The Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants are the only two teams that came away with two first-round picks after the conclusion of the 2025 NFL Draft. The Falcons did so with an eye on fixing their NFL-worst pass-rush from 2024. Meanwhile, the Giants believe they landed the draft’s best pass-rusher and their next franchise quarterback, all in one day.
To do so, the Giants had to get aggressive, moving back into the first round to get their guy, but unlike the Falcons, they didn’t have to give up a future first-round pick in the process. While the Giants targeted Dart with after trading up to the 25th overall pick, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reports that there were actually a total of four prospects the Giants were willing to trade back into the first round for, and Dart was one of them.
“The Giants circled three teams they thought could take a quarterback, or even move up for one—Pittsburgh at No. 21; the Browns, after the trade down from No. 2 to No. 5, had capital to come up from Nos. 33 or 36; and the New Orleans Saints had a history of moving up and a need. And with many trade-up options out there, the Giants had four guys targeted that they were willing to trade back into the first round from No. 34 for, with Dart being the quarterback option.”
SI’s Albert Breer on New York Giants
While the Giants came away with Dart, we can’t help but wonder who the other three targets were. Were they a team that was considering ending Shedeur Sanders’ freefall, but simply had Dart rated higher on their draft board? We may never know.
The Giants’ next two draft picks were defensive tackle Darius Alexander and running back Cam Skattebo. Were the Giants potentially looking at selecting Ohio State’s Quinshon Judkins or TreVeyon Henderson? Quarterback Tyler Shough?
Who knows? Maybe Dart was the only prospect they were willing to actually pay the price for.
