The 2019 NFL Draft is just nine days away and the suspense that has been building the past few months is about to hit its crescendo. The New York Giants and New England Patriots both have 12 selections in this draft which by virtue makes them the biggest possible players.
The Patriots usually move up and back to get the best use of their picks, while the Giants rarely move off their spots. With Dave Gettleman calling the shots now, he has shown that anything and everything are on the table, so here’s a few moves the Giants could make before — or during — next week’s draft.
Trade for Josh Rosen
A more likely scenario now that the Russell Wilson situation has settled, but still a bit of a long shot. Rosen is no Wilson and may not fit the Giants’ offense. Sure, he’s talented but may not be what the Giants are looking for in Eli Manning’s successor.
The cost for Rosen would naturally be a lot less than Wilson and he’s basically making peanuts the next few seasons. The current offer to the Arizona Cardinals is believed to be a second round pick and the Giants have the highest second rounder of all the teams said to be in the mix for Rosen (No. 37 overall).
The Giants could certainly sweeten the pot by adding one (or more) of the picks they have in this draft to put them over the top. If push comes to shove, the Giants can offer their second first rounder (No. 17 overall) in this draft to get the deal done. That is, if they want to.
Trade for Kyler Murray/No. 1 overall pick
If the Giants are willing to trade for Wilson or Rosen, they might as well just go for the gold and trade up to the top of the draft to get Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray, the Heisman Trophy winner.
Again, Arizona is sitting pretty here. They would ask for both of the Giants’ two first rounders and several other picks on top of that. The Giants would have to weigh this against their other options which all appear to be better at this point.
Murray is an exciting player, but he comes with many questions/issues. His size could be a liability as well as his personality. The Giants have shown interest, meeting with Murray and attending his pro day, but that was them just doing their due diligence. They would take him if he fell to them at No. 6, which is very unlikely to happen.
Package some Day 3 selections to move up
This is not a very deep draft. There are a few very good players at the top and things level off quickly after the first 45-50 players. The Giants have eight picks on Day 3 of the draft, which means they have a load of picks and a shallow pool of players to choose from.
Gettleman did well to get the Giants two more early round picks in the Odell Beckham Jr. trade, but it still might not be enough. After they select twice in 17 picks in the first round, they only have one selection between Nos. 17 and 95. A lot of talent is going to flow past them. Gettleman may not want wait on the shoreline that long.
With two picks in Rounds 4 and 7, and three picks in Round 5, he can approach a team looking to move back to collect more picks. Which team would be willing to make such move is still unknown, but you never know until you ask.
Build draft capital for 2020
Eli Manning is basically chiseled in stone as the Giants’ quarterback for this season, and the team might have no choice but to wait until next year’s draft to find his successor. There are five quarterbacks that could be selected in the first round next year: Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, Jake Fromm of Georgia, Oregon’s Justin Herbert, Jacob Eason of Washington and Stanford’s K.J. Costello.
That means Gettleman might start building his draft war chest now. If the Giants stink again, he’ll have less work to do, naturally, but if they go on to have a winning season in 2019, he’ll want to be ready.
It’s unlikely he’ll use all 12 of his 2019 picks, and he can’t package them for more/better picks this year, he might shop them for some 2020 pick(s). Also in play are two more of Jerry Reese’s high draft picks that he may not be very high on: tight end Evan Engram and defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson.
Tomlinson is probably going nowhere, but if we’ve learned anything the past year, Engram can be dealt and they might get decent return for him.
There are some tight end replacement options in the middle rounds in this draft that fit Pat Shurmur’s offense: Josh Oliver (San Jose State), Foster Moreau (LSU), Kaden Smith (Stanford), Kahale Warring (San Diego State) and Dawson Knox (Ole Miss). That is, if they don’t fall into one of the top three: Iowa’s Noah Fant and T.J. Hockenson and Irv Smith, Jr. of Alabama.
