New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll quickly reminded everyone Thursday night that just because Deonte Banks is a first-round draft pick, that doesn't mean he's an automatic starter.
But that got me thinking about how the Giants might deploy their cornerback talent. I've long believed the decision last year to play Aaron Robinson on the outside after the team parted with James Bradberry was a mistake, given that Robinson was primarily a slot cornerback in college.
While I understood the decision--Robinson's length was an appealing factor--the move didn't quite work out. And that was even before his season was cut short due to an injury.
So I'm thinking that with the addition of Banks, who in college was purely an outside cornerback, the hope is that Banks and Adoree' Jackson can both man the outside cornerback spots, which would then allow for Robinson to compete with Darnay Holmes, who is entering the final year of his contract this season and has a $2,940,972 cap hit to go along with it.
Why Trade One Spot?
Several people asked me why the Giants traded up one spot to grab a cornerback when both Banks and Joey Porter Jr were on the board.
The answer is simple. The Giants didn't have as high a grade on Porter as they did with Banks. And something Joe Schoen said about how they paid attention to the top 30 visits prospects they were interested in with other teams caught my eye as well, as it left me thinking the Giants might have thought another team drafting behind them would be have jumped over them to get Banks.
One team with which Banks had a top-30 draft visit was the Bills, who ironically traded with the Jaguars at No. 25 to get a tight end (more on that in a moment). Banks also visited with the Saints and Eagles, two teams behind the Giants in the original draft order.
This isn't to say that the Giants panicked or let other circumstances influence them. This is more to suggest that Schoen isn't one to let grass grow under his feet, which is a good thing.
For what it cost the Giants to move up--one of the two fifth-round picks and a meaningless seventh-rounder--Schoen was able to get his man before someone else did. Now it's up to Banks to come in and justify the first-round love he received from the Giants, which it sounds like he intends to do.
"It's high," he said of his confidence in becoming a starter. "I'm just ready to get to work."
How the Giants' Trade Might Have Screwed Dallas
The only thing better than seeing the Giants get the man they have their eye on is screwing a heated divisional rival.
And a case could be made that that's what the Giants' trade with the Jaguars did.
You see, the Cowboys, who need a tight end after losing Dalton Schultz in free agency, were reportedly eyeing some of the top prospects at the position. They were set to pick behind the Giants at No. 26. When the Giants moved up on the board one spot to grab Banks, the 25th pick went to the Jaguars, who are still building out their team.
Jacksonville then traded the 25th pick acquired from the Giants to the Bills, who may have thought Dallas was eyeballing Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid. Dallas then took Michigan defensive tackle Mazi Smith when their turn came to draft.
The Cowboys might still very well draft their tight end of the future from what's a very deep class--Michael Mayer (Notre Dame), Luke Musgrave (Oregon State), and Luke Schoonmaker (Michigan) are among those still on the board. But how sweet would it be if they were eyeing Kincaid only to be thwarted by a chain of events set off by the Giants?
Get a Center!
For the sake of quarterback Daniel Jones, in whom this team just invested $160 million over four years, please get I'm a legitimate, pure center. Don't sit there and think you have guys who "could" do it if needed.
Get a guy in here with whom Jones can grow in this offense so that he doesn't have to start over with getting don't the same page with a new center as he's done every year since he's been in the league.
The Giants invested major financial resources to upgrade the skill position players around Jones. That's great, but what good is it if the interior offensive line isn't addressed?
Whether it's John Michael Schmitz of Minnesota (believed to be the Giants' top target) or Joe Tippmann of Wisconsin (my top target), or someone else, the best thing the Giants can do for Jones on Day 2 of this draft is to get him a long-term answer at center.
More Deals Coming?
Schoen dismissed the idea that he was done maneuvering his way around the draft board just because he surrendered a fifth and a seventh to move up to get Banks.
"I'd still go up," he said. "We still have our premium, second, third, fourth. We are in good shape from that standpoint if we want to move around."
I admittedly entered this draft thinking at some point, the Giants would trade back to acquire resources for next year's draft since they're not projected to have any comp picks, thanks to their free agency activity. But the other side of the coin here is that the more draft picks Schoen trades away, the better he helps his salary cap situation, which right now, per Over the Cap, has the Giants dead last in both available spaces (-$93,844 and effective space (-$2,907,890).
The forthcoming extension with Dexter Lawrence will certainly help take some of the stress off the Giants' cap woes at the moment.
But the Giants and Schoen will probably have to make at least one more move to have enough of a cushion to get through the 2023 season, let alone the next few months, should he want to keep churning the bottom of the roster.
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