New York Giants 2022 Draft Needs
Giants gm Joe Schoen
Looking ahead to the 2022 NFL season, the New York Giants need to snap a 6 year playoff drought. The Giants’ firing of their coach and general manager left them directionless. Enter Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll. The duo have inherited a team with multiple draft picks who are not living up to their potential. Furthermore, they have big free agent signings that have put the team into a financial chokehold. In fact, they go into the 2022 NFL season with the least amount of unused cap space according to Field Yates of ESPN. Since the new regime took over, the first question on everyone’s mind is who the Giants would be selecting with either of their two top 10 draft picks. The Giants have a roster with some strong position groups. However there are obvious gaps in talent at others. What are the Giants 2022 Draft needs?
Offensive Line
Generally the biggest concern of any NFL team, the Giants have attempted to address their offensive line in previous years drafts. Unfortunately, New York didn’t take Draftdive’s top rated offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs in 2020. With that being said, I believe the front office will be looking to bring in day one impact players on the offensive line. Nate Solder has not played to the standard they expected. However, he had his best season with the team only allowing 6 sacks in 2021. This was an improvement from the 11 in 2019 before sitting out in 2020 (COVID-19).
At right guard, Will Hernandez has been slowly declining. For instance, he had the worst statistical year of his career this past season. Hernandez allowed the third most sacks in the league with seven in 2021. The Giants would benefit from improved protection if they intend to continue developing Daniel Jones. Jones has had weapons around him during his young career, but doesn’t seem to have enough protection. He has missed at least two games in each of his NFL seasons due to injury. Luckily, this year’s draft has a lot of quality talent along the offensive line.
Edge Rusher
The Giants current defensive front is stout with three defensive tackles lining up in the trenches. Adding speed and finesse on the outside would make the line a formidable position group. The Giants defensive linemen underperfomed as they accounted for only 12.5 of the teams 34 total sacks. This is a bit of a surprise, as their outside linebackers could only accumulate 13 sacks themselves. Outside of Azeez Ojulari, who showed a lot of potential during his rookie season, they don’t have any real outside rush threat.
Lorenzo Carter got hot at the tail end of the season, tallying at least 1 sack in his final four games. However, he found a new home with the Atlanta Falcons. This leaves the other OLB position to second year edge Quincy Roche. I could see the Giants adding some more pass rushing talent to bolster their pressure on opposing quarterbacks. There has been a lot of talk of Kayvon Thibodeaux sliding down draft boards and, if he does, the Giants shouldn’t let him get past pick five.
Tight End
With the bulk of free agency complete, the Giants did little to replace underperforming tight end Evan Engram. Engram left this offseason to join the Jaguars. They managed to add veteran Ricky Seals-Jones, who had 30 catches for 271 yards and 2 TDs with Washington last season. It wouldn’t hurt them to pick up another reliable pass catcher for Daniel Jones. A player like Charlie Kolar of Iowa State would be a great chain mover with sure hands. Kolar could be the kind of solid player a QB can rely on.
Who To Target
Realistically, top pass rushing talent is highly sought after and may not fall to New York. Nonetheless, if the likes Thibodeaux or Aidan Hutchinson slide to the Giants, it would be a no brainer to add either at number five. This would add a potential game wrecker to New York’s defensive line. We’ve seen time and time again, when you add top tier pass rushers the investment tends to payoff. In fact, the last three players to win Defensive Rookie Of The Year have all been edge rushers.
Alabama offensive tackle Evan Neal.
If a top pass rushing talent is no longer available, the next priority would be to defend against said pass rushers. The Giants can look to the best offensive tackle available. Evan Neal of Alabama, or Ikem Ekwonu of North Carolina State would help to anchor New York’s offensive line. Either would play opposite of second year man Andrew Thomas. Both of these prospects offer great run blocking ability to support New York’s Pro Bowl running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley running behind a good offensive line would make opposing defenses respect the run game. Therefore, the passing game of new offensive coordinator Mike Kafka could open up.
If all goes well, the New York Giants have the chance to come out of the first round with cornerstones on both sides of the ball. While I don’t believe this will make them a top team in the NFC, they can be a foundation on which Daboll and Schoen can build upon for years. These players should be building blocks to use as they try bringing the Giants back to their former glory. Additionally, the NFC East is always up for grabs as each team besides the Giants have won the division the last three seasons.
Final Thoughts on the Giants 2022 Draft Needs
With the many holes to fill on the Giants roster, the first selections should be focused on players that can make an immediate impact on the team. Though they are premium picks, the 5th and 7th selections rely on the needs of the teams ahead of you. There are many names being thrown around as the “top pick”. This has potential to work in New York’s favor. as the talent level is high amongst numerous potential early picks.
I believe the Giants will target a top tackle with their first selection, unless they were presented with the opportunity to draft Kayvon Thibodeaux. Thibodeaux is a player many consider to be the most complete pass rushing talent in this year’s draft.
New York Giants Draft Needs analyst-Jair Garcia.
