D
New York Giants
The Giants bet the future on Daniels. The board says D.
by jkase ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 27 picks
· 20 steals
· 2 reaches
The Giants clearly saw something nobody else did in Trente Jones, taking him 38 picks ahead of his grade. The board is not convinced.
On value alone, Fashanu makes the weekend a net positive. They handed away value on the phones that the picks cannot earn back. Jayden Daniels gives the offense a face and a plan, and the grade leans heavily on whether he hits.
If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through interior defensive lineman. It is not that Trotter Jr. is a bad player; it is that the Giants had louder needs to answer first.
Bottom line, they will need several of these picks to beat their grades just to break even, and interior defensive lineman is still a hole.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 6 they get their quarterback of the future at fair value. A clean fit for the roster.
No drama and no debate, Rome Odunze went about where he belonged in No. 8. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They robbed the room for Drake Maye here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It fills a real need, too.
Olumuyiwa Fashanu at the Round 3 slot is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Edgerrin Cooper in slot 74, plain and simple. A minor need, but a need all the same.
They bypassed pressing needs at interior defensive lineman to take Jeremiah Trotter Jr., a linebacker that was not the priority.
The board fumbled Marshawn Kneeland all the way to pick 107, and they scooped it up. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Steal is underselling it; Andru Phillips at the 108th overall pick is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A need, and now a little less of one.
Somehow Jermaine Burton was still sitting there in slot 109, and they pounced on premier wide receiver value. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Dadrion Taylor-Demerson at Round 4, Pick 10 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They will replay Brandon Dorlus at No. 111 for years; that is how good the value is. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Taking Cade Stover in pick No. 112 is close to grand larceny; a tight end that good had no business lasting this long. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They barely believed it either: Cole Bishop still on the board at the 113th pick. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Circle this one: DJ James at the Round 4 slot is a fall that decides a draft. The roster fit checks out.
They went early on Isaac Guerendo in Round 4, Pick 30, and the value did not follow. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They paid sticker price for Caedan Wallace in pick No. 135, and that is fine. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
No edge and no loss on Anthony Gould in pick 141; it is a wash and a sensible one. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They let Javon Foster come to them and pounced at the 143rd pick. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Bralen Trice at slot 146 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
You do not let a linebacker like Cedric Gray reach the Round 5 slot and blink. They did not. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.
A wide receiver of that caliber at the 165th overall pick is the definition of value, full stop. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Sataoa Laumea in No. 167 lands just on the right side of the ledger. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Michael Pratt in the Round 6 slot is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Jordan Magee in No. 183 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
Jamari Thrash in pick 185 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Trente Jones in the 212th overall pick, miles early. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Taking Joe Milton III in pick No. 236 is close to grand larceny; a quarterback that good had no business lasting this long. It patches a soft spot without any drama.