With the No. 6 pick in the 2019 NFL draft, the New York Giants selected Duke quarterback Daniel Jones. However, if they were able to travel back in time and do things over, Pro Football Focus believes Big Blue would go in a different direction.
Trevor Sikkema of PFF recently conducted a re-draft and in it, the Giants nab wide receiver Terry McLaurin with their first pick in Round 1.
At the time, the Giants still had Eli Manning on the roster, but the then-38-year-old was in the last year of his contract and had led the team to a 5-11 record the season before. New York needed a quarterback, but re-drafting one here wouldn’t be fun.
Instead, I’ll anger the entire Washington fanbase by giving the Giants a player who should have gone top 10 in this class. McLaurin has averaged more than 1,000 yards a year through his first three NFL seasons. There’s plenty of reason to believe this upcoming campaign will be the best yet for McLaurin.
At No. 17 overall, Sikkema has the Giants remaining consistent and staying with defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence.
The Giants still would have this pick, as it wasn’t a draft-day trade; this was the selection they received in the Odell Beckham Jr. trade. They took Lawrence here back in 2019, and that’s still the right choice in this re-draft. The bigger-bodied Lawrence recorded a 73.3 pass-rushing grade in 2021, which was the fifth-best of any defensive lineman in the class.
As fans might recall, the Giants later traded back into Round 1 in order to draft cornerback Deandre Baker. That, of course, did not work out and Sikkema does not have them repeating history. Instead, the Green Bay Packers stay at No. 30 and select safety Darnell Savage.
Jones, meanwhile, falls out of the first round.
