Giants make bold Francis Mauigoa decision after first round of NFL Draft

The New York Giants certainly made the most of their assets in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

Right after landing Ohio State's Arvell Reese — who was projected to go as high as No. 2 — at No. 5, they took Miami OL Francis Mauigoa five picks later.

Mauigoa was the consensus OL1 for most of the pre-draft process. However, a back injury and doubts about whether he'd be better suited to play guard than tackle may have hurt his stock.

Nevertheless, none of that was enough to scare Giants GM Joe Schoen away, though the Giants plan to use him in the interior of the offensive line.

Giants will play Francis Mauigoa at guard

“We're going to put him inside at guard,” Schoen said, per their official website. “He can certainly play tackle. Sometimes we call these schools and get the film, and they have two really good rushers down there in Miami in [Ahkeem] Mesidor and [Rueben] Bain, and to watch the practice film — he's going against NFL dudes on a daily basis, and doing a really good job, it was pretty impressive. He can certainly always bump back out to tackle at any point. We're going to start him at guard.”

This makes perfect sense for them, given that they already have Andrew Thomas and Jermaine Eluemunor as their starting tackles.

This way, he can either sit for a while and adjust to make the transition to the pros or compete for the right guard spot with the recently signed Daniel Faalele.

They can even afford to have him undergo back surgery — which is still a possibility — and have him sit for a while until he's back to full strength.

The Giants may have gotten the most talented defensive player and offensive lineman in this class, and there's plenty to celebrate if you're new Giants head coach John Harbaugh.