ESPN's Todd McShay updates Giants picks in latest mock draft
The start of free agency is just around the corner.
Following next week's moves around the league, many draft analysts will undoubtedly release updated predictions for the first round of this year's NFL Draft.
But before the legal tampering period opens, one of the top draft experts released his post-combine mock draft. In his last projection of the first round released just under a month ago, ESPN's Todd McShay predicted the Giants address both sides of the ball with their selections of Oregon EDGE Kayvon Thibodeaux and Mississippi State OT Charles Cross.
While he still has the Giants selecting one offensive and one defensive player with their two top picks, McShay has two new names going to Big Blue in his most recent mock draft released this week.
Here are McShay's latest predictions for the Giants, who hold the fifth and seventh overall picks in this year's draft.
Pick for No. 5: Travon Walker, DE, Georgia
Analysis: "The Giants generated just 34 sacks (tied for 22nd) last season, and while Walker didn't pile on the QB hits at Georgia (six sacks and 29 pressures last season), he was asked to do a lot of different things in a Bulldogs' front seven that presents three other likely first-rounders. The 272-pound Walker had a terrific workout in Indy, running a 4.51-second 40 and 6.89-second three-cone drill. Few players I've ever evaluated can generate the power he does from the ground up, and that was on display with a 35½-inch vertical and 10-foot-3 broad jump. Teamed up with Leonard Williams and Azeez Ojulari, Walker will only continue to develop while giving the Giants a dynamic edge rusher to spark the defense."
Walker started all 15 games for Georgia this past season, totaling 37 tackles, six sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss and a team-high 36 QB hurries on his way to becoming a CFP National Champion. He earned a 71.4 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, including a 73.7 run defense grade. At 6-foot-5, 275-pounds, Walker has been compared to Chris Wormley by Lance Zierlein and Rashan Gary by PFF. He racked up a career-high seven pressures during the National Championship game vs. Alabama.
Pick for No. 7: Garrett Wilson, WR, Ohio State
Analysis: "With the top three linemen in the class off the board already, new GM Joe Schoen and new coach Brian Daboll can get quarterback Daniel Jones help in another fashion. Wilson has elite body control, 4.38 speed and a big catch radius. New York can walk away happy on Day 1 with exciting new players on defense (Travon Walker) and offense (Wilson)."
Wilson caught an impressive 70 passes for 1,058 yards and 12 touchdowns in 11 games last season and was named Second-Team All-Big Ten. This came after catching 43 passes for 723 yards and six touchdowns in eight games in 2020, good enough for him to be named First-Team All-Big Ten. He finished with an overall PFF grade of 84.1 in 2021, including an 84.5 receiving grade and 83.8 grade against man coverage. PFF described Wilson as having "shades of Diontae Johnson."
NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah released his final edition of the top 50 prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft.
No. 50 Logan Hall, DT, Houston
No. 49 David Ojabo, EDGE, Michigan
No. 48 Sam Howell, QB, North Carolina
No. 47 Kaiir Elam, CB, Florida
No. 46 Christian Watson, WR, North Dakota State
No. 45 Skyy Moore, WR, Western Michigan
No. 44 Nik Bonitto, EDGE, Oklahoma
No. 43 Bernhard Raimann, OT, Central Michigan
No. 42 Tyler Smith, OT, Tulsa
No. 41 Jalen Pitre, S, Baylor
No. 40 Matt Corral, QB, Mississippi
No. 39 Lewis Cine, S, Georgia
No. 38 Christian Harris, LB, Alabama
No. 37 Travis Jones, DT, Connecticut
No. 36 Kenyon Green, G, Texas A&M
No. 35 Kyler Gordon, CB, Washington
No. 34 Arnold Ebiketie, EDGE, Penn State
No. 33 Kenneth Walker III, RB, Michigan State
No. 32 Andrew Booth Jr., CB, Clemson
No. 31 Boye Mafe, EDGE, Minnesota
No. 30 Zion Johnson, IOL, Boston College
No. 29 Quay Walker, LB, Georgia
No. 28 Breece Hall, RB, Iowa State
No. 27 Tyler Linderbaum, IOL, Iowa
