The Giants have two picks in the top 10 of tonight’s NFL draft.
When their turn came to select No. 5, the Giants had their choice of a trio of Ohio State players. They selected linebacker Arvell Reese, taking him over his teammates, safety Caleb Downs and linebacker Sonny Styles.
The Giants have received trade interest regarding edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, and the selection of Reese makes that a possibility. Thibodeaux was the fifth overall pick in 2022, and the Giants selected edge rusher Abdul Carter third in 2025.
Their defense should be even better than it was in 2025 with the addition of Reese, who totaled 69 tackles, 10 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss last season, his third at Ohio State.
He was a consensus All-American and Big Ten linebacker of the year.
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All of the talk about the Jets’ plans for the second overall pick heading into the draft centered on whether they would take David Bailey or Arvell Reese to bolster their defense.
The answer to their edge rusher question finally came on Thursday night in Pittsburgh. The Jets made Bailey their choice shortly after the Raiders made it official with Fernando Mendoza.
Bailey led the nation with 14.5 sacks for Texas Tech during the 2025 season and the Jets’ level of interest in him became a talking point over the last week because the team canceled a visit with him during the pre-draft process. They had other interactions over the last few months, however, and Jets General Manager Darren Mougey obviously saw enough to make Bailey the man.
The Jets also have the No. 16 pick, so they’ll be heard from again on Thursday night.
At long last, we’ll find out where the 2026 NFL draftees are headed, starting tomorrow night with the first round.
One player who likely won’t have to wait very long to hear his name called is running back Jeremiyah Love.
Considered by some to be the best player in this year’s class, Love appears certain to be a top-10 pick, and could even go within the top five.
Where will he go? He’s not sure, but he’s aware of the candidates.
“I have no idea where I’m going, but there’s a lot of talk of me going to the Titans, Cardinals, Giants,” Love said Wednesday, via Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com. “Honestly, I’d be blessed to go anywhere.
“Whatever team I go to, I’mma make them better.”
Love, who turns 21 at the end of May, rushed for 1,372 yards with 18 touchdowns and caught 27 passes for 280 yards with three TDs in 12 games for Notre Dame in 2025.
Offensive lineman Shane Lemieux has announced his retirement.
Lemieux made the announcement in a post to his LinkedIn account. Lemieux wrote that he dreamed of spending at least a decade in the NFL when the Giants drafted him in the fifth round in 2020, but “five surgeries and more time in the training room than on the field” led to his decision to walk away from the game.
Lemieux played 12 games and made nine starts at guard as a rookie, but only played in six games over his final three seasons with the NFC East club. Knee, toe and biceps injuries contributed to his extended absences from the lineup.
Lemieux moved on to play seven games and make four starts for the Saints in 2024 and spent last season on the Seahawks’ practice squad.
The Giants thinned out their defensive line by trading Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals and they have spent some time with a possible addition to the group.
The NFL’s transaction report of Tuesday shows that the Giants reported a visit with veteran free agent defensive lineman Benito Jones.
Jones spent the last two seasons with the Dolphins and started in 23 of his 31 appearances for Miami. He had 39 tackles and a sack in that action.
Jones entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with Miami in 2020 and played six games as a rookie before spending 2021 on the practice squad. He was claimed off of waivers by the Lions in 2022 and had 42 tackles and 2.5 sacks in 34 games for Detroit.
Not that long ago, some media and fans would gnash their teeth and/or clutch their pearls at the notion that NFL players were acquiring the kind of power NBA players have.
Don’t look now, but NFL players are slowly but surely getting there.
The recent Dexter Lawrence trade from the Giants to the Bengals is the latest example of it. Lawrence, a “middle stone” player for the New York defense, wasn’t happy. He wanted out. He asked to be traded. Within two weeks, he was.
It’s a far cry from the days when the prevailing view among NFL teams was to not flinch when a player wasn’t happy. Instead, teams dug in. And some in the media (along with plenty of fans) would lead the cheers. “Honor your contract” was the mantra — even if NFL contracts are not true bilateral deals. The team can move on whenever it wants; the player cannot.
Now, maybe the players can get out. Because an unhappy player becomes a problem for the team.
The Giants knew Lawrence wasn’t happy. It wasn’t a sudden thing. They’ve been to the playoffs once in his career. They’ve gone 13-38 over the last three seasons.
Meanwhile, Lawrence had seen multiple former teammates go elsewhere and win — big. From Saquon Barkley to Leonard Williams to Julian Love, Lawrence has watched multiple teammates exit New York and win a Super Bowl ring with another team. (Hell, even failed Giants first-rounder Kadarius Toney won not one but two Super Bowls with the Chiefs.)
And so Lawrence wanted out. The Giants realized their choices were to deal with an unhappy player or flip his contract for a fresh start with a brand-new player who (at least for the first few years of his career) will be all in. Especially if the Giants choose wisely.
When former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin first uttered one of the best of his catch phrases — “we want volunteers, not hostages” — the sentiment had broad and potentially problematic application. If a player doesn’t want to be here, we don’t want him. That’s a blank check for a one-way ticket out of town, whenever the player wants to hop on that bus.
There was a time, not all that long ago, when the knee-jerk reaction to a player who tried to exit before his contract expired was to play hardball. To resist the player’s prerogative. To refrain from setting a “precedent” that others could be tempted to utilize.
The showdown between the Eagles and Terrell Owens from 2005 arose directly from the team’s refusal either to address his contract or to trade him to a new team after he had a stellar debut season in Philadelphia.
In the end, the Eagles “won” the battle of wills. But what did they really win? The 2005 season was undermined by the constant distractions that Owens created in an effort to get what he wanted.
