interceptions and 9 passes defended. PFF ranked him 34th out of 88 qualifying linebackers.
Meanwhile, the Giants released their 2025 leading tackler Bobby Okereke, who remains a free agent, and retained free agent LB Micah McFadden on a prove-it 1-year, $3.75-million deal. McFadden was limited to just 11 snaps last season due to a Week 1 foot injury. He contributed back-to-back 100-tackle seasons in 2023 and 2024, but Giants fans were mixed on his overall impact even then.
He’s absolutely replaceable if New York believes Ohio State stud LB Sonny Styles could be a foundational part of their defense for the next decade.
Safety
The Giants lost safety Dane Belton (their second-leading tackler in 2025 with 120) to the Jets in free agency and signed Ar’Darius Washington (1 year, $3 million), who played for Harbaugh in Baltimore. Washington returned from a torn Achilles to play in four games late last season as a limited reserve. He started 10 games in 2024 with 64 tackles, 2 INTs and 8 PDs in his only extensive NFL action in his five years with the Ravens.
Incumbent safeties Tyler Nubin (78 tackles and 7 tackles for loss in 13 games) and Jevon Holland (63 tackles, 1 INT in 14 games) ranked 78th and 73rd, respectively, out of 98 qualifying safeties in PFF’s grading.
This draft just happens to feature what most analysts consider to be one of the best safety prospects in years in Ohio State’s Caleb Downs, the 2025 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time unanimous first-team All-American.
Cornerback
New York lost emerging cornerback Cor’Dale Flott in free agency to the Titans while returning Paulson Adebo (74th out of 114 qualifying corners by PFF’s rank), nickel Dru Phillips (66 tackles, team-high 12 passes defended and 2 INTs) and bringing in Newsome (85th out of 114 on PFF’s rank).
LSU’s Mansoor Delane is the top cornerback in the draft, but No. 5 might be too early for him.
Who Should The New York Giants Draft At No. 5 Overall?
Again, this is the toughest call we’ve had to make yet in our draft preview series, and apparently we weren’t alone in that regard.
Here’s what five prominent mock drafts from notable draft analysts suggest the Giants will do at No. 5:
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. (Downs — with Love already off the board), ESPN’s Field Yates (Downs — with Styles already off the board), The Ringer’s Todd McShay (Love), NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah (Styles — with Love already taken) and NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks (Styles — with Love already gone).
Same as we said in our Tennessee Titans draft preview for the No. 4 pick, a top 5 running back just seems like too much of a luxury for a team with so many needs that isn’t likely to contend in 2025.
But …
If the Giants want Dart to succeed and develop and build confidence, they have to give him more to work with in terms of difference-making talent at the skill positions.
For that reason, we … initially endorsed the Giants taking Love at No. 5 if he’s still available. Combine Love and whichever of those secondary running backs wins out and ride a heavy ground attack, also featuring in Dart’s mobility (487 rushing yards and 9 TDs) and let him pick his spots in the passing game to Nabers and Likely.
The ceiling for the offense increases immediately, and Dart’s own development/confidence benefit as he faces less third-and-longs and inevitably feeling like he has to carry the team on his back.
The alternative of leaving Dart an absolute dearth of offensive weapons, leading to a predictably frustrating season, is the only reason we were briefly convinced that was the right call even though Styles or Downs could be transformational for the Giants defense for years to come.
But the more we looked at it, the harder it was to justify bypassing a potentially elite, foundational linebacker to stick into the middle of the defense for the next decade to take a running back — even a potentially great one like Love.
Especially when considering five of the NFL’s top six rushing leaders last season were drafted after the first round (see the breakdown here) and there are again some intriguing Day 2 RBs and WRs available in this draft to augment the offense.
Running Backs Can Be Found Later In The Draft
Because running back is the arguably the easiest position to hit big on after the first round of the draft, there have only been seven RBs taken in the top half of the first round over the last decade. Most proved worthwhile, but only one of those players reached a conference championship game with the team that drafted them (ironically, the least productive overall of the bunch in Leonard Fournette with the Jaguars).
Here’s the list:
2025: Ashton Jeanty (No. 6 overall to the Raiders)
2023: Bijan Robinson (No. 8 to the Falcons)
2023: Jahmyr Gibbs (No. 12 to the Lions)
2018: Saquon Barkley (No. 2 to the Giants)
2017: Leonard Fournette (No. 4 to the Jaguars)
2017: Christian McCaffrey (No. 8 to the Panthers)
2016: Ezekiel Elliott (No. 6 to the Cowboys)
The Jaguars might be the only of those teams to regret the pick. Fournette had two mediocre 1,000-yard seasons in three years with the team — albeit helping them to the AFC championship game as a rookie — before moving on and lasted just seven years in the NFL overall.
The Giants maybe do as well, but it wasn’t Barkley’s fault they only managed one winning season and one playoff appearance in his six years there before having a historic season with the Eagles in 2024. They were simply too weak in too many other areas to truly benefit from a star RB (which is perhaps worth considering in their current state as it relates to Love).
And it’s too soon to judge Jeanty, who rushed for just 975 yards on a meager 3.7 YPC last season while playing behind the worst offensive line in football.
To have fun with numbers and make it even more notable to the Giants’ situation, though, just three running backs have been selected top 5 overall in the last 17 drafts — Barkley, Fournette and Trent Richardson (an epic bust at No. 3 to the Browns in 2012).
That really puts it in perspective as to how special a running back would have to be to justify a top 5 pick. Maybe Love is that guy.
But even if the Titans don’t take him at No. 4 (we don’t think they will, but many draft analysts do), the Giants should still take an equally dynamic sky-high-ceiling prospect at a position more likely to return full value on the investment.
Why Selecting A Linebacker Makes Sense For New York
That means drafting Styles — even if inside linebacker is also a position not frequently addressed so high in the draft.
In fact, there hasn’t been an inside linebacker taken in the top 10 since 2019 when Devin White went No. 5 overall to the Buccaneers (and won a Super Bowl in his second season as the team’s leading tackler) and Devin Bush went No. 10 to the Steelers.
Before that, it was Roquan Smith at No. 8 to the Bears in 2018, and he’s been named All-Pro first-team three times and second-team twice in eight seasons with the Bears and Ravens. And then you have to go all the way back to 2012 when the Panthers drafted Luke Kuechly No. 9 overall, went 12-4 two years later and made the Super Bowl within the linebacker’s first four years.
History shows us it’s more likely Styles has that kind of impact for the Giants than Love — even if he’s every bit as advertised. It’s also far more likely New York can find an impact running back on Day 2 than a star linebacker.
Styles had 182 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 7 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, an interception and 8 passes defended combined the last two seasons as one of the leaders to the best defense in college football for the Buckeyes.
The 6-foot-5, 244-pound linebacker then had a historic testing performance at the NFL Scouting Combine, where he tied teammate Arvell Reese for the fastest 40-yard dash time among LBs at 4.46 seconds while becoming the only player to run a sub-4.5-second 40 with a vertical of 40+ inches (43.5 — tied for second among all combine participants this year) and a broad jump of 11+ feet (11’2”) at 230 or more pounds since 2003, per NFL Research.
In summation, we wouldn’t fault the Giants for taking Love, but Styles is the best choice if available.
If somehow Styles is off the board already, then it’s a decision between Love and Downs. In that case, we’d go Love but again couldn’t fault it either way.
