NY Giants' 2025 Re-draft Scenario Goes in Completely Different Direction

There's no Jaxson Dart or Abdul Carter in this re-draft exercise, but the Giants do come out of it with a promising young player.

The 2025 NFL Draft Signage | Sarah Kloepping / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Now that the regular season is over, it's a perfect opportunity for people to second-guess everything about teams, especially those that didn't make the postseason. 

The New York Giants are definitely in that group of teams that will get a lot of second thoughts this offseason as they try to retool and get ready for a 2026 season that should be full of new hope under new head coach John Harbaugh. 

One interesting postseason exercise is a re-draft of the season's draft. Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report did just that, releasing a first-round 2025 re-draft based on what the players have done in their rookie season. 

While the “what if” game can feel useless at times, these exercises give you a good understanding of how the football world feels about the talent in your locker room. 

There are two ways to look at a re-draft: You can look at where your talent ends up and what new talent ends up on your team. 

Let's take a look at both. 

Where did the Giants go?

In an alternate universe, Jaxson Dart doesn't land with the New York Giants in the 2025 NFL draft. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The Giants ended up with two first-round draft picks in the 2025 draft thanks to a trade. They selected outside linebacker Abdul Carter third overall and quarterback Jaxson Dart with the 25th pick acquired via trade. 

In the re-draft, both players landed on different teams. One player shot up the draft board, and the other fell a few spots back. 

Dart surprised everyone with his play this season. Many knew that he had the raw arm talent, but many slept on his speed and agility. His ability to make defenders miss and run away from them in the open field. 

He also showed an excessive level of toughness, which forced him to take too many trips to the blue tent this season. As such, he was taken as the first overall pick by the Titans in the re-draft.  

“First, he's a natural playmaker as a passer and runner. Granted, the latter placed him in some difficult positions during his first season, but Dart should learn to protect himself as his career progresses,” Sobleski stated. 

“Second, he's a year younger than Ward and nearly four years younger than Tyler Shough, which gives him an edge to become the new No. 1 pick.”

Carter originally went to the Giants with the third pick, but at that spot, the Giants went in a completely different direction. 

New York Giants linebacker Abdul Carter dropped in the first-round draft order in a re-drafting of the 2025 selection process's first round. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

This meant that Carter fell in the draft past where “generational talents” were selected. He was still the first true defensive player taken (since Travis Hunter is an offensive/defensive hybrid), and he still went to New York, but this time he went across the street from the Giants with the Jets with the seventh pick. 

“Keep in mind, the Jets finished third overall in total defense a season earlier,” Sobleski said of Carter. 

“Now, New York invests in the class's top defensive prospect. Carter led all rookies in pressures by a significant margin. While his consistent pressure didn't result in as many sacks as expected (only four), his explosiveness and presence were obvious.”

With the third pick in the draft, the Giants select…

Quarterback Tyler Shough of the Saints went to the Giants at No. 3 overall in the re-draft exercise. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Giants really wanted to get their quarterback of the future in this re-draft, and since Dart was no longer available, they looked elsewhere. Cam Ward went second, leaving the Giants with the third pick and a decision to make. 

With no Dart to pursue, in this re-draft, the Giants selected the 26-year-old college journeyman Tyler Shough, who had a great rookie campaign for the New Orleans Saints. 

Shough, who was originally a second-round selection, becomes a top-three pick, and Sobleski argues he could have gone even higher.

“A person can even argue he should have been the No. 1 overall pick when compared to his classmates,” Sobleski said. “He slides to No. 3 based on one factor: upside.”

Sobleski added that Shough fell to third only because of the multiple-year difference between himself and the other two top quarterbacks in this exercise. 

While this feels like a reach, if the Giants wanted someone who could be their franchise guy for the next decade-plus, it would be hard to argue against picking their guy now.

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