6 winners and 4 losers from the NY Giants’ 2026 NFL Draft
Evan Neal | Getty Images It will be a long while before we know if the New York Giants’ 2026 NFL Draft will be as successful as it appears at first blush. We do know, though, that there appear to be some immediate and obvious winners and losers. Let’s run through the list.
Winner D. J. Reader C’mon down, D.
J. Having missed out on an opportunity to select defensive tackle Kayden McDonald in Round 2 — even though the Giants have tried to say that isn’t what they would have done, anyway — the Giants still have a crater-like Dexter Lawrence-sized hole in the middle of their defense. That means Reader, a veteran free-agent nose tackle, should have a job by 4 p.
m. on Monday when free agent signings no longer count against the 207 compensatory pick formula. He should also have a pretty nice contract for a guy signing in late April.
Loser Evan Neal (Daniel Faalele and Josh Ezeudu, too) Since coach John Harbaugh decided to give Neal one last chance, there has been some optimistic “what if he’s good and becomes a starting guard? ” chatter in the fan base. Well, forget that.