The Giants’ first-round picture since 2020 is as stark as it gets: boom or bust, with very little gray area in between.
That’s the takeaway from Mike Renner’s CBS Sports exercise, which graded 191 first-round picks from 2020 through 2025 by team value as well as player quality. Renner split the entire group into three tiers and then drilled down franchise by franchise, looking at which teams consistently made strong calls and which ones kept missing. For the Giants, the verdict was split right down the middle.
Of the eight first-round picks New York has made since 2020, four landed in Renner’s top third and four fell into the bottom third. Renner summed it up like this:
“There’s been no in-between for the Giants this decade. They’ve either nabbed franchise cornerstones or had complete whiffs.
Now they just need those cornerstones to stay healthy. Jaxson Dart, Andrew Thomas and Malik Nabers have had their careers marred by injuries to date.
If all are healthy this season, the Giants should finally make the leap to playoff contention.”
That’s the cleanest read on the Giants’ draft haul. The good picks are real, and so are the misses.
The top-third group for New York included Abdul Carter, Jaxson Dart, Andrew Thomas and Malik Nabers, with Dart standing out as the only one taken outside the top six at pick 25. Renner placed all four among his top 51 first-round selections overall, which puts them in the “cornerstone” lane for the Giants.
The other side of the ledger is ugly. Three of the Giants’ first-rounders under Joe Schoen landed in Renner’s bottom third, though Andrew Thomas and Kadarius Toney were not Schoen picks. Schoen’s first three first-round choices all wound up in the lower tier.
Kayvon Thibodeaux came in at 131st overall. Renner doesn’t treat him like a total miss, either.
Thibodeaux has posted 151 pressures across four NFL seasons, but injuries have kept him from matching the expectations that come with being selected fifth overall. He’s become a productive edge rusher, but the health piece still hangs over his evaluation.
Kadarius Toney checked in at 155, and Renner’s view of that pick was brutal. The Giants at least traded back before taking Toney, which softened the blow a little.
Deonte Banks was next at 161. New York traded up for him, and while he’s been a bust so far, there’s at least some optimism in training camp that he’s settling in with new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson.
Renner left room for Banks to still salvage value from the pick.
Evan Neal landed all the way down at 185. Renner noted that Neal can still provide some value, though that outcome looks unlikely. The new regime re-signed him, but he is not a lock to make the roster.
The rest of the lower end of Renner’s rankings included former Giant Isaiah Simmons, tackle Isaiah Wilson, cornerback Jeff Okudah, and quarterbacks Anthony Richardson, Zach Wilson and Trey Lance.
At the very top of the exercise, the NFC East showed up in force. Jayden Daniels was seventh for the Commanders.
Micah Parsons, now with the Green Bay Packers, was eighth. CeeDee Lamb came in tenth as a strong value pick at 17th overall in 2020.
The top five was led by Joe Burrow at No. 1, followed by Drake Maye at No. 2.
Justin Jefferson was the first non-quarterback at No. 3 after going 22nd overall to the Vikings. Jaxon Smith-Njigba was fourth, and Jordan Love rounded out the top five after going 26th in 2020.
Renner’s list clearly put a premium on finding a starting quarterback in the 20s, which makes that Love placement stand out.
For the Giants, Abdul Carter was the first name to appear, checking in at 38th. Tetairoa McMillan and Tyler Linderbaum were ranked just ahead of him, with Charles Cross between Carter and Dart. DeVonta Smith followed Dart at 41, and Andrew Thomas was right behind at 42.
The broader point is hard to miss: when the Giants have hit in the first round since 2020, they’ve hit big. When they’ve missed, they’ve missed hard.
Thibodeaux remains the exception, a player good enough to avoid the bust label but not yet strong enough to justify where he was drafted. If he stays healthy on his fifth-year option, that narrative could change.
Schoen’s track record has improved as the years have gone on, even if the team’s struggles have kept putting New York back near the top of the draft board. Five of the Giants’ eight first-round selections were top-ten picks, and Schoen has another pair of top-ten choices to work with now. Arvell Reese and Francis Mauigoa still have to prove it on the field, but the hope is obvious: next time around, they end up in the top third instead of the bottom.
In Other News...
Giants Suddenly Need Help Up Front As Center Concerns Grow
The Giants are reaching for some experienced depth up front, bringing in Brenden Jaimes as the center situation gets thinner by the day. Jaimes, a 2021 draft pick of the Chargers, has bounced around as a valuable reserve and special-teams piece, appearing in 50 NFL games while working at both guard and center.
The timing points to a real need, with John Michael Schmitz and Lucas Patrick both sidelined by injuries and the interior line suddenly looking vulnerable. Jaimes does not arrive with a headline-grabbing profile, but he does give New York another option as it tries to stabilize a spot that can turn a routine game into a scramble in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Eli Manning Snub Reignites A Giants Legacy Debate Fans Know Well
Eli Mannings latest Hall of Fame run brought back a familiar Giants conversation, the kind that never really leaves the fan base alone. He was among the finalists for the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, only to come up short as the Hall moved forward with Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly, Roger Craig and Adam Vinatieri instead. For Giants fans, Manning has always lived in that space where the resume feels bigger than the awards shelf, shaped as much by what he did in the biggest moments as by the traditional markers voters tend to favor.
His case has long rested on the two Super Bowl victories and the remarkable durability of 210 consecutive regular-season starts, both central to how New York remembers that era. But the debate around Manning also points to the same old dividing line: the rings and reputation on one side, and the thinner individual honors compared with other Hall of Fame quarterbacks on the other. For a franchise that built an identity around toughness, timing and postseason mettle, his omission is sure to keep the legacy argument alive a little longer. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Receiver Battle Is Getting Tougher To Ignore Behind Malik Nabers
Training camp has started to separate the Giants wide receiver group, and the picture behind Malik Nabers is becoming easier to read by the day. Nabers is still the centerpiece, but rookie Malachi Fields has quietly put himself in position to be part of the early starting conversation, giving the offense a young pairing that could shape how the passing game develops in August.
The rest of the room is still fighting for traction, and that is where the intrigue really lives for the Giants. JuJu Smith-Schuster and Jalin Hyatt have not made the kind of impact they needed, while Odell Beckham Jr. and Darnell Mooney have shown encouraging signs. The depth chart is still fluid, and with preseason games looming, those snaps should go a long way toward deciding who sticks and who slides down the board. [Read more 🡒]