The 2020 NFL Draft is officially upon us and as of now, no one has the slightest clue what the New York Giants are going to do. Some may think they have an idea, but the reality is that general manager Dave Gettleman is completely unpredictable.
With that in mind, here’s a look at five potential surprises the Giants could pull out of a hat in Round 1 of the three-day draft.
Derrick Brown at No. 4
The Giants already have Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, B.J. Hill, Dalvin Tomlinson and Austin Johnson under contract, so adding Brown makes no sense. Right?
Don’t tell that to general manager Dave Gettleman, who is not at all fearful of stocking up on defensive lineman and gives no additional thought to overloading a single position.
“You can never have too many great players at one position,” Gettleman said last week. “That doesn’t scare me, it doesn’t bother me. What you’re trying to do is build the best roster you can. So, when you’re talking a 96 to a 98, that to me is not a big deal. It’s when you start dropping, when you have precipitous drops in your evaluation, that’s when you get into trouble.”
Brown is widely considered one of the top prospects in the draft and rumors suggest most teams have a high grade on him. If he’s sitting there at No. 4 and the Giants haven’t managed to trade down, there is probably a higher percentage chance they snag him than some are willing to believe.
Andrew Thomas over other OTs
For some, this wouldn’t come as a surprise. Thomas has a tremendous amount of support — especially among fans — and was considered the top offensive tackle prospect at the end of the 2019-2020 college season.
Since then however, Jedrick Wills Jr., Tristan Wirfs and Mekhi Becton have seemed to surpass Thomas in the mind and eyes of many experts, with Wills and Wirfs most frequently being connected to the Giants. In fact, Wirfs has become the consensus pick for the Giants at No. 4 overall, assuming they do not trade back.
However, more so than in recent years, the Giants, with head coach Joe Judge influencing some decisions, have been sending out smokescreens and seemingly leaking misinformation. Could the fascination with Wirfs be a product of that?
David Diehl and Shaun O’Hara both seem to believe Thomas is the best offensive tackle prospect coming out of the draft and could be a plug-and-play starter for the Giants. They are also more likely keyed in on the team’s thinking.
Would Thomas be the right call? That’s up for debate, but based solely off the speculation in recent months, Thomas getting the call at No. 4 would be a surprise.
Justin Herbert… Really?!
The Giants met with and scouted Herbert extensively since the conclusion of the 2019 season, but he’s not a new name to them.
The Giants have been high on Herbert for several years now and may have selected him in Round 1 a year ago had he come out. Instead, he returned to Oregon and no longer appears to be a fit in East Rutherford.
Of course, Kyler Murray didn’t appear to be a fit in Arizona with Josh Rosen under center, but we all know how that panned out.
All the talk surrounding the Giants and Herbert is likely a smokescreen designed to drive up trade interest for the No. 4 overall spot and/or put pressure on QB-needy teams further down in the draft order, but what if it’s not?
The Giants do have a new coaching staff and perhaps Judge, who has yet to utter Daniel Jones’ name, simply isn’t on board with the former Duke star. Or maybe the Giants are willing to gamble on Herbert in hopes of swinging a quick trade on Thursday night.
The addition of Herbert seems unlikely, but not impossible.
Trade down, snag a WR
The Giants trading down — which would represent a first in the career of Dave Gettleman — would be a surprise in and of itself. Even with rumors swirling that that’s their ultimate goal, it will still come as a somewhat unexpected development.
But what if that surprise is compounded by an unexpected pick? What if the Giants trade down and instead of selecting an offensive tackle or edge rusher, they go with a wide receiver?
The wide receiver pool is exceptionally deep in this year’s draft and there will be plenty of options no matter where they land. And in various analytics mock drafts throughout the year, the Giants have been projected to add a big-time playmaker for Daniel Jones.
This scenario is likely on the outskirts of probable, but as former Giants general manager Jerry Reese used to say, “never say never.”
They go quiet
With all the hubbub about the Giants making a big move, a big trade or something along those lines, it’s possible they do nothing and go vanilla.
Imagine that… The Giants just quietly stay put, select the top offensive tackle on their board and watch as the remainder of Round 1 fades out.
Why would that be a surprise outside of the speculation, you ask? Because although Gettleman has never traded down before, he has traded up quite a bit throughout his career, including last year when he leaped back into Round 1 to select cornerback DeAndre Baker.
