John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
What QB Tua Tagovailoa's Declaration for the 2020 NFL Draft Means for the Giants
Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa made it official, declaring for the 2020 NFL draft.
Although the Giants don’t need a top-prospect at quarterback, Tagovailoa’s decision probably couldn’t be more welcomed up in East Rutherford.
The Giants, who have the fourth overall pick in the draft, are in an ideal position to swap places with a quarterback-needy team looking to grab Tagovailoa. Such a move would not only give the Giants additional draft picks, but they would likely be premium picks as well.
Here is a look at how Round 1 of the 2020 draft order currently stands:
1. Cincinnati, 2-14
2. Washington, 3-13
3. Detroit, 3-12-1
4. Giants, 4-12
5. Miami, 5-11
6. Chargers 5-11
7. Carolina, 5-11
8. Arizona, 5-10-1
9. Jacksonville, 6-10
10. Cleveland, 6-10
The Bengals are believed to be favoring Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow with the no. 1 overall pick in the draft. Washington, who last year selected Dwayne Haskins as their franchise quarterback, is projected to be eyeing Ohio State pass rusher Chase Young.
An argument could be made for the Lions to take a quarterback at No. 3 overall if they want to move on from Matthew Stafford—an unlikely scenario given the 31-year-old Stafford is still sufficient enough to win games. (Not to mention the cap hit they’d take would be astronomical, since Stafford is due prorated amounts of $13 million in 2020 and 2021 and $3 million each in 2022 and 2023.)
Behind the Giants are two teams who have quarterback high on their list of needs: Miami at No. 5 and the Chargers at No. 6.
Miami spent most of last season building up their draft capital and have five picks in the first 56 spots in the draft, including three in the first round (No. 5, 18 via Pittsburgh) and 27 via Houston); and two in the second round (No. 38 and No. 56 via the Saints).
The Chargers, meanwhile, don’t have the extra capital to use as bargaining chips. Still, if a quarterback is high atop of their wish list, there’s no reason to think that they wouldn’t consider putting together a package that could also include future picks to move ahead of the Dolphins.
But let’s stick with the Dolphins and what moving up one spot might potentially cost them. They would have to swap places with the Giants at the top of the round, meaning the Giants would get the fifth overall pick in the draft in exchange for letting Miami move up one spot.
Then, according to the NFL Draft Trade value chart, there is a 100-point difference between the No. 4 and No. 5 overall pick.
If you’re the Giants, you probably try to pry loose one of Miami’s other first-round picks as part of the deal—it can’t hurt to aim high and hope for the best.
If not, the Dolphins’ third-round pick, No. 70 overall (which is two slots lower than where the Giants were scheduled to pick in the third round had they not shipped that pick to the Jets for Leonard Williams) make for a nice pairing with the third-round compensatory pick the Giants are projected to get for having lost Landon Collins?
That pick, No. 70 overall, is worth 240 points on the draft trade value chart. If the third-round pick were included, that would give the Giants the edge on the points total, but at the same time, it would put them right back at the top of the third round after giving up that pick Williams while also allowing Miami to get the quarterback they want.
A final advantage for the Giants would be they’d not only acquire extra assets, but they’d likely still be in position to get a premium player either at offensive tackle if the plan is to continue building up the offense around quarterback Daniel Jones, or on the edge to give the defense a little more firepower.
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