The Giants finally are No. 1 in something: the NFL Draft order.
Joe Schoen’s Giants (2-11) would hold the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft if the season ended now after Week 14 of the 2025 season.
They hold that spot over the No. 2 Raiders (2-11) and No. 3 Titans (2-11) at the moment due to the Giants’ easier strength of schedule to date.
There are still four weeks remaining for the NFL Draft order to change. But it is crazy to think how low the Giants have fallen under Schoen.
The Giants picked at No. 24 overall after their 2022 playoff season, Schoen’s first as GM. Since then, they have held the No. 6 overall pick in 2023 and the No. 3 overall pick in 2024.
Now they’re guaranteed to finish with a top 10 pick, likely to hold a top five pick and currently holding the No. 1 pick.
In all seriousness, if a team were tanking and intentionally trying to lose, it would be difficult to do any worse — or better, depending on one’s point of view — than selecting in the top six three years in a row.
The Giants did kind of throw in the towel on last season’s finale in Philadelphia, but they’ve mostly actually been trying to win. That’s the scary part.
Landing the No. 1 pick in next April’s draft, of course, could help the franchise to continue trying to climb out of this hole if they played it right.
They could trade back and secure meaningful capital, since they already have a quarterback in Jaxson Dart. Or they could target a top player at a position of need.
Right now, Pro Football Focus‘ top five NFL Draft prospects are Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr., Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese, Clemson defensive lineman Peter Woods and Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson.
The Giants’ chances of holding on to the No. 1 pick, however, are viewed as unlikely by some reliable models for the remainder of the NFL season.
ESPN analytics projects the Giants only have a 10% chance to finish with the No. 1 overall pick due to their softening schedule the rest of the way.
They are closing the season with games against the Washington Commanders (3-10), Minnesota Vikings (5-8), Raiders (2-11) and Dallas Cowboys (6-6-1), including three of four at home. Only Vegas requires a road trip.
The Raiders are ESPN’s most likely team to land the No. 1 overall pick (38.0%), followed by the Titans (23.7%), Browns (14.7%) and Giants.
The Giants do have a 54.4% chance of securing a top five pick, however, and a 98.4% chance of landing in the top 10.
This all puts more pressure on the Giants organization to make the right decision at GM to determine who will be making this latest high draft pick.
Their future depends on it.
