The rookie season is here, and the quarterback Jaxson Dart spent too much time playing like a man carrying groceries through traffic. He threw for 2,272 yards, 15 touchdowns, and just five interceptions. He also ran for 487 yards and nine more scores because the offense kept asking him to solve problems after the snap instead of before it.
The Giants finished 4 and 13, landed the No 5 pick, and lost Malik Nabers to a torn ACL and meniscus in late September. Nabers did not even have surgery until late October. He has said the rehab is on track, but he also has not promised he will be ready for Week 1. That matters. A lot.
The Giants have already re-signed Jermaine Eluemunor, Aaron Stinnie, Evan Neal, and Joshua Ezeudu. They also gave Isaiah Likely a 3-year, $40 million deal. John Harbaugh walks into this draft with unusual authority, reporting directly to ownership instead of through Joe Schoen.
So the old question sounds sharper now: does No 5 need to be a shield, or should it be a sword.
What the offseason already changed
The easiest version of this argument says fix the trenches and act like adults. That was the first read in January, and it still has logic behind it. The line surrendered 48 sacks last season, and the interior remains thin enough that even the Giants’ own draft coverage keeps circling back to guard and defensive tackle as open questions.
But free agency changed the texture of the debate. Big Blue did not enter March acting like a team preparing for a quiet rebuild. First came the tackle depth. Then came Isaiah Likely, a real receiving addition with real money behind him. After that, ownership gave John Harbaugh a massive contract and a structure built for urgency, not patience.
Because of this loss, the roster no longer looks like a blank slate. It looks like a team trying to accelerate a young quarterback before the Eagles and Cowboys spend another year teeing off on him.
What Harbaugh should be asking at No 5
Harbaugh should not be asking which prospect makes the draft room feel most responsible. He should be asking which prospect changes the geometry of Sunday. That sounds dramatic until you remember what Nabers’ injury did to the offense. Once he went down, defenses stopped treating the Giants like a group with consequences. Safeties sat with less fear. Corners squatted harder. Passing windows shrank. Dart still flashed, but too many of those flashes came while improvising. The April choice should not only be about finding help. It should be about restoring gravity.
That is the real split inside this class. Speed shows up in one cluster of prospects. Size defines another. Matt Nagy will also see a few names who make the quick game easier to call. Harbaugh, meanwhile, will gravitate toward players who can harden the team’s identity. Only one or two truly force the Eagles and Cowboys’ secondaries to rewrite the first page of the weekly call sheet. That is the standard here. Not “useful.” Not “solid.” Not “starter.” Dangerous.
The names that actually make sense
This board is not a fantasy draft board. It is a Giants board. That means context matters. The offensive line is not fixed, but it is no longer untouched. Tight end is no longer empty because Likely just got paid like a feature addition. Nabers is still the alpha when healthy, but his recovery timeline makes another early receiver feel less like luxury and more like insurance. That leaves the Giants staring at three broad buckets: movement players who can create fast throws, size targets who can punish the boundary, and one rare back who could turn the whole offense into a stress test.
10. Zachariah Branch, Georgia
Zachariah Branch is the kind of player coaches spend all spring convincing themselves they can feature correctly. He caught 81 passes for 811 yards and six touchdowns in 2025, and the appeal is obvious the second the ball gets near him. Branch can turn cheap touches into panic. He can make a nickel corner misstep once and lose the whole frame of the play. But No 5 is rich territory for a player whose best argument still depends on touches being schemed for him. Branch belongs in the conversation because explosive stress always belongs in the conversation. He sits at 10 because the Giants need a weapon who travels in bad weather and on third and 8, not just a spark plug with fireworks in his hands.
9. Mike Washington Jr, Arkansas
At the time, drafting a running back at No 5 would get half the fan base screaming into the void. Mike Washington Jr makes that reaction understandable and still not entirely fair. Arkansas listed him at 6 foot 2 and 223 pounds, and he ran for 1,070 yards at 6.4 yards per carry while adding 28 catches for 226 yards. That is real volume, real efficiency, and real body type. He is not the cleanest fit for the Giants because Tyrone Tracy already gives them juice, and the roster has louder needs. Still, Washington looks like the kind of runner Harbaugh would trust in December. He gets north fast. Defenders feel the contact when they meet him. The whole offense starts to feel heavier with that kind of runner behind it. That matters, even if No 5 is probably too high.
