The New York Giants hold the No. 4 overall selection in this week’s NFL Draft and the talk of a possible trade — or trades — involving the Giants will be flying.
General manager Dave Gettleman told reporters last week that he was open to the idea of trading back, something has never done in his career.
“We’re sitting there with the fourth pick in the draft. It’s got to happen pretty soon,” Gettleman said. “I’m going to make calls and anybody that wants to move up I’m going to say, listen, we don’t have much time, we can’t fool around, and I’d like to get the parameters of deals in place, of the deal in place before we get on the clock. That would be the best thing. You know the NFL is going to have a mock draft on Monday, I’m sure you guys are aware of that. So, that’ll be an interesting thing to see how it works.
“Again, the biggest piece is making sure that we, meaning the Giants, are coordinated in how we’re going to approach the trade process. You know, we’ll have two veteran guys on it, so I think we’ll be fine. Obviously once you hit the third round you only have five minutes. It’s going to be tight to try to do that, to try to trade back or trade up. I think what’s going to happen, what this is going to force everybody to do, is do deals before their pick is up. So, let’s say for the sake of discussion, someone calls, one team calls another team and says, ‘I want to trade up.’ They’ll make a deal off the clock and then if the guy is there for the team that wants to move up, then they’ll consummate the trade. So, I think a lot of it’s going to be done ahead of time.”
Not necessarily. It’s already Tuesday. Round 1 is just over 48 hours away and there’s been no movement at the top of the draft order. Many teams like to hold their cards as close to their vests as long as they can to assure themselves of getting the best — and right — deal for their teams.
The Giants are believed to be leaning towards taking one of the four top offensive tackles in the draft. The issue is, none them are Top 5 talents. There are several teams seeking quarterbacks (Miami, who holds the 5th pick and the L.A. Chargers, who have No. 6) and might be willing to trade up the one or two spots to ace out the other for the quarterback (Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert of Oregon) they prefer.
Other teams are antsy for one of the three defensive studs (Auburn DT Derrick Brown, Ohio State CB Jeff Okudah, Clemson LB Isaiah Simmons) that will likely be sitting there at No. 4. And Gettleman will be listening.
The Atlanta Falcons, who have the No 16 pick are rumored to be seeking a trade up. The Carolina Panthers, at No. 7, may want to make a deal as well. The sudden retirement of linebacker Luke Kuechly has left a major void in their defense and may be gunning for Simmons.
The Giants, if they make any deals with the fourth pick, would ideally want to stay in the top half of the first round plus gain two other picks in the Top 100. They currently have only three selections in the top 100 and none between picks 36 and 99. That is where many of the best players in this draft will be selected and Gettleman would want a pick of two in that range.
There is an unsubstantiated rumor the San Francisco 49ers are interested in trading for Giants tight end Evan Engram, but there doesn’t seem to be any fire under that smoke.
The 49ers have two first-round picks (No. 13 and 31), but do not have a pick in the second, third or fourth rounds in this draft. Engram is not worth a first round pick nor is he going to be dealt for a late Day 3 pick. With Gettleman pretty much on the hot seat, he likely isn’t interested in trading for 2021 selections.
Engram is expected to be inked to his fifth-year option this spring that will make him a Giant for this year and next. That makes him more of an attractive trade piece but San Francisco simply doesn’t have what the Giants need.
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