Top 50 2026 NFL Draft prospects<\/a> on Monday, and it has some interesting observations from a New York Giants perspective.<\/p>\nThe Combine is sure to shake up big boards and mock drafts internet-wide, and across the NFL. But it\u2019s interesting to see where things stand before the Combine so we can compare afterwards. So what can we take away from Jeremiah\u2019s Top 50 2.0?<\/p>\n
Are scouts down on Downs?<\/p>\n
Ohio State safety Caleb Downs has risen in the second iteration of Jeremiah\u2019s Top 50 rankings\u2026 From 10th to ninth.<\/p>\n
I try not to read other evaluator\u2019s writeups on prospects to avoid biasing my own analysis, but I also can\u2019t avoid seeing some things when bringing content to the Big Blue View community. And one thing I\u2019ve noticed is some analysts have been fading Downs lately and softening their evaluations from the hyperbole we saw during the season. Dane Brugler referred to Downs as \u201cone of the better safeties\u201d he\u2019s evaluated, while Pro Football and Sports Network called him a \u201csolid starting box safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given that the \u201cBig Name\u201d evaluators also incorporate some intel from the NFL\u2019s front offices and scouting community, the general trends are interesting to keep track of.<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t reveal my own thoughts just yet. We\u2019re making a change this year and I\u2019ll be dropping my scouting reports on the likely picks for the Giants at 5th overall during the Combine. I\u2019ll also be releasing a Mock Offseason the week after the combine, and plant my flag then.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also worth noting that Jeremiah has Toledo\u2019s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren 15th in his pre-Combine rankings and Oregon\u2019s Dillon Theineman 22nd. There isn\u2019t a whole lot separating these three prospects considering how even the overall talent level is in the first round.<\/p>\n
As I said above, I\u2019ll be planting my flag at fifth overall with a \u201cMock Offseason\u201d after the Combine. However, DJ and I see eye to eye with respect to Rueben Bain Jr., and frankly, a GIF is worth a thousand words:<\/p>\n
My reaction all year long watching Bane is pretty simple, \u201cThis dude looks like a New York Football Giant.\u201d And frankly, I dare you to tell me reading this doesn\u2019t make you smile just a bit and remember 2007 of 2011:<\/p>\n
Bain is a thick, square edge rusher with short arms. His game tape is littered with disruption, destruction and dominance. As a pass rusher, he lacks an elite get-off, but he wins with leverage, power and polish. He launches out of his four-point stance, uproots offensive tackles and forces open one of their shoulders to get to the quarterback. He has a nasty chop\/rip move, violent hump move and nifty Euro step. Against the run, he ragdolls tight ends and his motor to chase is unrelenting. Overall, he might lack ideal speed and length, but those shortcomings haven\u2019t stopped him from taking over big games in key moments. His drafting team is adding a certified junkyard dog, similar to former Eagle Trent Cole.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll spoil my mock offseason just a bit and say that Bane Jr. is on my short list at 5th overall, regardless of whether Kayvon Thibodeaux is on the team or not. I will disagree with Jeremiah on one thing, however, and it\u2019s that Bane reminds me of Terrell Suggs more than anyone else.<\/p>\n
(And yes, the Bane\/Bain references will continue.)<\/p>\n
Is Mansoor Delane in play?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s interesting that Jeremiah has LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane above Caleb Downs in his rankings. Delane broke out in a big way this year and was one of the two or three best corners in all of college football. He\u2019s also, as DJ notes, versatile enough to play in any scheme but has the elite traits necessary to excel in Press Man.<\/p>\n
Some Giants writers have been trying to make guesses on what kind of defense Denard Wilson will call. Personally, I\u2019ve been expecting something like \u201cWink Lite\u201d based on a couple factors. First and foremost is that the Giants tried to hire Wilson after the dramatic divorce between Brian Daboll and Wink Martindale. We saw that Shane Bowen was neither schematically nor psychologically inclined to call the type of defense for which the Giants have been built. So it would make sense that Wilson was their first choice to replace Martindale if he has a similar brand of defense in mind.<\/p>\n
Likewise, cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch spent the last three years in Denver helping to coach Vance Joseph\u2019s aggressive defense. Defensive passing game coordinator Donald D\u2019Alesio was in Baltimore last year, but spent the previous four years under Steve Spagnuolo in Kansas City \u2014 and we all know how much Spags likes to play man and blitz.<\/p>\n
All of that together makes me think that cornerback is higher on the Giants\u2019 list of priorities than we may realize. Granted, Tae Banks was drafted specifically for that scheme, but Delane is the first choice if the team isn\u2019t willing to give him a chance to get his career back on track.<\/p>\n
The Giants have to be hoping that Jeremiah\u2019s Top 50 2.0 holds true for their second pick, at least if they still need line help.<\/p>\n
As things stand now, the Giants hold the 37th overall pick, and that area is just littered with high-upside linemen.<\/p>\n
34th – Max Iheanachor (OT, Arizona State)
35th – Kayden McDonald (DT, Ohio State)
36th – Caleb Banks (DT, Florida)
38th – Peter Woods (DT, Clemson)
41st – Christen Miller (DT, Georgia)<\/p>\n
I would be very hesitant to take any Clemson player right now, considering how precipitously they\u2019ve all fallen off from what they were expected to be this year. Likewise, it\u2019s reasonable to be wary of Banks considering his time missed and inconsistency on tape. So both Woods and Banks come with a significant \u201cBuyer beware: Boom or Bust prospect\u201d label. However, the upside of either is easily worth the swing if you\u2019re comfortable with the person after putting them through the process.<\/p>\n
McDonald and Miller, meanwhile, are high-floor players who could have more untapped upside in the passing game than Jeremiah is giving them credit. Neither is likely to be an Aaron Donald or a (healthy) Dexter Lawrence, but a Johnathan Hankins or Dalvin Tomlinson caliber player is certainly possible, or even likely.<\/p>\n
Finally there\u2019s Iheanachor, and I stand by what I said in his scouting report: He could become the best offensive tackle to come out of this draft class. Even though Iheanachor only has a couple years\u2019 experience playing American Football, he\u2019s not nearly as raw as you\u2019d expect and the former soccer and basketball player just moves different. If the Giants re-sign Jermaine Eluemunor, having Iheanachor develop behind him could be an ideal situation.<\/p>\n
If Jeremiah is correct, we won\u2019t see many interior offensive linemen drafted in the first two rounds. He only has one pure guard in his Top 50, Penn State\u2019s Vega Ioane at 11th. Ioane is followed immediately by Francis Mauigoa (M-ow-ee-know-ah), the first offensive tackle on the board. That is, of course, if Mauigoa plays tackle in the NFL. There\u2019s some concern as to whether he has the lateral agility to match up with NFL pass rushers at tackle and guard might be his best position in the Pros.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s possible that if the Giants come into the draft needing a right guard, they would either be forced to reach for one at fifth or 37th, or hope a starting caliber guard falls to 105th overall (barring a trade, of course).<\/p>\n
The potential good news for the Giants is that the middle rounds could have some immediate starters in Gennings Dunker (Iowa), Chase Bisontis (Texas A&M), Emmanuel Pregnon (Oregon), Keylan Rutledge (Georgia Tech), and Billy Schrauth (Notre Dame).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 NFL Scouting Combine is just days away. Actually, that\u2019s not true. The Scouting Combine is going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,1208,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-772336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-york-giants-draft","10":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116123538963434680","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772336","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=772336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}