For as long as the carousel of mock drafts has been firing in anticipation of the 2025 NFL Draft, all anyone seems to be focused on with the New York Giants is how they will address the glaring hole at the quarterback position.
That obsession isn’t very difficult to comprehend, as the Giants desperately need at least two gunslingers this offseason. They must start with a veteran who can serve as a bridge option and step in to win some games to spare the jobs of GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll, who are both on thin ice with the organization skidding from nine to three wins in their first three seasons.
Yet, there is a much more important decision to be had in which upcoming top quarterback prospect they can secure at the top of the draft board. As far as some reports go, hauling in a rookie arm has been the “preferred” way for the Giants to secure their next franchise thrower for the long-term future and it’ll rest on whichever guy falls to No. 3 overall.
But once that main issue is out of the way, where do the Giants go in terms of retooling the remainder of their roster that has several needs beyond the helm? They always have room for extra beef on the offensive and defensive fronts and their secondary is also begging for reinforcements for their young players who are still developing.
Well, in a two-round mock draft by The 33rd Team draft analyst Kyle Crabbs, the answer to that question lies in boosting the gaps of their interior defensive line once the draft flips over to the early half of the second round.
In the latest exercise, Krabbs projected New York to snag Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who has recently been heavily linked to them, at the No. 3 spot after Can Ward went No. 1 to the Tennessee Titans and edge man Abdul Carter to the Cleveland Browns at No. 2.
Then, after accomplishing the most enormous void in their ranks, the Giants turned their sights over to the defensive side of the ball, and more specifically, the middle of their front four, tabbing TJ Sanders out of South Carolina with the 34th overall pick and the fourth defensive tackle coming off the draft board.
“New York has plenty of pass rush on the edge but would benefit from a disruptor to play next to Dexter Lawrence in the middle,” Krabbs said, explaining the selection of Sanders.
Enough has been said about Sanders and the inklings of the Giants’ affinity with the prospect. He posted his best year in college, with a 74% completion rating for 4,134 passing yards and 37 touchdowns, which ranked fourth-best in the nation.
While Sanders’ draft counterpart in Cam Ward has been gaining some steam as the top selection for the class when things open in Green Bay in April, the feeling around the league is that the Giants would love to tap into the former’s solid football instincts and calculated passing ability to elevate the success of their offense, the aerial element finishing in the basement last season behind four lackluster quarterbacks.
The mock boards, including this one, have been offering hope to Giants fans, but it’s still not guaranteed that the team will accomplish its goal of pairing an experienced veteran with one of the two rookies in the first three picks. Tennessee has been reported to be open to courting offers for the top slot and could do business with one of the other quarterback-needy teams willing to pay their price for a franchise-altering player.
The Giants could very likely explore the waters if the Titans’ preference becomes more real, but the risk of giving up too much future draft capital complicates that possibility. The best outcome would be for the Giants to either move up or hope that the mock board stays the same to recruit Sanders and avoid another draft disaster for the current regime.
And that would maintain the Giants’ second-round pick to take advantage of one of the elite pass-rushing prospects in this year’s class T.J. Sanders. The 6-foot-4, 290-pound gap stuffer was the most active positional player for the Gamecocks in 2024, notching a career-high 51 total tackles, four sacks, and one pass deflection that ended fifth on the team leaderboard.
The Giants’ defensive interior took massive steps backward in the pressure department after Dexter Lawrence left with an elbow injury in Week 13. Without his nine sacks and counting, the numbers just weren't the same for a unit that went from sitting in the top-10 sack groups through the first half of the regular season to bearing nine in the final few games.
Slowing down the opposing ground game was even more troublesome as the Giants allowed an average of 4.6 yards per carry and 136.2 per contest in 17 games. Choosing Sanders would help alleviate some of those issues despite his smaller size, as he finished third in the SEC with a 82.3 pass rush grade, a 13.2% pass rush win rate and held one of the lowest missed tackles in the middle at a 6.7% cut.
As the mock noted, the current draft pool is loaded with defensive talent to bolster any of the Giants' three levels under Shane Bowen, but why not address the weakness at the very front of the order that caused the team to be pushed back all season long on early downs?
With Lawrence healthy again next season and a new bull rusher by his side, New York can get back to sending a very talented pass-rushing attack at the quarterback from their gifted defensive front. The rest of the work will then have to come with some additions in the secondary so that the entire product is sharp whether the Giants defend in man or zone coverage looks, and the offense will have a better chance with closer matchups.
So while thinking nonstop about the quarterback position is a must as the Giants creep closer to the NFL Draft and finally figure out who could become the savior of their offensive woes over the past half-decade and change, it’s not the only piece of the overall puzzle.
If the Giants genuinely want to boast the stout, competitive roster that they aspire to be in 2025, it’s going to take mastering all of their choices like they did last spring. The next most crucial pick is the one like that of this mock, where they can close up another hole with a mighty presence capable of shutting the gaps.
