The Giants don’t need to pretend the running back room is finished after one year with Cam Skattebo. He’s shown enough to matter, but not enough to shut the door on a bigger move if the 2027 NFL Draft gives New York the chance to upgrade.
And this class could give them that chance. The 2027 group is already shaping up as a strong one, and the backs at the top of it look like they could change a team’s offense fast. As the college season gets going, there are already five names worth keeping on the radar for New York.
Louisville’s Isaac Brown is the cleanest home-run threat in the bunch. Through 266 career carries, he’s averaged 7.7 yards per attempt and scored 18 touchdowns, with 49 runs of 10 or more yards.
Once he gets into space, defenses are mostly chasing shadows. The concern is size - he’s listed at 190 pounds, which could mean a smaller workload in the NFL - but that speed would fit nicely next to Skattebo’s power between the tackles.
Justice Haynes comes with more baggage, but the talent is obvious. After transferring to Georgia Tech, he’s already on his third program in four years and is coming off major foot surgery.
Still, the burst jumps off the tape. He has the one-cut explosiveness NFL coaches love, and if he gets behind a solid offensive line, the numbers could get loud in a hurry.
If the injury concern fades after the 2025 season he lost, he looks like a Day 2 pick.
Florida’s Jadan Baugh might be the most complete back of the group. If the draft were held today, there’s a real chance he’d be among the three running backs taken in the first round.
He ran for 1,170 yards and added 210 receiving yards in 12 games last season, and his profile checks just about every box: size, balance, production and three-down value. He’s the kind of runner who can anchor an offense, and he could help give the Giants the downhill, physical identity John Harbaugh wants his offense to embody.
Then there’s Ahmad Hardy, whose production already belongs in rare territory. Over the last two seasons, he’s piled up 3,000 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns, and he’s forced more missed tackles than any FBS back since 2024.
Missouri hasn’t asked much of him as a receiver, but the little pass-catching tape he does have suggests there’s more there. If he lands in New York, he’d walk in as the leader of the backfield from day one.
Ole Miss back Kewan Lacy rounds out the group, and the touchdown total alone makes him impossible to ignore. He scored 24 times in 2025, which is exactly the kind of number that gets NFL teams leaning forward.
Lacy runs with consistency and explosion, and he’s always looking for extra yards after contact. The one question is workload - he handled 335 touches last season, so durability will matter.
If his body holds up, he has the look of a first-round pick next offseason.
In Other News...
Najee Harris Is Suddenly Pushing A Giants Week 1 Shakeup
Najee Harris arrived in New York only in mid-August, but he has already worked his way into the conversation around the Giants backfield. The former Steelers runner got into the preseason finale and has climbed the depth chart quickly enough to make the teams running back picture feel a lot less settled than it did a few weeks ago.
Concerns around Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy Jr. have only added to the uncertainty, and that has opened the door for Harris to keep pushing toward the top of the rotation. With Week 1 approaching, the Giants still have time to sort it out, but the way this backfield is trending leaves open the possibility that Harris could wind up as the lead option. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Defense May Ride On One Veteran Fix Up Front
The Giants spent part of their offseason trying to steady the middle of a defense that got gashed too often against the run last season, and DJ Reader is the veteran brought in to help change that. At 32, he arrives with the kind of size and experience New York has been looking for up front, and the front office is banking on him to give the interior defensive line more resistance when opponents try to pound the ball between the tackles.
There is still some uncertainty attached to the move, though, because Readers recent play has not matched his best years and the Giants are asking for a bounce-back at a position where decline can show quickly. New York also added Tremaine Edmunds and Arvell Reese to the linebacker group, but the entire plan still hinges on whether Reader can hold the middle well enough to let those pieces work behind him. [Read more 🡒]
Eli Manning Hall Of Fame Debate Just Got More Complicated
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is changing the way it chooses its next class, trimming its selection committee from 50 members to 28 in an effort to address possible biases. Hall of Fame president and CEO Jim Porter said the overhaul is meant to strengthen the institutions traditions, but it also adds a fresh layer of intrigue to an already tricky process for players whose cases have long split opinion.
For Giants fans, that matters because Eli Manning remains one of the most debated modern candidates on the board. His rsum has been discussed for years, and now his path could be shaped by a smaller voting group as the Hall weighs candidates already generating plenty of disagreement. The new setup does not settle the argument around Manning, but it does make the next few elections even more worth watching. [Read more 🡒]