Giants Mock Draft: ESPN Covers Need in Round 2, Makes Questionable Pick in Round 1

ESPN’s Field Yates is out with his latest two-round mock draft, and while the second-round pick for the New York Giants makes sense, we’re not as sold on his choice for the first-round pick

Yates has projected Ohio State safety Caleb Downs to the Giants at No. 5, noting that while the Giants have added Jason Pinnock and Ar’Darius Washington to the room, “in a league where successful defenses deploy three safeties with greater frequency, what doesn't appear as a major need for the Giants should not be dismissed.”

With all due respect to Yates, we’re going to disagree with his logic. While there is no question that Downs, whose father, Gary, was a Giants’ third-round draft pick back in 1994, is the type of playmaker every NFL team would love to have, the Giants have a much more glaring hole at cornerback, where they lack a true shut-down player.

In Yates’s mock, Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles, both Ohio State linebackers, are off the board, leaving prospects like Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane, and Ohio State receiver Carnell Tate still on the board.

Of those three positions, cornerback is the one where the Giants need more firepower, hands down.

New York hasn’t had a true CB1 since James Bradberry. With the Giants having to face the duos of George Pickens/CeeDee Lamb of Dallas and A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith of Philadelphia twice a year, getting a shutdown cornerback should be the higher priority if the Giants want to really optimize the pass rush up front, they've worked so hard to build up.

Second-round sense addresses a glaring need

In the second round, Yates has the Giants selecting Texas A&M guard Chase Bisontis, of whom he writes, “has excellent hands, is an athletic redirector in pass protection and brings position versatility.”

Bisontis, Yates added, “would really boost the Giants' guard position, and he has prior starting experience at right tackle, too.”

We don’t hate this selection, especially considering top guard prospects like Monroe Freeling of Georgia, Vega Ioane of Penn State, and Keylan Rutledge of Georgia Tech are all off the board by the time the Giants “pick” in this mock.

The Giants have done little to address the long-term future of their right guard position, a spot that long-time veteran Greg Van Roten anchored for the last two seasons.

The Giants brought in Joshua Ezeudu and Evan Neal, two of their own draft picks, to compete at right guard, but it’s worth noting that Ezeudu and Neal have had a very small sample size at guard at this level, suggesting that perhaps one or both are more realistically being viewed as depth.

The NFL draft takes place next month, April 23-25, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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