Jordan Reid of The Draft Network posted his 2021 mock draft this week and the New York Giants drew the seventh overall pick, meaning Giant fans are in for another long season in 2020.
Who Reid has them selecting with that pick is even more frustrating. The progression of the plan put in place in late 2017 when Dave Gettleman took over the team is going very slowly and if this pick is any indication of where the Giants will be in 2021, it has to trouble the fan base.
Reid mocks Virginia Tech cornerback Caleb Farley to the Giants with the seventh pick. Nothing against Farley, but a drafting a corner with this extremely high and valuable pick has to get every Giant fan’s goat.
“With what seems like an early miss on 2019 first-round pick cornerback DeAndre Baker and with Sam Beal opting out of next season, the team is left very thin on the perimeter of the defense,” reasons Reid. “The team’s biggest needs are linebacker, edge rusher, and cornerback. They elect to take the highest-ranked player on the board at a position of need in the former Hokie corner.”
The Giants should not need a cornerback this desperately so soon after loading up on corners the past two drafts and then signing James Bradberry to a three-year, $43 million free agent contract.
But the Giants have run into some inexplicably bad luck thus far with Baker and Beal. The jury is still out on Grant Haley and Corey Ballentine and there is hope that rookie Darnay Holmes can come in and produce at a high level. The Giants would also be fortunate if veteran Montre Hartage or one of their other rookies (Chris Williamson, Christian Angulo, Jarran Williams) amount to something.
According to Reid, Farley is the best player available on the board and this is a case where need intersects with talent.
“Farley is a highly impressive corner whose early returns have been very promising even though he doesn’t have much experience at the position (he started playing it in 2018). The prospect that set the standard with being the first to opt out of the season, based on what he’s shown on film, he has all of the necessary makeup in order to become a first-round pick,” he wrote.
That is not a description of a No. 7 overall pick plus not a pick the Giants, who need to hit on every draft pick at this point can afford to make. They have to stick to taking players that come with more guaranteed success. They can’t afford to gamble.
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