D
New York Giants
The Giants let Rutledge fall and pounced. Final grade: D.
by Jdrinkho ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 4 steals
· 1 reaches
Every swap seemed to tilt away from the Giants, and the value they bled adds up to real damage. It grades a D, and the process earned it.
Leaving edge rusher unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall. Every board in the league had Stroman lower, and that gap is the story. Rutledge falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch.
Bottom line, they will be counting on several picks to beat their grades.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 5 they get a two-high chess piece. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Chris Brazzell II at the 37th pick is the proof. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
No edge and no loss on Lee Hunter in Round 2, Pick 15; it is a wash and a sensible one. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
You do not let an offensive lineman like Keylan Rutledge reach the 105th overall pick and blink. They did not. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A quiet steal in No. 140: Will Lee III for less than the market said. A need, and now a little less of one.
Skyler Gill-Howard in slot 145 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They paid sticker price for Kaleb Elarms-Orr in pick 179, and that is fine. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Fair-plus on Keagen Trost, a quiet win that adds up over a draft. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A wild overpay on Jalen Stroman in pick No. 192, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Matt Gulbin at the 193rd overall pick is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.