Getty Image / Ed Mullholland
Not long ago a proud franchise, the New York Giants have become a laughingstock of the NFL. It seems as if the franchise follows Murphy’s Law: what can go wrong, will go wrong.
That’s exactly what happened on Sunday. After being an uncompetitive football team for much of the 2024 season, the Giants played themselves out of the first-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft with a stunning win over the Colts.
The Giants entered Sunday at 2-14 and in the midst of a season that has been pretty humiliating. Franchise player Saquon Barkley left in free agency after he and the team were unable to agree to a long-term deal despite trying to do so for quite a while. He’s now a Philadelphia Eagle, and went over 2000 yards on Sunday, with a real chance to break the single-season NFL rushing record next week against the Giants. Daniel Jones, the team’s quarterback whom they gave out a big contract to while placing Barkley on the Franchise Tag prior to the 2023 season, was benched and released less than two years after signing a $160 million contract. But, they were in line to pick first-overall next April with just two more losses to end the season.
Of course, the Giants won, beating the Colts 45-33 behind a huge game from Drew Lock. Obviously, players aren’t playing to lose, and coaches aren’t coaching to lose. But, in terms of the future, this was a backbreaking win for the Giants.
Many people, including myself, don’t think that there is a quarterback in the 2025 draft class worth taking with the first-overall picks. But, maybe the Giants think differently. Even if they agreed that none of the quarterbacks were worthy of that selection, they could’ve traded the pick to someone who did think that one of the quarterbacks was worth it. NFL franchises are great at talking themselves into quarterbacks, and I’m sure one of them would have made a big offer to trade up.
As of 5PM ET, the Giants are now set to pick third-overall, with the Patriots in the top spot. They will still have a bit of leverage there, but having the first pick really makes you the kingmaker of the draft.
This isn’t the first time the Giants have had something happen like this. In 2019, the Giants beat Miami and Washington in weeks 15 and 16. Had they lost those two games, they would’ve had the rights to the first-overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft that the Cincinnati Bengals used to select Joe Burrow. Yikes.
Let’s hope the New York Giants don’t have similar levels of regret in the future due to winning this game.