This Giants offseason has received extensive attention due to HBO’s Hard Knocks effort, and parts of other teams’ processes have come into focus as well. Components of two other teams’ draft chapters emerged, with the Giants receiving what turned out to be significant interest in their No. 6 overall pick.
Going into the draft, Joe Schoen said he would be comfortable with Marvin Harrison Jr. or Malik Nabers at No. 6 — after efforts to trade up with the Patriots (at No. 3) failed. But the Colts and Jets gauged Schoen’s interest in adding draft capital to slide down the board. Both teams made offers for No. 6.
Chris Ballard said he made big offers to move up, with a skill-position player rumored to be the target. As it turns out, the Colts offered the Giants their second-round pick (No. 46) and their 2025 second-rounder to climb from No. 15 to No. 6. Schoen deemed dropping from 6 to 15 as too far, leading Indianapolis to make other attempts. The Colts ultimately failed and chose Laiatu Latu at 15. With Samson Ebukam sustaining a torn Achilles early in training camp, Latu is poised to play a bigger role as a rookie.
The Colts circled back to their skill spots in Round 2, trading down and drafting Texas’ Adonai Mitchell, but pre-draft reports had them linked to Brock Bowers and this draft’s high-end wide receiver prospects. Harrison was off the board by this point, but Nabers and Rome Odunze were available. Chosen 45 spots before Mitchell, Nabers carried significant appeal after a dominant LSU junior season. The Colts have not used a first-round pick on a skill player since then-GM Ryan Grigson chose Phillip Dorsett in 2015.
The Jets have been connected to Odunze for months, and ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini speculates the team targeted the Washington wideout with its trade-up attempt. After Odunze went off the board at No. 9, the Jets traded down (via the Vikings) to 11 and drafted Olu Fashanu. Gang Green addressed the receiver position atop Round 3, selecting Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley. Odunze, however, would have represented a big-ticket addition alongside Garrett Wilson and Mike Williams. He instead joined a similarly structured Bears offense, which houses D.J. Moore and ex-Williams teammate Keenan Allen.
Additionally, the Giants saw their Brian Burns trade wound their ability to land one of their preferred cornerbacks. The team targeted Kool-Aid McKinstry and Kamari Lassiter in Round 2. The Giants traded No. 39 to the Panthers in the Burns deal but still held No. 47. Schoen, however, did not want to include a fourth-round selection to move up due to the team having just six picks in the draft. The Hard Knocks: Offseason finale corroborates a report from the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy, who recently indicated the Giants sought McKinstry or Lassiter. The Alabama and Georgia prospects ended up going to the Saints and Texans at Nos. 41 and 42.
The Giants had identified corner as a key need, and while the team did draft Kentucky’s Andru Phillips in Round 3, it is counting on 2022 third-round pick Cor’Dale Flott to make a successful transition from slot defender to outside corner post-Adoree’ Jackson. Flott joins Deonte Banks as the team’s expected outside CB starters. Had McKinstry or Lassiter been on the board at No. 47, it is worth wondering if Flott would remain Big Blue’s preferred slot defender. Eventual Giants second-round safety Tyler Nubin was identified as the team’s backup plan if Lassiter and McKinstry were gone.
Two mid-second round picks to slide down nine slots sounds tempting to me, if I’m the Giants rebuilding.
It’s a pretty bad offer and the Giants were right to reject it. Not even tempting. Historically, moving up that much costs more than a mid-1st, a mid-2nd, and another 2nd.
It’s not like moving up into first three. There’s a lot of value in early/mid second round picks. What would you expect to be the compensation?
Just three years ago, the Giants traded the 11th pick to the Bears. They received the 20th pick, a 5th (number 164), and the following year’s 1st and 4th. So two 1sts, a 4th, and a 5th for #11.
If you’re trying to move up to the 6th pick from 15, you’d better be including two 1sts. One 1st (#15), a mid-2nd, and another 2nd is borderline insulting. Like I said, not even tempting.
In this scenario the firsts are not equal. The first was projected as a late round pick, which doesn’t have a huge difference in value from a second rounder. #15 and 2 early seconds isn’t a worse offer than #20, a late future first, a fourth and a fifth. All you have to do is plug these into any of the trade value generators that NFL front offices use and see they are nearly identical offers.
RCT = Real Crappy Takes.
@Highwaymenace: you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. The “first was projected as a late round pick”? No, it absolutely was not. It was a CHICAGO BEARS first. They’ve had ONE late round first in the last 12 years and it was in 2019. They finished 8-8 the previous season and were starting all over again by drafting Fields. Everyone on earth knew it would be a high 1st. Giants fans were jumping for joy when Gettleman made that trade.
Also, they’re not “two early seconds”. It was the 46th pick, aka a mid-round selection. On no planet are the values equal.
-Pick 20, a 4th, a 5th, and a future BEARS first (which ended up being the 7th overall pick; so much for your non-existent ‘projections’)
-Pick 15, pick 46, and a Colts 2nd
The first offer is already a better one even though it was only for the 11th pick as opposed to the 6th pick. Get a clue and stop making things up.