{"id":857065,"date":"2026-04-06T15:50:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/857065\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T15:50:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:50:30","slug":"giants-land-star-defensive-player-in-a-new-2026-nfl-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/857065\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants land star defensive player in a new 2026 NFL mock draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Giants give head coach John Harbaugh a special player at a position he has coached a Hall of Famer and other special players during his career in a new 2026 NFL mock draft.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Giants
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMar 30, 2026; Phoenix, AZ, USA; New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh during the 2026 NFL Annual League Meeting at the Arizona Biltmore.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The New York Giants are a very interesting team to watch at the top of the 2026 NFL Draft. In a recent mock draft, they decided to give new head coach John Harbaugh a special talent on defense. <\/p>\n

Harbaugh coached many special players during his time as the Baltimore Ravens\u2019 head coach. A position specifically that he got to see multiple superstars operate was safety. <\/p>\n

A new A to Z Sports mock draft<\/a> has the Giants giving him another with the team adding the top player at the position.<\/p>\n

Giants select Ohio State superstar safety Caleb Downs in a new mock draft<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t get the idea of John Harbaugh getting his new Kyle Hamilton out of my mind. That\u2019s why I have the Giants selecting Downs here and adding a super-versatile piece to a secondary room that needs some help.\u201d \u2013 JT Ruhnke, A to Z Sports NFL Draft analyst<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"OhioDec 31, 2025; Arlington, TX, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes safety Caleb Downs (2) gets into position during the 2025 Cotton Bowl and quarterfinal game of the College Football Playoff at AT&T Stadium. Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Caleb Downs was a dominant force from the moment his college career started at Alabama. He then continued it after transferring to Ohio State for his sophomore and junior seasons. <\/p>\n

Harbaugh coached Kyle Hamilton in Baltimore and saw him become one of the best safeties in the NFL. Before that, though, he also coached the now-Hall of Famer Ed Reed from 2008 to 2012.<\/p>\n

The fifth pick for a safety may be seen as too rich for some teams. But if there is any coach out there who can explain to their team how impactful a special safety can be for a defense, it\u2019s Harbaugh. <\/p>\n

The Giants already have Jevon Holland, who is a proven playmaker at the position. Downs would come in and replace Tyler Nubin as the strong safety. That would give New York one of the best safety duos in the NFL. <\/p>\n

It would be a bold choice by New York, but I think it would be worth it. And while some may be against using such a high pick on a safety, Downs is a special football player, not just a safety. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"\t\t<\/p>\n

New York Giants News<\/p>\n

The New York Giants are a massive wild-card team with the No. 5 overall pick in the NFL Draft, and they could throw a wrench in the first round by selecting one surprising player after trading back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Giants give head coach John Harbaugh a special player at a position he has coached a Hall of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[613,7,519,116222,2909,1917,56,1207,2321,2469,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-857065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-caleb-downs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-giants","11":"tag-giants-mock-draft","12":"tag-john-harbaugh","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-giants","15":"tag-new-york-giants-news","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkgiants","18":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116358563181931479","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857065","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=857065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}