No. 26 Malik Willis, QB, Liberty
No. 25 Jahan Dotson, WR, Penn State
No. 24 Kenny Pickett, QB, Pittsburgh
No. 23 Devonte Wyatt, DT, Georgia
No. 22 Charles Cross, OT, Mississippi State
No. 21 Dax Hill, S, Michigan
No. 20 Trevor Penning, OT, Northern Iowa
No. 19 Treylon Burks, WR, Arkansas
No. 18 George Karlaftis, EDGE, Purdue
No. 17 Nakobe Dean, LB, Georgia
No. 16 Jameson Williams, WR, Alabama
No. 15 Chris Olave, WR, Ohio State
No. 14 Trent McDuffie, CB, Washington
No. 13 Devin Lloyd, LB, Utah
No. 12 Derek Stingley Jr., CB, LSU
No. 11 Jordan Davis, DT, Georgia
No. 10 Kayvon Thibodeaux, EDGE, Oregon
No. 9 Jermaine Johnson II, EDGE, Florida State
No. 8 Evan Neal, OT, Alabama
No. 7 Drake London, WR, Southern California
No. 6 Travon Walker, EDGE, Georgia
No. 5 Kyle Hamilton, S, Notre Dame
No. 4 Garrett Wilson, WR, Ohio State
No. 3 Ickey Ekwonu, OT, North Carolina State
No. 2 Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner, CB, Cincinnati
No. 1 Aidan Hutchinson, EDGE, Michigan
NFL sets salary cap at $208.2 for 2022 season
The NFL set the salary cap for the 2022 season at $208.2 million per team, an increase of $25.7 million from last year's cap of $182.5 million. The league decreased the 2021 threshold due to the COVID-19 pandemic after a steady annual increase of at least $10 million.
General manager Joe Schoen has been open about the Giants' need to get in better shape regarding the cap, a process that included the release of veteran tight end Kyle Rudolph and running back Devontae Booker.
"We've got to have contingency plans and kind of the 'if/then' scenarios," Schoen said last week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. "We went through a lot of those. If we don't get to where we have money that we can do something in free agency, then it's going to be hard. Again, back to my introductory press conference, we want to be competitive today and also build for tomorrow. I think if we're able to do this the right way, I think there's a real possibility that we're going to be able to do that."
NFL.com updated its rankings of the top 101 players set to become free agents on March 16.
No. 101: QB Andy Dalton
No. 100 ILB Jayon Brown
No. 99: DT Harrison Phillips (Update: Phillips has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Vikings)
No. 98: OLB Leighton Vander Esch
No. 97: G Andrew Norwell
No. 96: OLB Dante Fowler Jr.
No. 95: CB Joe Haden
No. 94: OT Riley Reiff
No. 93: EDGE Lorenzo Carter
No. 92: RB Raheem Mostert
No. 91: LB Dont'a Hightower
No. 90: DB P.J. Williams
No. 89: DT Larry Ogunjobi (Update: Ogunjobi has agreed to a deal with the Bears)
No. 88: TE Zach Ertz (Update: Ertz has agreed to a new multi-year contract with the Cardinals)
No. 87: QB Marcus Mariota
No. 86: CB Kevin King
No. 85: S Xavier Woods (Update: Woods has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Panthers)
No. 84: P Bryan Anger
No. 83: CB Charvarius Ward (Update: Ward has agreed to a multi-year contract with the 49ers)
No. 82: G Austin Corbett (Update: Corbett has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Panthers)
No. 81: S Devin McCourty (Update: McCourty has agreed to a new contract with the Patriots)
No. 80: S Tracy Walker (Update: Walker has agreed to a new multi-year contract with the Lions)
No. 79: OT Morgan Moses (Update: Moses agreed to a multi-year contract with the Ravens)
No. 78: RB Chase Edmonds (Update: Edmonds has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Dolphins)
No. 77: LB Foye Oluokun (Update: Olukun has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Jaguars)
No. 76: WR Jamison Crowder
No. 75: CB Patrick Peterson
No. 74: DL Ndamukong Suh
No. 73: DT Sheldon Richardson
No. 72: TE O.J. Howard (Update: Howard has agreed to a contract with the Bills)
No. 71: DL B.J. Hill (Update: Hill has agreed to a new multi-year contract with the Bengals)
No. 70: DL Sebastian Joseph-Day (Update: Joseph-Day has agreed to a contract with the Chargers)
No. 69: EDGE Uchenna Nwosu (Update: Nwosu has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Seahawks)
No. 68: EDGE Arden Key
No. 67: LB Kyzir White
No. 66: CB Donte Jackson
