Giants Top Playmaker Traded in Latest Mock Draft

If the New York Giants want to move upward past No. 6 to get their quarterback of the future, it could take more than just a hefty exchange of draft capital. 

While the reports are constantly changing around the team and their intentions for navigating the draft board for a quarterback, the Giants are expected to be one team involved in discussions regarding a potential trade up when the NFL Draft opens on Thursday night. Any suitor could require the Giants to add a rostered player into the deal to make up for their departure from the playmakers on the docket this year and there is one name that is being thrown around by a last minute mock draft. 

According to his latest and final mock released on Wednesday morning, Giants beat reporter Art Stapleton of North Jersey.com proposed an interesting scenario where the Giants could achieve their dreams of landing one of the top prospects. In the hypothetical deal, New York would trade their sixth overall pick, the 107th selection, and two 2025 picks to the New England Patriots in return for the No. 3 slot and their fourth round pick this year. 

However, along with the draft assets, the Giants would ship out wide receiver Darius Slayton to the Patriots, who are also in dire need for some playmakers in their offense. The Giants would then use the No. 3 pick to snag UNC quarterback Drake Maye and hand Brian Daboll his developmental project for the future. 

Seeing this proposed trade might perplex some Giants fans given the team has such little draft capital work to with and need to add another playmaking threat to their corps. Yet, the move would actually allow them to still do that, not limit their chance to meet their biggest needs in the first few rounds and make both sides happy in the latest Slayton saga. 

The former fifth-round pick in 2019 was reported absent from the Giants’ voluntary workouts last week, which many believe to be the result of seeking an extension to his current contract. Slayton is owed $4.35 million in his current setup for the 2024 season, including $3.35 million that was designated as a roster bonus that was boosted last season for the team’s leading receiver. 

The Giants don’t seem too interested in committing long-term to Slayton despite him being one of their most active pass catchers. In his first five seasons with Big Blue, the 27-year-old had four campaigns with at least 46 receptions and 724 receiving yards. He also had an average of 15.1 yards and 19 total touchdowns on his resume as of the end of 2023, but the consistency of his redzone impact has dropped dramatically in that time span. 

The Giants have also reportedly “coveted” a few wide receivers at the top of the class in the event their candidacy for a top-4 quarterback comes up empty. Joe Schoen has stated that the team is keeping their horizons broad as they ponder the best choice for their first draftee of the 2024 class and this mock scenario can still allow them to get the best of both worlds. 

By giving New England just two picks towards this year, the Giants can retain a majority of their draft capital and still pursue the wide receiver of their choice in the second round, where they are bound to be solid prospects left available. All while the Patriots can stack extra picks, snag their quarterback at No. 6 and can offer Slayton the money he craves with their abundance of cap space. 

The only negative would be taking away a target with chemistry to Daniel Jones, who is expected to be the Giants starter in Week 1 of the upcoming season. On the other hand, it’s hard to see the Giants offering another physical asset to get where they want to be. The Slayton situation would help make the move more feasible for all parties involved, especially in the short term for New York.

More New York Giants NFL Draft news: