2025 NFL Draft order: Giants hold the second overall pick

The New York Giants will go into their bye week after suffering a deflating defeat on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers in Munich, Germany. The Giants fell 20-17 in overtime to the team commonly held to be the worst team in the NFL. Well, that mantle is now passed to the 2-8 Giants.

But if there’s a silver lining to the Giants’ loss to the Panthers it’s that they now hold the second overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Thanks to their loss, as well as wins by the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots, the Giants are one of two 2-8 teams in the NFL.

There’s still plenty of football left to be played this year, and with it plenty of time for teams to jockey for position in the draft order. However, if the season were to end today, the Giants would be picking second behind the Jacksonville Jaguars, per Tankathon.

Current Top 10

1. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-8)
2. New York Giants (2-8)
3. Cleveland Browns (2-7)
4. Las Vegas Raiders (2-7)
5. Miami Dolphins (2-7)
6. Tennessee Titans (2-6)
7. New England Patriots (3-7)
8. New Orleans Saints (3-7)
9. Carolina Panthers (3-7)
10. New York Jets (3-6)

Note: The exact order will be updated following the Dolphins’ game on Monday Night Football. However, the Giants’ draft position won’t shift based on the outcome of any remaining games this week.

This is a significant improvement (of sorts) for the Giants, who held the seventh overall pick following their loss to the Washington Commanders last week. This doesn’t project to be a great quarterback draft, and there are quite a few quarterback-needy teams in the top 10.

Right now it seems like a foregone conclusion that the Giants will be in the market for a long-term solution at the quarterback position. It isn’t a given (just yet) that Daniel Jones has played his last snaps as the Giants’ starting quarterback, but it would be a surprise if the Giants didn’t make a change. Jones is 3-13 since the start of 2023 and his play against a league-worst Panthers’ defense was the root cause for the team’s loss.

If the Giants come to the conclusion that the future of their quarterback position is in the 2025 NFL Draft, the big question becomes what the Jacksonville Jaguars do. They made Trevor Lawrence the third-highest paid quarterback in the NFL this summer and are financially tied to him through at least 2028. The Jaguars could (assuming they get the first overall pick) auction off the rights to draft the top quarterback, or they could take a skill position player like Travis Hunter (CB/WR Colorado) or Will Johnson (CB, Michigan) even an offensive tackle like Will Campbell (LSU) or Kelvin Banks (Texas).

If the Giants resolve to draft a quarterback — no sure thing at this point — Miami’s Cam Ward seems like the most likely pick, though Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss, Garrett Neussmeier of LSU, or Jalen Milroe (Alabama) could be in consideration as well.

As I said above, there’s still a lot of football left to be played, and the draft order will shift on a weekly basis. There’s also no guarantee that the Giants will feel any of the available quarterbacks are long-term answers. We’ll have to wait and see what the Giants decide to do, but if the remainder of the season follows suit with the previous 10 games, at least the Giants will have all — or nearly all — of the potential options laid out in front of them.