We’re roughly halfway through the 2025 NFL season, and the New York Giants have a familiar 2-7 record.
So while the Giants aren’t technically out of the hunt for the playoffs, it’s much closer to Draft Season than Playoff Season for Big Blue. The Giants would own the 5th overall pick if the season ended today, which which could make a variety of interesting prospects available to them.
Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates of ESPN alternated picks in their Mock Draft 1.0 on Wednesday afternoon, with Yates getting the Giants pick. He decided to get some help for rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart and reinforce a woefully thin receiving corps.
5. New York Giants – Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State
Yates says:
He [Tate] is exceptional, he looks so pro ready to me. His route running, his strength, his hands, the contested catch ability, all of it is so good. This ‘Brian Hartline U’ pipeline is just unbelievable. I don’t know how he gets these guys to basically be ready to be contributors from day one, but he does that at a very high level.
I absolutely love everything that Carnell Tate brings to the table.
Kiper says:
It’s three horse race right now [at wide receiver].
Makai Lemon (WR, USC) is the guy I’ve loved all along, but I’d say right now it’s Jordan Tyson from Arizona State, who’s hurt right now, and Carell Tate is the red-hot guy.
Now, you where we are right now with tape because of all those factors [Tate’s tape, quarterback Julian Sayin, and teammate Jeremiah Smith] … right now I would say if you polled people in the league Carnell Tate would be wide receiver one
Raptor’s thoughts
I don’t have a problem with this at all.
Assuming the Giants retain Jermaine Eluemunor, their needs on the offensive line are on the interior and there probably won’t be a guard worth drafting in the top 10. If Cor’Dale Flott continues to ascend and is extended, the Giants probably won’t have a pressing need at cornerback.
The Giants probably can’t spend another Top 10 pick on an edge defender.
Yates mentions Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods as a player he strongly considered, but opted for Tate due to need and positional value.
That pretty much leaves wide receiver as the premium position that fits both need and value for the Giants.
Tate is a long, lanky receiver at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, with easy deep speed, strong hands, and a big catch radius. As we’ve come to expect from OSU receivers, Tate is a deceptively smooth and savvy route runner. He appears to have good quickness despite his length, and mixes subtle fakes into his route stems to manipulate defenders.
As Yates notes, the Giants need to get more help for Jaxson Dart. Finding a “1b” receiver who can both compliment and take the load off Malik Nabers could truly unlock the Giants’ offense. Dart is an aggressive quarterback who wants to attack the defense, and Tate is averaging a conference-leading 18.2 yards per catch this year. The duo of Tate and Nabers would be somewhat akin to what Jayden Daniels enjoyed at LSU with Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr.
As both Yates and Kiper note, it’s still a long way from draft night. We don’t know where teams will be picking, nor which players will even declare for the draft.
My personal belief has been that the Giants need to add another receiver, both to help Nabers and reinforce the depth behind him, but also to protect Jaxson Dart from himself. His biggest hits against the San Francisco 49ers came when he scrambled because his receivers weren’t getting open.
The Giants aren’t in a “rebuilding” period anymore, but should rather be in the process of building around Dart. That means getting him the weapons he needs to attack the opposing defense, without feeling as though he needs to win the game himself.
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