The New York Giants landed safety Xavier McKinney with their second-round pick (No. 36 overall) in the 2020 NFL Draft, and they couldn’t be happier about that.
While addressing the media during a post-pick conference call, general manager Dave Gettleman revealed the Giants had a first-round grade on McKinney and were selling out for him with their pick.
Had McKinney come off the board, the Giants had a trade down in place.
“We had made up our mind that if Xavier fell to us, we were taking him,” Gettleman said. “If Xavier had been gone, we did have a team willing to move up and we would’ve moved back. But the value of taking Xavier there was too good to pass up.”
Gettleman did not reveal which team they had hammered out a deal with, but in the end, it didn’t matter as they got their guy.
“He certainly is versatile. One of the important things for us was getting a safety that could play the deep part of the field. Xavier certainly played back there enough. We feel very comfortable with that part of his game,” Gettleman added.
