The New York Giants will enter the 2023 NFL draft with several significant and obvious needs: cornerback, wide receiver, and center.
How they weigh the need vs. value at each of those positions remains to be seen but NFL analyst Brian Baldinger believes they can’t go wrong with one in particular.
The prospect pool seems to be relatively deep at each but in the mind of Baldinger, the Giants should race up to the podium at No. 25 and call out the name of a cornerback — ideally, South Carolina’s Cam Smith.
“Look, the Giants addressed a lot in free agency, they really did,” Baldinger said, via Giants.com. “Darren Waller comes in, Parris Campbell, they re-signed a couple receivers. They added Nacho (Rakeem Nunez-Roches) and Bobby Okereke down the middle. I feel like corner is the position right now.
“You give Wink Martindale some top-level corners. Last year, they played with a lot of guys off the street. They were still pretty good. But I feel like a guy like Cam Smith right here, and this is a deep draft in corners. They’re talking about into the third round you can find guys that can start on Sundays. But I feel like the Giants can’t go wrong if they address that position early in this draft at No. 25.”
The Giants had previously attended the South Carolina pro day and met with Smith. They will also conduct a top-30 visit with the cornerback prospect.
Smith is a long outside cornerback who would pair well with Adoree’ Jackson and prevent the Giants from moving another player out of position. He would have to clean up his holding issues at the NFL level but that’s one of the very few knocks against him.
