Who Should the Giants Pick? New York Giants On SI Reveals Top 40 Big Board

The NFL Draft is less than a month away, and teams are building draft boards to make their decisions. We’ve taken the same approach by ranking prospects.

Keep in mind that big boards, like ours, don’t take positional value into account and are strictly about ranking who we feel the best players are.

Because we don't have all the medical information teams have, we tried to use the available information without making any assumptions based on prior injuries.

Teams will take positional value into account when picking and when judging picks, so will we.

At the end of the list, I’ll explain some rankings that may be notable for being different from the consensus.

There are players on this list that the New York Giants will probably not draft because they are not in the proper range or do not value that position highly enough. That said, here is the New York Giants On SI Top 40 Big Board with positional rank in parentheses:

Top 40

Ohio State S Caleb Downs (S1)
Ohio State LB Sonny Styles (LB1)
Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love (RB1)
Ohio State LB Arvell Reese (LB2)
Miami EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. (EDGE1)
LSU CB Mansoor Delane (CB1)
Ohio State WR Carnell Tate (WR1)
Miami OT Francis Mauigoa (OT1)
Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq (TE1)
Texas Tech EDGE David Bailey (EDGE2)
Oregon S Dillon Thieneman (S2)
Arizona State WR Jordyn Tyson (WR2)
Penn State IOL Olaivavega Ioane (G1)
USC WR Makai Lemon (WR3)
Utah OT Spencer Fano (OT2)
Georgia OT Monroe Freeling (OT3)
Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza (QB1)
Auburn EDGE Keldric Faulk (EDGE3)
Toledo S Emmanuel McNeil-Warren (S3)
Clemson CB Avieon Terrell (CB2)
Georgia LB CJ Allen (LB3)
Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr. (WR4)
Texas A&M EDGE Cashius Howell (EDGE4)
Ohio State IDL Kayden McDonald (IDL1)
Tennessee CB Jermod McCoy (CB3)
Arizona State OT Max Iheanachor (OT4)
Florida IDL Caleb Banks (IDL2)
Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor (OT5)
Miami EDGE Akheem Mesidor (EDGE5)
Clemson OT Blake Miller (OT6)
Texas Tech IDL Lee Hunter (IDL3)
Oregon IOL Emmanuel Pregnon (G2)
Washington WR Denzel Boston (WR5)
Clemson IDL Peter Woods (IDL4)
Texas A&M WR KC Concepcion (WR6)
Georgia IDL Christen Miller (IDL5)
Indiana CB D’Angelo Ponds (CB4)
Missouri EDGE Zion Young (EDGE6)
Clemson EDGE TJ Parker (EDGE7)
Miami SLOT Keionte Scott (SLOT1)

Big Board Notes

Our top overall player is Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, who is the best safety prospect I’ve seen since Eric Berry, drafted fifth overall in 2010.

Downs even being in the conversation for a top pick as he has been should be all the justification needed, as safeties rarely get drafted in the top 10, let alone top 5.

Quarterback Fernando Mendoza comes in 17th on our board because, while he is the best quarterback in the draft and the only quarterback on our list, he lacks elite traits.

He should still be the top pick because he’s a quarterback with a fairly high floor, but the other players in this class have traits to be great.

Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy and Florida interior defensive lineman Caleb Banks are two players who were impacted by injuries, but in different ways.

McCoy tore his ACL in January 2025 and missed the entire season, including the NFL Combine. If McCoy works out at his Pro Day, then he could help himself here, but he was also expected to return to the season and didn’t.

Banks has dealt with a foot injury on and off since camp last year, which is more concerning to me. Injuries that just don’t seem to go away are more alarming than a one-off major injury.

Miami cornerback Keionte Scott is higher on our board than most, but he’s a great athlete who stylistically fits what teams are looking for. It helps that he played his best ball in the most meaningful games of the year.

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