8. KC Concepcion, Texas A and M
KC Concepcion feels like the answer for anyone tired of watching young quarterbacks beg for clean underneath help. He posted 61 catches for 919 yards and nine touchdowns in 2025, and his game lives in the spaces where a passer can breathe. Concepcion wins quickly. He gives motion value. He turns short throws into meaningful gains. Nagy has always leaned on answers that can keep an offense on schedule, and Concepcion looks built for that logic. The problem is price. No 5 asks for either rare production, rare tools, or a rare fit. Concepcion has fit in neon lights. He just may not carry the kind of outside gravity that justifies passing on bigger boundary answers.
7. Omar Cooper Jr, Indiana
Omar Cooper Jr feels like a player who would get more love if he wore a different helmet. He caught 69 passes for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns last season, and that touchdown number matters because it tells you how often he finished drives instead of decorating box scores. Cooper is not the flashiest name here. He is one of the sturdier names on the board. Cooper plays through contact and never looks rushed by it. With his size, quarterbacks get a target they can trust when the field tightens. Near the goal line, he works with grown man habits. Before long, teams talk themselves into upside and forget how valuable certainty can be. Cooper gives off the scent of certainty. For the Giants, that has value. For No 5, it still might not be enough.
6. Denzel Boston, Washington
Denzel Boston looks like a New York receiver the minute you picture him posted up on the boundary in late November. He finished 2025 with 62 catches for 881 yards and 11 touchdowns, and at 6 foot 4 he brings the kind of frame that changes red zone math. The Giants do not need another small answer. They need someone who can force corners to play bigger than they are. Boston would help there. He also makes sense if Nabers returns a half step short of full explosion early in the season. The issue is this: Boston feels like a strong first-round fit, but not necessarily the best use of No 5 unless the front office falls in love with the body type and the touchdown finish.
5. Kenyon Sadiq, Oregon
Kenyon Sadiq is where the board gets fun and a little rude. He caught 51 passes for 560 yards and eight touchdowns in 2025, then ran a 4.39 forty at the combine, the fastest ever recorded by a tight end. That is absurd movement for that position. It is also why Sadiq belongs on the page even after the Giants gave Isaiah Likely 3 years and $40 million. Taking Sadiq at No 5 would look indulgent. It would also tell the league that Harbaugh and Nagy intend to bully base defense and outrun nickel with the same personnel grouping. On the other hand, when you pay Likely that kind of money, using the highest pick on another tight end starts to feel like a flex instead of a solution. Sadiq is a fascinating player. He is probably not the right answer for this roster.
4. Makai Lemon, USC
Makai Lemon might be the cleanest separator in the group. He caught 79 balls for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2025, and the routes look the way good routes are supposed to look. There are no wasted steps in his routes. At the top, he stays calm and under control. The quarterback never has to guess whether the window will open. It just opens. That is why Lemon feels more valuable than some of the louder athletes in the class. Dart does not only need fireworks. He needs someone who can turn third down into a professional routine. Lemon could do that. He also brings enough juice after the catch to keep the pick from feeling like a pure technician selection. If the Giants want polish, this is the polished answer.
3. Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State
Jordyn Tyson is where the board starts to feel personal. He finished 2025 with 61 catches for 711 yards and eight touchdowns, and ESPN’s consensus rankings recently placed him 10th overall. The raw yardage is lower than Lemon’s. That is fine. Tyson wins with the kind of body control and vertical appetite that makes defensive coordinators earn their paycheck. He feels local to the problem. Put him opposite Nabers and suddenly the Cowboys cannot just spin coverage toward one side. Put him opposite Nabers and the Eagles have to decide which matchup they actually trust. Tyson does not walk into the league with the cleanest statistical case. He does walk in with the kind of outside talent that makes a quarterback feel less alone. That is why he belongs in the top three.
2. Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame
Jeremiyah Love is the name that forces every front office to reveal what it really believes about positional value. He ran for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns at 6.9 yards per carry in 2025. He also sits near the top of the class on major boards. Those are not normal numbers. Neither is the way he moves.
Love does not run like a concession to tradition. He runs like a modern offensive cheat code. If the Giants drafted him at No 5, the reaction would split fast. Traditionalists would smile. Analytics people would groan. Defensive coordinators, meanwhile, would start writing extra notes.
He would give Harbaugh a physical identity piece. He would also give Dart a back who can punish light boxes if the second opponent spreads out to respect the pass. The only reason he is not first is simple: Nabers’ health and the shape of this receiver room make wideout feel more urgent.
1. Carnell Tate, Ohio State
Carnell Tate is the cleanest answer because he solves the most problems at once. He caught 51 passes for 875 yards and nine touchdowns in 2025. He also landed eighth in ESPN’s consensus overall rankings and led the nation with six receiving touchdowns on throws of 30 or more air yards.
That last number is the one that sticks. Tate is not just a receiver who gets fed. He is a receiver who changes distance. Outside the numbers, he can win clean. Down the field, he stretches the coverage and forces corners to turn.
For Dart, that means a real second boundary threat. Nabers also gets relief from carrying every frightening assignment alone. More than that, Tate fits the emotional reality of this roster. He is big enough to hold up. Polished enough to play early. Explosive enough to make the Eagles and Cowboys adjust instead of just react.
If the Giants want help, there are other names. If they want gravity, Carnell Tate is the pick.
What would this choice say about the Giants
Safe picks usually tell on a franchise. They tell you the people in charge still fear embarrassment more than they trust vision. The Giants are too deep into this cycle to live there again. Harbaugh did not take this job, with this structure and this money, to spend Year 1 of his regime sounding careful. Schoen did not trade up for Dart in 2025 to spend the next spring pretending the quarterback can develop on hope and protection alone.
Protection matters. Of course it does. The line needed reinforcements, and the Giants spent March stacking bodies there even if the interior still looks unfinished. But that work is exactly why this draft can afford a bolder voice now. Likely is here. Eluemunor is back. Stinnie is back. Neal and Ezeudu got another chance. Nabers is rehabbing, but he remains the offensive centerpiece when healthy. The next step is obvious. New York has to make opposing secondaries pay for cheating toward him.
So the answer is yes. The Giants should think hard about a playmaker at No 5, and they should not apologize for it. Not a gadget. This cannot be a consolation prize, either. And it definitely should not be some YouTube darling with no weatherproof trait. A real one. A player who lets Dart play forward instead of sideways. A player who makes MetLife feel less like a construction site and more like a threat. Carnell Tate fits that description best. Love is the swing if the room wants to shock people. Tyson is the alternative if the board twists. But if this draft is supposed to tell us what the Harbaugh Giants want to become, why should the first loud sentence sound timid?
READ MORE: 2026 Draft: Ranking the Best Dual-Threat QBs to Watch
FAQs
Q1. Should the Giants draft a wide receiver at No 5?
A1. They have a strong case to do it. Malik Nabers is rehabbing, and Jaxson Dart still needs another receiver who can tilt coverage.
Q2. Why does Carnell Tate fit the Giants so well?
A2. He gives Dart a real outside threat. He also takes pressure off Nabers and adds the vertical fear this offense still lacks.
Q3. Could the Giants take Jeremiyah Love instead?
A3. Yes. Love is explosive enough to justify the swing, but the wide receiver feels more urgent for this roster.
Q4. Does Malik Nabers’ injury change the draft conversation?
A4. It should. His rehab may be on track, but the Giants still need another weapon they can trust early in the season.
Q5. Is the offensive line still a need for New York?
A5. Absolutely. The Giants brought back bodies up front, but the 2025 sack number still keeps the trenches in the draft conversation.
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