Giants 7-Round Mock Draft 3.0: Major Trade Shakes Things Up
107th Overall Pick - Cam Hart, Cornerback
The Giants went on a youth experiment with their secondary in 2023 and it paid off with the discovery of Deonte Banks and his excellence at the outside corner spot. Yet, he needs some solid support to join a group that has potential but is still seeking their starting-level talents.
Taking the fifth-best defensive back prospect on Pro Football Focus' big board, Hart is a long and physical corner with the competitiveness to hold up against the press coverage and then find the ball and disrupt it in zone coverage. His frame allows him to affect the pass at the catch point and limit big plays in the zone and he can also crash down and help clog up the run game.
In 2023, Hart only allowed 15 receptions for 137 yards, both were career lows, and he was clean in the redzone with zero touchdowns allowed. The one area he can get beat sometimes is vertically with speedy receivers but he can build up speed if he stays along the route.
Getting Hart at a mid-round selection is considered a solid choice given his length and experience and he can fit well into zone-heavy systems which could be an element of Shane Bowen’s defense in 2024.
141st Overall Pick - Dillon Johnson, Running Back
While the Giants’ main replacement for Saquon Barkley was signing Devin Singletary, it would behoove the team to draft another ball carrier to support him. The rest of the position group is quite barren and unproven and the hope is that at least Eric Gray can come around this season with extra reps that should come his way.
In the fifth round, the Giants can snag Washington running back Dillon Johnson to provide their backfield with another dual-threat option that Barkley was in his six seasons with Big Blue. Johnson was the ringleader of the Huskies’s backfield in their run to the national championship game, posting 233 carries for 1,195 yards (5.1 average) and 16 touchdowns for the best numbers of his collegiate timeline.
The junior displays a great combination of vision, gap awareness and patience, balance through contact and elusiveness, factors that allowed him to be so effective with every handoff he took in 2023. He has a tough stiff arm to shake off defenders in the open field, but his shiftiness performs much better behind his blockers than in a footrace to the endzone.
Johnson adds extra value as a late-round selection with his third-down pass catching or blocking abilities. He had 24 catches for 190 yards and an average catch of 7.9 yards for Washington so the Giants could plug him in for late down situations after Singletary does his job on first and second downs or he can be an extra blocker for Daniel Jones when the pressure is coming.