New Mock Draft Leans Toward Critical Reinforcement for Giants Offense

While the New York Giants currently hold the most coveted pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the regular season still has four weekends left for all the below .500 franchises on the outside of the postseason picture, and that means a lot can still happen to alter the order and their strategy.

To some football minds, the most desirable scenario would be for the Giants to lose out on their remaining games to virtually lock themselves into the No. 1 pick, where they could either have their choice from the crop of elite prospects or trade the pick to a desperate team to acquire additional draft capital to fill their needs.

In the spirit of bursting those people's bubbles, that is more likely than not a fever dream for a Giants organization that hasn't owned the first selection since 1965, when they drafted running back Tucker Frederickson out of Auburn.

First, they still have a locker room full of professionals who take pride in and desire to finish the season as strongly as possible, especially when certain players' futures will hinge on their performances in the final stretch.

The Giants' remaining slate also isn't the most difficult among the several teams looming in the top 10 slots of the draft board, as they have upcoming matchups with three teams that hold fewer than five wins and could go in New York's direction, whose roster arguably has better talent.

If the Giants do manage to drop a few spots in the first round before all the current jockeying is finalized, the question becomes which position group on the roster they should prioritize based on the talent still available when they go on the clock in April.

A new mock draft of just the first 10 selections by The Athletic takes quite an interesting approach based on their projections of where the Giants might fall when Week 18 is in the books.

They go on the offensive as some other mock exercises have gone, but lean towards a position that we believe might be a little premature for a premier pick.

Utah offensive tackle Spencer Fano — Oct 11, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes offensive lineman Spencer Fano. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Assuming the Giants will steal a couple of their final four games down the stretch, the outlet's mock has the Giants slated to pick at No. 5, where they elect to poach an offensive tackle in the University of Utah product Spencer Fano as the first offensive lineman to go off the board.

Per analyst Nick Baumgardner, Fano is an attractive prospect whose "movement skills as a puller, climber and screener remind me a bit of Detroit Lions star offensive tackle Penei Sewell, albeit in a lighter package."

In addition to his valuable size at 6-foot-6 and 302 pounds, Fano would also offer the Giants' offensive line room, another extremely versatile asset who can play both tackle and guard in a pinch.

Those two positions could bode some uncertainty in the future, and having an extra depth piece hardly serves as a negative in the trenches.

Still, the idea of spending their first pick on an offensive line reinforcement feels a bit ill-advised.

At the time they picked Fano in this mock, there was only one skilled player and one defensive prospect taken by the other teams with earlier turns, the Raiders and Browns, who had their sights set on bringing in a potential franchise quarterback.

That means the Giants could have their spread of the best wide receiver or secondary prospects in this year's class, one of them being Ohio State pass catcher Carnell Tate, who was taken No. 6 in this mock but has been mocked to New York in other renditions by other outlets.

Looking ahead to the 2026 season, where the Giants offense figures to be fully healthy again and in year two with quarterback Jaxson Dart under center, it would make greater sense to snag a young player who has the hands and route-running prowess to be a dangerous No. 2 threat in the aerial attack.

The Giants' state of the tackle position will hinge largely on the impending decision to re-sign veteran Jermaine Eluemunor, who is becoming an unrestricted free agent in March. Eluemunor has been pretty stout on the right side this season, allowing just 17 pressures in 12 starts and only three games with more than one pressure.

With those numbers on track for his best stat line since the 2022 season with the Las Vegas Raiders, it's hard to imagine the Giants not making an effort to retain his services.

If they can't, rookie linemen Marcus Mbow has been waiting in the wings and working on his craft, which can also cover multiple spots on the front lines a la Fano.

So, while the saying goes that an NFL team can never have too many offensive linemen, the Giants should focus their attention on filling one of the more dire needs on their roster that have been their biggest weaknesses.

For once in a blue moon, the offensive front hasn't been an issue for the franchise, which can fall back on its current depth and maybe pursue adding a new member in the later rounds when the stakes aren't as high.

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