New York Giants: Early top positions of need for 2021 NFL Draft
By Evan Orris
1. Wide Receiver
On paper, the Giants don’t have a bad receiving core. Golden Tate is an 11-year veteran who is still one of the best receivers after the catch in the league.
Second-year player Darius Slayton is coming off a solid rookie year in which he scored eight touchdowns. And Sterling Shepard is still a reliable season when healthy (he missed six games due to injury).
That’s a solid trio, but there isn’t much after that. The next man after that is a former first-round pick, Corey Coleman, who is coming off a torn ACL.
Cody Core was expected to play a small role as a rotational receiver, but he suffered a torn Achilles earlier this offseason.
Right now, the Giants can rely on those four guys, but Tate has a clause on his contract where the Giants can cut him after the season and save anywhere from $3-6 million. If the Giants go that route, they would need a new receiver.
If the Giants want Daniel Jones to continue flourishing, they should look to take a receiver early in the draft. And, if they have an early enough pick they could potentially end up with former LSU receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Whom scouts think could sneak into the top five of this year’s draft.
The Giants don’t necessarily need to take a receiver in the first round, however. The wide receiver class this year is supposed to be as deep as they come. The Giants also showed that they can find a diamond in the rough, as they drafted Darius Slayton in the fifth round of the 2019 draft.