Meet the NY Giants’ 2025 NFL Draft class, player-by-player
Who did the Giants pick in the 2025 NFL Draft? Meet each player from the class, starting with top picks Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart.
EAST RUTHERFORD – Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart are chasing greatness, not ghosts.
The New York Giants have purpose and a plan they hope to bring to fruition with young players who believe in that quest, and with Carter and Dart now prepared to lead the way from the moment they walked in the door, for the first time in a long while, the franchise has hope.
And here’s the reality: this mission can no longer be about matching up to a legacy that does not belong to them.
The Giants have four Vince Lombardi trophies representing each one of their Super Bowl victories, on display in the lobby of their training facility, which sits across the parking lot from where the old Giants Stadium once stood, in the shadow of MetLife Stadium, where they play now.
Fans of all ages still embrace that success, of course, it’s what makes the Giants the Giants.
Yet sometimes those who lived through Super Bowl XXI and XXV see the game – and the team for whom they root – a lot differently than those who were introduced to the winning in Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI.
There is also a generation of fans whose appreciation for those championships is gained through history lessons from family members of days gone by and in videos on YouTube.
And that is the target audience for Carter and Dart. There is nothing wrong with ambition, and neither first-round rookie has talked publicly about one day wearing gold jackets and putting another Lombardi in the trophy case.
The goal is unspoken, relatively, yet clearly understood by those who appreciate how their presence will continue to command attention even as the offseason moves into OTAs with the veterans taking center stage this week.
The best thing for Carter and Dart right now: with admiration and respect for Giants of the past, notably Lawrence Taylor and Eli Manning at their respective positions, they promise the focus is on following the path those franchise legends blazed and not becoming “the next LT” or “the next Eli.”
It may be a subtle difference in approach from high-profile rookies who came before them, but a necessary one.
“I just want to chase greatness, and knowing that he was the best, that’s what I want to chase,” Carter said. “But I didn’t say, ‘I want to be better than Lawrence Taylor.’ This is more me looking up to him, inspired to be like him.”
In order to compete in the NFC East with the Eagles, the Commanders and the Cowboys, the Giants are not going to measure up until they can match that edge not only with talent, but in their hearts and minds.
A rebuild like the one the Giants needed after the 2021 season was bound to be messy, and the fact that it didn’t start out that way two years ago during a surprising playoff run when coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen got here has been overshadowed greatly by what has transpired since.
The timeline has caught up to Daboll with urgency to get the team back to where it was during his NFL Coach of the Year campaign, and for Schoen, whose job relies on the patience of the NFL Draft and development just the same.
The Class of 2024 put forth the best collective season for Giants rookies since 2007.
Now the vision for where these Giants want to go – where they need to go in order to hold their own and re-establish a standard that’s been absent for a while – has not been as clear as it is right now.
“It’ll all come together,” Schoen said. “Until we go out and do it, it doesn’t matter. It’s just on paper now.”
There has been significant emphasis on the building of a team that refuses to get bullied between the lines, mocked in back page headlines and run through the wringer on banners pulled by planes over MetLife Stadium.
We have talked about creating identity for years and the Giants have always been quick to try and steal that from their past, rather than re-defining themselves for who they are.
If the Giants are going to compete, they must alter the mindset from the inside out.
“With what they did [in the 2025 NFL Draft], I think the message was sent,” a league executive told NorthJersey.com and The Record last month. “It’s been a while, but they’re done getting pushed around.”
As another league source told NorthJersey.com and The Record about the anticipated personality shift within the Giants’ quarterback room, which sets a tone for the entire team: “They went from milquetoast to Fireball [whiskey].”
The potential firepower on the defensive side of the ball is undeniable.
By adding the 6-foot-3, 248-pound Carter, the Giants have created an identity with All-Pro Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux already up front and newcomers Jevon Holland and Paulson Adebo on the back end.
Carter, 21, plays with aggression and he’s really good with his hands. This was his first year playing defensive end and attacking quarterbacks from the edge, so there’s no telling how good he can be with more experience at the position. His combination of athletic traits, explosiveness and potential upside is off the charts.
“He looked different than anybody else in this draft and he’s had only one year [at the position],” former Giants captain Jonathan Casillas said of Carter on the latest episode of the “All In with Art Stapleton” podcast. “So for me, the potential as a pass rusher is through the roof.”
Carter was the best defensive player in the Class of 2025 and was the right pick for the Giants at third overall. The fierce pass rusher comes to New Jersey with Big Blue envisioning a dominant defensive front that won them their last two Super Bowls. He moves like Von Miller and his game is nowhere near its ceiling with just one season as a defensive end.
With his respect for Taylor, their exchange over the No. 56 and Taylor telling Carter that, while he would be rooting for him, to pick another number and make it his own. Wearing No. 51, the former Penn State star is motivated to do just that.
And here’s the strange thing: with all the attention paid to Dart as the Giants’ quarterback of the future – and rightfully so – somehow Carter’s talent and opportunity to impact this defense has been somewhat undersold.
The player the Giants will be counting on to help take this defense to the next level is Carter. His versatility will give defensive coordinator Shane Bowen a true chess piece to use both up front and in space as a possible spy for NFC East quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels, not to mention in coverage as an off-ball linebacker.
“I’m just getting started,” Carter said.
Dart is an aggressive, confident quarterback whose personality on the field gives off Baker Mayfield vibes. He has all the tools, Daboll is a believer in Dart, and the Giants took the swing on draft night, dealing No. 34, No. 99 and a 2026 third round pick to the Texans for the chance to take him at No. 25.
Kudos to Schoen for waiting for the right moment with the Saints and the Browns possibly lurking and still holding onto No. 65, which the Giants used to select defensive lineman Darius Alexander.
You know the Giants and their love for quarterbacks from Ole Miss. The 21-year-old will be the youngest QB in the NFL next year, but he also has a ton of playing experience with 45 college starts. There will be a learning curve, and the Giants can bring him along with a focus on developing and finding his own footing in the pros without the pressure to produce immediately.
Like Carter with Taylor – the two met in person for the first time when the Hall of Famer visited last week – Dart has embraced a student-mentor relationship with Manning dating back to his days at the Manning Passing Academy.
When Dart transferred from USC to Ole Miss, his bond with Eli and his father Archie – both legends for the Rebels – only got stronger.
“He’s been here, played at the highest level, won Super Bowls, and for me, I want to chase greatness just like he did,” Dart said, echoing Carter’s sentiment. “So, I think when you’re able to pick the brain of a future Hall of Famer, you’d be a fool not to.”
The fact that Carter even asked for an introduction to Taylor two days into his Giants tenure, unafraid of the answer when the request for No. 56 came up, that should be what gets the attention of an entire franchise.
“I just want to be great in everything I do,” Carter said. “I just want to strive for greatness.”
With Carter and Dart now positioned to become the faces of this next chapter, the Giants have to be the team that finally stops looking to the past for an identity to call their own.