Giants Draft Trends: How New York Has Attacked the NFL Combine

The brief NFL downtime following the Super Bowl is over as the New York Giants and the rest of the NFL head to Indianapolis for the annual scouting combine.

The focus, of course, will be on the 319 college prospects who were invited to attend the annual week-long “job fair” with the teams, but there will, of course, be other storylines to follow that will vary from years past under general manager Joe Schoen.

This will be the first large-scale NFL event attended by head coach John Harbaugh since he was hired to save the franchise from its ongoing ineptness.

Unlike in past years, Harbaugh appears to be running the show on roster building, and it is expected that he will have a very loud and prominent voice when it comes to the Giants’ selection of its, as of now, seven draft picks.

Harbaugh has already offered a glimpse of insight into some prospects that have caught his eye, the most notable of which is Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, of whom Harbaugh said he was a “big fan.”

But that doesn’t mean Harbaugh has tipped his hand on the direction the team will take in the draft, as there are other needs to address, some of which we can try to discern based on past team trends.

Giants Will Be in Nonstop Meetings

The Giants take full advantage of their allotted formal meetings with draft prospects at the combine, so trying to draw early conclusions about which prospects have more interest than others is likely an exercise in futility.

But what is worth watching happens beyond the combine, when the Giants host their top 30 visits. Under Schoen, the majority of the Giants’ premium draft picks that landed within the top 100-150 players were all players brought into East Rutherford for visits.

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The Giants have a solid young core of players on both sides of the ball, but there are glaring needs to be filled, more so on the defensive side of things, where there are needs at all three levels.

Harbaugh’s admiration of Downs, whose father Gary once played for the Giants, is not a surprise, given how the Ravens, under Harbaugh, have had Ed Reed and Kyle Hamilton on past defenses.

A position to also watch for the Giants is at inside linebacker, which boasts a very deep draft class.

Harbaugh, in addition to having a solid play-making safety on his teams’ past defenses, has also had a man in the middle locking things down such as Ray Lewis and Patrick McQueen. Thus, a prospect like Sonny Styles of Ohio State could be a name to watch for the Giants.

Veteran Buzz

New York Giants wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson headlines the Giants' 2026 UFA class. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

While the primary focus is on the draft prospects, the Giants have been known to lay the groundwork for transactions involving veteran free agents at the combine thanks to the attendance of the agents, who come to town for their annual meeting.

Harbaugh, Schoen, and new salary capologist Dawn Aponte could use the opportunity to meet with the agents of those pending Giants free agents with whom the team has an interest in retaining, just to gain a sense of what those players are thinking in terms of what they’re willing to accept.

Very seldom, though, do contracts get done at the combine, as the players obviously want to see what the market has to offer. But at the very least, a dialogue will open up, an important step given that Harbaugh came on board just a few weeks ago and Aponte not long after.

Wheeling and Dealing

New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence was acquired with the first-round pick the Giants received from Cleveland. — New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence was acquired with the first-round pick the Giants received from Cleveland for receiver Odell Beckham Jr. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

In addition to opening dialogues with their own pending free agents, the Giants have used the combine to explore trades with other general managers.

New York famously engineered the Odell Beckham Jr trade after the 2018 season, a deal that first began to take shape during the combine.

That year, the Giants ended up with two extra draft picks they used in the 2019 draft, one of whom, defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, has turned out to be a rather good player for the Giants.

The Giants, who in 2026 have seven picks of which only two are in the top 100 (no third round pick and no projected comp picks), could explore a trade that nets them a third round pick if not more.

The one player who could potentially bring that kind of return is outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, who is set to enter the option year of his rookie contract at a cost of $14.751 million.

The Giants have historically held onto draft picks with expiring contracts, holding out for the optimal return from any teams interested in acquiring the talent. That philosophy has to change moving forward, as the Giants cannot expect to get near the value they originally invested in the player.

Normally, it would not be recommended to create a hole at a given position, especially at pass rusher.

But with Abdul Carter having made strides and likely to pair more with Brian Burns in 2026 and beyond, and the draft class offering up some intriguing Day 2, early Day 3 options at edge rusher, perhaps there will be more inclination to make the move for more draft picks while instantly opening up nearly $15 million to the team’s currently projected $5.147 million in total cap space.