No. 65: S Jayron Kearse
No. 64: EDGE Derek Barnett
No. 63: RB Melvin Gordon
No. 62: RB Leonard Fournette
No. 61: CB Casey Hayward
No. 60: S Jordan Whitehead (Update: Whitehead has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Jets)
No. 59: RB Rashaad Penny
No. 58: EDGE Justin Houston
No. 57: S Justin Reid (Update: Reid has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Chiefs)
No. 56: DT Foley Fatukasi (Update: Fatukasi has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Jaguars)
No. 55: WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
No. 54: OLB Anthony Barr
No. 53: S DeShon Elliott
No. 52: RB James Conner (Update: Conner has agreed to a new multi-year deal with the Cardinals)
No. 51: WR D.J. Chark (Update: Chark has agreed to a contract with the Lions)
No. 50: G Alex Cappa (Update: Cappa has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Bengals)
No. 49: CB Bryce Callahan
No. 48: CB Rasul Douglas
No. 47: DL Bilal Nichols
No. 46: G Connor Williams (Update: Williams has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Dolphins)
No. 45: OT Eric Fisher
No. 44: WR Will Fuller V
No. 43: G Laken Tomlinson (Update: Tomlinson agreed to a multi-year contract with the Jets)
No. 42: TE Evan Engram (Update: Engram has agreed to a contract with the Jaguars)
No. 41: RB/WR Cordarrelle Patterson
No. 40: CB Darious Williams (Update: Williams has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Jaguars)
No. 39: WR Christian Kirk (Update: Kirk has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Jaguars)
No. 38: CB D.J. Reed (Update: Reed has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Jets)
No. 37: OT Trent Brown
No. 36: WR JuJu Smith-Schuster
No. 35: C Ben Jones (Update: Jones has agreed to a new multi-year contract with the Titans)
No. 34: WR Russell Gage (Update: Gage has agreed to a contract with the Buccaneers)
No. 33: C Bradley Bozeman
No. 32: S Marcus Maye (Update: Maye has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Saints)
No. 31: DL Akiem Hicks
No. 30: S Quandre Diggs (Update: Diggs has agreed to a new multi-year deal with the Seahawks)
No. 29: EDGE Jerry Hughes
No. 28: DT D.J. Jones (Update: Jones has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Broncos)
No. 27: QB Teddy Bridgewater (Update: Bridgewater has agreed to a contract with the Dolphins)
No. 26: OT Joe Noteboom (Update: Noteboom has agreed to a new multi-year contract with the Rams)
No. 25: TE Rob Gronkowski
No. 24: EDGE Melvin Ingram
No. 23: EDGE Haason Reddick (Update: Reddick has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Eagles)
No. 22: G James Daniels (Update: Daniels has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Steelers)
No. 21: DL Calais Campbell
No. 20: WR Michael Gallup (Update: Gallup has agreed to a new multi-year contract with the Cowboys)
No. 19: LB De'Vondre Campbell (Update: Campbell has agreed to a new multi-year contract with the Packers)
No. 18: EDGE Jadeveon Clowney
No. 17: LB Bobby Wagner
No. 16: EDGE Randy Gregory (Update: Gregory has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Broncos)
No. 15: QB Jameis Winston
No. 14: OT Duane Brown
No. 13: CB Stephon Gilmore
No. 12: C Ryan Jensen (Update: Jensen has agreed to a new multi-year deal with the Buccaneers)
No. 11: WR Odell Beckham Jr.
No. 10: G Brandon Scherff (Update: Scherff agreed to a multi-year deal with the Jaguars)
No. 9: EDGE Emmanuel Ogbah (Update: Ogbah has agreed to a new multi-year contract with the Dolphins)
No. 8: WR Allen Robinson
No. 7: S Marcus Williams (Update: Williams has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Ravens)
No. 6: S Tyrann Mathieu
No. 5: EDGE Chandler Jones (Update: Jones has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Raiders)
No. 4: CB Carlton Davis (Update: Davis has agreed to a new multi-year contract with the Buccaneers)
No. 3: EDGE Von Miller (Update: Miller has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Bills)
No. 2: CB J.C. Jackson (Update: Jackson has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Chargers)
No. 1: OT Terron Armstead
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