A-
New York Giants
The Giants won the night they stopped Foster from sliding. Grade: A-.
by jkase ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 23 picks
· 19 steals
· 3 reaches
When a board-topper like Javon Foster slides to the 186th pick, you do not overthink it, and the Giants did not. It holds up to a second look, which is why it earns the A-.
The Booker pick is the one the value grade keeps tripping over. They won the margins on every swap, and it adds up fast.
The Liufau pick reads as want over need, and the roster will feel it at interior defensive lineman. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped interior defensive lineman, which is a strange place to end up.
Add it up and few war rooms did better this weekend, Bo Nix and all.
Pick-by-Pick
Bo Nix is a better player than slot 38 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Keon Coleman at the Round 2 slot is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They robbed the room for Jordan Morgan here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Circle this one: Troy Franklin at pick 59 is a fall that decides a draft. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
T.J. Tampa in the 70th pick is a gift, value that borders on unfair. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
The board fumbled Graham Barton all the way to No. 83, and they scooped it up. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Value with a capital V on Brenden Rice in pick No. 88, a genuine coup. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Payton Wilson in the 92nd overall pick, plain and simple. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Johnny Wilson at the 96th overall pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Marist Liufau adds a linebacker and leaves interior defensive lineman untouched.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Austin Booker in pick 114, miles early. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Ray Davis in No. 120. The roster fit checks out.
They will replay Jaden Hicks at Round 4, Pick 25 for years; that is how good the value is. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A real head-scratcher, Grayson Murphy in slot 133 is miles ahead of his ranking. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Brennan Jackson at pick No. 138 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. A need, and now a little less of one.
DJ James in the Round 5 slot should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It fills a real need, too.
McCallan Castles in the 185th overall pick is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Javon Foster at the Round 6 slot is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
By-the-book stuff, Jared Wiley at pick No. 204 squarely in line with his ranking. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Steal is underselling it; Isaiah Davis at the 207th pick is a heist with the alarm still ringing. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Somehow Roger Rosengarten was still sitting there in Round 6, Pick 36, and they pounced on premier offensive lineman value. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A linebacker of that caliber at pick 225 is the definition of value, full stop. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Phil Jurkovec at slot 247 is the proof. It patches a soft spot without any drama.