Owens was, in hindsight, a trailblazer. He showed what can happen when a team chooses to stubbornly cling to a contract that applies unequal standards to the two parties. If the player isn’t playing well enough, the team cuts him. If he’s playing better than expected, too bad. You signed a contract.
The most encouraging fact is that Lawrence was able to get what he wanted without it becoming a bigger deal than it needed to be. To the point where the successful exercise of power by the player wasn’t even a major headline.
We want volunteers, not hostages. The teams that embrace this message are more likely to accumulate and maintain a locker room full of willing participants. They’ll be more likely to create an environment that will cause the best players to continue to be fully engaged.
It’s an important point to keep in mind during draft week, when all teams will emerge with a new class of de facto hostages who have been conditioned (or, more accurately, brainwashed) into thinking it’s an honor to be told where they’ll live and work, regardless of their preferences. From the moment they show up in the building for the first time, the challenge becomes getting them to want to stay for as long as the team considers them to be worthy of roster spots.
Ultimately, all players will leave. It’s always better, from the perspective of the employer, for the teams to be able to decide when it’s time to end the relationship. The best way to get there is to ensure that the players will want to stick around even after the team has decided that it’s in the organization’s best interests to move on.
The World Cup is coming to multiple NFL stadiums. And the costs associated with getting to and from the venues will differ significantly among some of the cities.
In New Jersey, the cost for a return rail trip from MetLife Stadium to Penn Station in New York after one of the various World Cup matches will be $150. The trip usually costs $12.90.
In Philadelphia, the local host committee has secured free travel for fans leaving World Cup matches via the city’s transit system.
FIFA has complained about the New Jersey plan. “The NJ Transit current pricing model will have a chilling effect,” FIFA said in a statement. “Elevated fares inevitably push fans toward alternative transportation options. This increases concerns of congestion, late arrivals, and creates broader ripple effects that ultimately diminish the economic benefit and lasting legacy the entire region stands to gain from hosting the World Cup.”
In Boston, round-trip bus services to and from Gillette Stadium for World Cup matches will cost $95.
The numbers in New Jersey and Massachusetts are stunning, but that’s what happens when big events come to town. FIFA be damned.
At this point, it’s too late for FIFA to do anything about it. Other than to give a made-up award to Philly.
They can call it the FIFA price prize.
Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and the Giants may be on the verge of a reunion.
Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post reports that Beckham is at the team’s facility for a physical on Monday. NFL Media reports that he also worked out for the team. It’s unclear if those are precursors to Beckham signing a contract to return to his first NFL team, but they feel like steps toward that end.
Beckham met with Giants head coach John Harbaugh at the league meetings in Arizona last month. Beckham played for the Ravens in 2023, so a deal bringing him back to the Giants would also create a second chance for him to play for Harbaugh.
The Giants drafted Beckham 12th overall in 2014 and played for the team before being traded to the Browns ahead of the 2019 season. He signed with the Rams after being waived during the 2021 season and tore his ACL while helping the Rams to a Super Bowl win. He joined the Ravens after sitting out in 2022 and had nine catches in nine games for the Dolphins in 2024.
The Bengals hadn’t traded away a first-round pick since 1989. And for good reason.
First-round picks become premium incoming players who are, regardless of their eventual NFL abilities, young and cheap. That became particularly true in 2011, with a new labor deal that restricted the contracts available at the top of the draft.
So why would the Bengals give up the tenth pick in the draft for an aging, expensive player? Last year, the tenth overall pick (Bears tight end Colston Loveland) signed a four-year, $26.36 million deal. The Bengals will be paying Lawrence $22 million in 2026 alone. In 2027, he’ll get $25 million.
V.P. of player personnel Duke Tobin nevertheless called the opportunity to acquire Lawrence for the tenth overall pick “too good to pass up.” That perception comes from the reality that the Bengals desperately need to improve their run defense — especially with quarterback Joe Burrow becoming increasingly impatient about the lingering flaws on the roster.
The Bengals aren’t far from being good enough to make the playoffs. In their division, the other three teams have new coaches for 2026. And if the Bengals can get to the postseason, they can win. Burrow becomes even better in a single-elimination setting.
The run defense last year was as bad as it could have been. The Bengals surrendered 147.1 rushing yards per game in 2025. That was the highest average in the league. The Bengals also allowed 5.22 yards per carry. That was the second-highest per-play rate.
That said, the Giants (with Lawrence starting all 17 games) allowed 145.3 rushing yards per game. That was the second-highest average in the league, behind only the Bengals. And the Giants allowed 5.31 rushing yards per attempt — the worst in the league.
Regardless, the Bengals needed to do something to beef up the middle of the defense. They have that now in Lawrence, who presumably will be happier and more motivated in 2026. Whether he’ll do enough to help get the defense off the field and allow Burrow and company to move the chains and score the points remains to be seen.
The Giants traded defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals over the weekend, but a report on Monday indicates that they aren’t expected to ship out another veteran defender ahead of the draft.
Edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux’s name has come up in trade chatter several times over the last couple of years. Head coach John Harbaugh said earlier this month that he’s thinking about getting Thibodeaux “plugged into our defense and getting him rolling” rather than trading him, but he also said that he expected to have Lawrence on the roster this fall so the more significant comment from the coach may have been when he noted that everyone is tradable.
At the moment, though, it looks like Thibodeaux is staying put. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that a trade involving Thibodeaux is considered less likely in the wake of moving Lawrence for the 10th overall pick in the draft.
Thibodeaux is headed into the final year of his contract, which joined the presence of Brian Burns and Abdul Carter as reasons to think the Giants would entertain trade offers. Their position could change down the road, but it looks like the Lawrence deal will be the team’s big news of the week on the trade front.
