Which Potential Day 3 Draft Gems Make Sense for Giants?

The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft is typically where all the glitz and glamour will happen when the top overall prospects find their new homes with one of the league’s 32 distinguished franchises.

But what about those players who may have to wait until the second or third day of the festivities to hear their names called by the commissioner’s office? As the past few seasons have shown us, it isn’t impossible to find elite talent that can change the course of an organization in the later rounds of the draft.

That is a question that the Giants and their team of talent evaluators will have to ponder this offseason as they brace to select the next group of rookies to fill several holes on their roster.

After the obvious need for a quarterback is fulfilled in round one, the job only gets tougher to find those rough diamonds that can improve the position area they represent and potentially outshine the competition that went before them.

General manager Joe Schoen proved he was able to secure some of those late-round gems in last offseason's fairly positive draft class, tagging immediate contributors such as slot corner Dru Phillips and running back Tyrone Tracy Jr.

Now, he has another opportunity to prove he can do it again, and there are a handful of names in the 2025 pool recently highlighted by Pro Football Focus as late-round pieces that could make sense for New York and what they lack from a humiliating season.

Let’s look at a few prospects from both sides of the ball who might make a difference if their card gets pulled by the Giants in April.

Guard

Sacramento State offensive lineman Jackson Slater — Jan 28, 2025; Mobile, AL, USA; American team offensive lineman Jackson Slater of Sacramento State (67) battles with American team defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott of Tennessee (55) during Senior Bowl practice for the American team at Hancock Whitney Stadium. | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

Jackson Slater, Sacramento State

While you could say that every position on the Giants’ offensive line needs a boost for next season, the guard spot will likely get the most attention when the team attacks their front in the upcoming festivities.

The two guard roles were some of the biggest culprits to pressure on the Giants' offensive line in 2024. The Giants spent a good chunk of their cap money last offseason to bring in two experienced veterans, Jon Runyan from Green Bay and Greg Van Roten from Las Vegas, but the duo didn't finish with the prettiest numbers in the trenches.

Among the top five protectors who played at least 261 pass-blocking snaps for the Giants this past season, Runyan and Van Roten finished with sub-65.0 pass-blocking grades.

The latter was a bit better at opening up gaps in zone rushing schemes, but together, they weren’t as sharp as their prior resumes showed, with nine combined sacks, 47 hurries, and 64 total pressures.

While Runyan expects to be back in 2025, Van Roten isn’t guaranteed. He will test the free agent market next month, and his growing age is starting to test his durability. Adding a prospect like Jackson Slater, one of the most underrated pass protectors at the FCS level, could give the Giants that boost of efficiency that would benefit whoever is under center at quarterback.

Slater, who ranked fourth among FCS guards with a 99.6 pass-blocking efficiency mark in 2024, has played over 1,700 pass-blocking snaps in four seasons with the Hornets. He hasn’t graded lower than 77.4 in pass blocking alone and allowed more than two sacks and 16 total pressures in any of those campaigns.

Slater is a tough, lengthy, and highly mobile guard with experience on the left side and some reps as a left tackle at Sac State. He could provide the Giants with a versatile and aggressive option to spar with some of the best pass rushers in the league and help New York’s front become less of a turnstile than it was late in the 2024 season.

Wide Receiver

Efton Chism, Eastern Washington

As diversely talented as the Giants’ receiving corps was on paper, they certainly had some issues that another sneaky offensive weapon from the FCS level could help fix.

The Giants worked over the 2024 offseason to surround then-starter Daniel Jones with a good arsenal of receiving threats to throw the football to and elevate the offense's success.

However, the attempt didn’t entirely meet expectations, and despite Jones’ responsibility for that failure, the players he was darting the pigskin to weren’t free of the blame either.

The obvious bright spot was the eclectic rookie pass catcher Malik Nabers, who the Giants took with last April's draft's No. 6 overall pick. Nabers, who finished among the top five rookie receivers in the league, astounded the competition with a massive 109 catches for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns that set franchise and NFL rookie records.

Beyond him, the efforts of the Giants receiver position weren’t as admirable. The Giants only earned another five touchdowns off 1,346 yards of production from the other four players.

Of those players, slot receiver Wandale Robinson was the only one to finish with more than 600 receiving yards and two scores to his name.

Darius Slayton, who is set to test the open waters in search of a more lucrative deal than the one he agreed to this season, had his first season in a while where he wasn’t the Giants' first or second-best guy and Jaylin Hyatt was almost out of the picture completely as he couldn’t work in an impactful niche in the Giants’ system.

The entire group was also one of the league’s worst units when holding onto the football. New York ranked among the top 10 teams in total dropped passes, and two of the aforementioned names finished the year with a drop rate above 11.1%, which is not akin to successful passing games.

Eastern Washington product Efton Chism could be available in the later rounds of the NFL Draft and would be a quality solution to some of the Giants’ receiving woes.

Like Nabers, he proved he could produce this season with 120 catches for 1,306 yards (789 after the catch) and 13 touchdowns for the Eagles.

He only dropped three of his 146 targets in that span and holds no more than that in any of his five collegiate seasons. He also carries a nice deep field element to his route tree and possesses good ball-hawking skills in tracking down and winning contested catches, particularly those in the end zone, where he had three scores of 20+ air yards.

The Giants need to get a handle on the drops and find an extra receiving talent to potentially replace Slayton or beef up the numbers in that department next season. It doesn’t matter who was throwing him the football; Chism was an under-the-radar producer who could just fit the bill.

