{"id":695075,"date":"2026-01-22T00:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T00:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/695075\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T00:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T00:52:12","slug":"mel-kiper-jr-makes-his-new-york-giants-prediction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/695075\/","title":{"rendered":"Mel Kiper Jr. makes his New York Giants prediction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 21, 2026, 6:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

While head coaching searches and interviews continue in abundance, there are other offseason happenings around the NFL.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest things, aside from this wild coaching carousel, is that the 2026 NFL draft is just a few months away. This means that mock drafts are beginning to trickle in, and we’re getting a look at some potential outcomes for April’s event.<\/p>\n

To that end, let’s take a look at who Mel Kiper Jr. thinks the New York Giants will take<\/a> with the fifth overall pick in the upcoming draft.<\/p>\n

Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State<\/p>\n

The Giants<\/a> have a lot of needs, but similar to Tennessee, they have a second-year quarterback looking for help. Yes, wide receiver\u00a0Malik Nabers\u00a0(knee) and running back\u00a0Cam Skattebo\u00a0(ankle\/leg) will be back on the field, but wideout\u00a0Wan’Dale Robinson\u00a0is a free agent, and Nabers can’t be the target on\u00a0all\u00a0of\u00a0Jaxson Dart’s throws. Taking a first-round wide receiver wouldn’t be new to\u00a0recently hired coach\u00a0John Harbaugh; in Baltimore, he used four Day 1 picks starting in 2015 on the position (Zay Flowers,\u00a0Rashod Bateman,\u00a0Hollywood Brown\u00a0and\u00a0Breshad Perriman).<\/p>\n

This also would be the fifth straight year we’ve seen a first-round wideout from Ohio State. Tate would bring fantastic route running and reliable hands to MetLife Stadium. He caught 51 passes for 875 yards and nine scores for the Buckeyes this past season.<\/p>\n

Wide receiver is a big need for the Giants in 2026. Nabers is likely to start the season on the PUP list, Wan’Dale Robinson is a free agent, and Darius Slayton hasn’t emerged as a top target for Jaxson Dart. Carnell Tate could line up opposite Nabers and stretch opposing secondaries, allowing for more designed quarterback runs and slot passes to Theo Johnson.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Giants have several needs to address this offseason, and wide receiver is only one of them. Tate is a good option for the Giants, but taking him at No. 5 feels like a stretch. A better fit might be Caleb Downs, who fits John Harbaugh’s defensive scheme like a glove.<\/p>\n

For now, though, Kiper sees the Giants taking Tate with the fifth overall pick.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 21, 2026, 6:00 p.m. ET While head coaching searches and interviews continue in abundance, there are other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[95878,7,6,15,96069,96070,97116,95882,95896,95891,95888,96683,95895,95899,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-695075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft","12":"tag-sstssportsnflgiants","13":"tag-sstsngiants","14":"tag-tag2026-nfl-draft","15":"tag-tagamerican-football","16":"tag-tagnational-sports","17":"tag-tagnew-york-giants","18":"tag-tagnfl","19":"tag-tagnfl-draft","20":"tag-tagnfl-hub","21":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","22":"tag-tagsports-news","23":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115936018115578403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}