Edge

UCLA linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo — Aug 31, 2024; Honolulu, Hawaii, USA; UCLA Bruins linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo (2) reacts after tackling Hawaii Rainbow Warriors quarterback Brayden Schager (13) during the 2nd quarter of an NCAA college football game at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. M | Marco Garcia-Imagn Images

Femi Oladejo, UCLA

As secure as the Giants' edge rushing operation may seem when they are healthy, the position group could always use an additional difference-maker to round out the talent attacking the opposing quarterback.

Last season, the Giants’ defensive front had an up-and-down campaign regarding forcing pressures. They were one of the hottest teams in the sacks department through the first several weeks, including notching a single-game season-high of eight sacks in the 21-15 win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 3.

The feast would soon become a famine as injuries started to pile up on the first two levels, and the Giants threw just one sack in a five-game window from Weeks 9 to 14.

Even with staple pieces like Dexter Lawrence and Azeez Ojulari sidelined with ailments in the final stretch, they would gain a slight rebound with nine powered by the duo of Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux.

Outside of that pairing that accounted for 15 of the Giants’ 45 quarterback takedowns and ranked ninth-best in the NFL, they don’t have the most impressive depth to account for future injury woes that always seem to arise in the middle of the year when physical workloads take their toll.

The Giants could also have a space opening up in the position group, as Ojulari is about to become an unrestricted free agent and is bound to earn some outside suitors seeking to steal his efforts, which include 107 tackles (59 solo), 22 sacks, and six forced turnovers in four years with New York.

If they wait until the later rounds to explore this need, they could find a good match with UCLA outside linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo, who recently boosted his draft stock with a solid performance at the Senior Bowl.

“Oladejo played the majority of his college snaps as an off-ball linebacker before shifting to an edge role last season where he played 547 snaps along the defensive line compared to just 51 snaps on the defensive line in 2023,” the analysis said.”

“Oladejo is still growing into the edge role, but he stood out during pass-rush one-on-ones during Senior Bowl practices, where he won eight of his 11 pass-rush reps, including three dominant wins.”

“Adding to his week, Oladejo had two sacks and two hurries on his 23 pass-rushing snaps during the Senior Bowl game.

Oladejo’s performance in Mobile showed that he has the frame (6-2 3/4 and 261 pounds with 33.5-inch arms) and the ability to grow as an edge-rusher, even though he doesn’t have much experience at the position.

To show how much he had grown in his new edge role, Oladejo tallied a career-high seven sacks and 33 total pressures to be one of the Bruins' best pass rushers this season and hold a 65.3 grade in that department.

He was also a really good tackler, with a 10.6% missed tackle rate and forcing 29 stops at the line of scrimmage, which assisted against the run game.

Oladejo boasts the brute force off the snap and versatility in getting to the quarterback that the Giants' defense needs more of if they want to repeat their top 10 positioning in destroying the opponent’s offensive game plans.

A stout front is also one of the main characteristics of Shane Bowen’s system, and Oladejo is a value piece that could improve the unit.

Cornerback

Upton Stout, Western Kentucky

The Giants already unearthed an extremely gifted slot cornerback in 2024 third-round selection Dru Phillips, but why not take advantage of an opportunity to recruit another cornerback who can contribute there and on the outside as well?

Outside of the quarterback position, the Giants' secondary might be the second most important need ahead of the 2025 season. Four players, including veteran perimeter man Adoree' Jackson, are set to become free agents.

Along with his work on the outside, Jackson also gave the Giants some valuable work in the slot during the 2023 season while they went with two rookie corners in Deonte Banks and Tre Hawkins III in his former role.

He is potentially on his way out of East Rutherford for the second time as a free agent, and the other options just haven’t been as productive in terms of coverage.

Per PFF, the Giants finished 27th in the league in coverage grade this past season, a sharp decline from the No. 16 positioning they held at the end of the 2023 season. Their more blitz-heavy defensive scheme actually hurt the secondary, leaving them on an island.

Despite having a more friendly zone coverage system under Shane Bowen, which relied on many quarters coverages to better account for the deep field, the Giants' cornerbacks were often shredded by opposing receivers, with most of the damage coming from press man looks.

They had four players with at least 276 coverage snaps, finished with grades below 60.9 in that defensive design, and allowed at least eight receptions for 133 and a touchdown.

No matter what combination they had out on the field, they rarely got a hand on the football, with just 17 combined pass deflections and three interceptions, two of which came late in the season.

With a very young core set to return next fall and injuries being a factor, the Giants are desperate for some additional depth in the highest level of the defense, and adding Upton Stout from Western Kentucky option who wasn’t earning much noise until the Senior Bowl events.

Stout, a five-year player with the Hilltoppers, had one of the best slot corner outings in collegiate football. He can also contribute excellent numbers against the run as an underneath defender. He made a career-high 42 tackles with only an 8.3% missed tackle rate in 11 games with his school.

In the air, he gave up a 75% opponent reception rate, but that was only on 16 total targets for 163 yards and one touchdown. His ground response included 25 stops, which was also a career-high mark. This earned him an eye-opening 90.9 run defense grade, which was among the best in FBS play.

Sure, his focus last season was on dominating the slot realm, but the Giants could add Stout and utilize his versatility in the event ailments return again. He is a little smaller of a prospect than most players who migrate to the perimeter, yet his vision for the football and taking it away is something the Giants lacked and need back in their secondary.