Giants NFL Draft: How big a price will New York pay for beating Colts? We’ll soon find out

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It’s too soon to know what exactly the cost of Sunday’s win will be, but it could be steep.

When the New York Giants were on track to pick first in the 2025 NFL Draft, their future was clear. They would draft the best available quarterback — Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Miami’s Cam Ward or perhaps someone else — and build around him.

But after Sunday’s 45-33 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, the future of the franchise is far less certain.

The victory helped dropped the Giants from the top spot in the draft order down to No. 4. We don’t know if that’s where they’ll end up picking (more on that in a bit), but we do know they no longer control their own destiny as it relates to the draft order. And that means finding the quarterback of the future could be that much harder.

Will they have to trade up to make it happen? With a roster filled with holes, that is not exactly an enticing proposition, even if it becomes necessary. And even if they want to trade up, will they get the opportunity? Giants fans don’t need reminding that the team tried and ultimately failed to move up in the 2024 draft and pick Drake Maye.

Giants fans also don’t need reminding that the reason their team was picking at No. 6 last and not inside the top three with an opportunity to select Maye or Jayden Daniels was because they won three meaningless games in a row late last season behind QB Tommy DeVito.

Now, after another mostly meaningless win, it’s hard not to feel like history is repeating itself. Was Sunday’s win a morale boost? Sure. Was it what’s best for the franchise’s future? Probably not.

It’ll be a while before we know the price for sure, but it’s possible the ramifications of Sunday’s win could be felt by this franchise for a long, long time.

Not that anyone inside the Giants locker room cares. For the first time in a long time, the Giants postgame locker room was a place of joy rather than sorrow. And for good reason. The players and coaches in that locker room put an end to a franchise-worst 10-game losing streak and ensured that this Giants season would not be the first since 1974 without a home victory.

So, while the franchise may pay a price for the win, it’s not the players’ jobs to worry about that. They’re paid to win games. And while they haven’t done that much this year, they accomplished that goal Sunday. And for them, it felt great.

“We’re obviously not tanking,” wide receiver Darius Slayton said. “We have a job to do. This isn’t basketball; it’s not golf; it’s not tennis. Football, you get hit. I’m not gonna go out there and let people tee off on me to tank. I’m not about to let people dive at my knees for free. At the end of the day, we’re trying to win and (Sunday) showed that fight.”

Offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor believes Sunday’s win does more for the future of the franchise than a loss would have.

“You’d rather your team go out there and fight for every inch than lay down and just take an ass-whupping. Yeah, you get your pick that you want, but what is that player coming into?” Eluemunor asked. “You’ve got to establish some sort of culture. We’re trying to establish a culture that can lead into next year.”

Maybe Eluemunor ends up being proven right, but it’s still hard to dismiss the notion that the Giants landing their franchise quarterback will be that much harder now. Of course, there’s still the possibility that the team can move back up the board before the season ends.

While the Giants sit at No. 4, according to Tankathon, their final draft position will come down to what happens in Week 18. Remember, strength of schedule is the deciding tiebreaker for draft order, and that’s working against the Giants. Because their strength of schedule is superior to the NFL’s other three-win teams (the New England Patriots, the Tennessee Titans and the Cleveland Browns), the Giants need help to climb back into the top three of the draft order.

But they’d first need to “help” themselves with a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 18. That’s no guarantee since there is a high likelihood the Eagles will be resting their starters. Philadelphia clinched the NFC East on Sunday and is locked into the No. 2 seed. The Eagles don’t have anything to play for except, perhaps, trying to get running back Saquon Barkley the NFL single-season rushing record. He’s 100 yards behind Eric Dickerson.

To surpass the Patriots, the Giants would need New England to beat the 13-3 Buffalo Bills. While that might seem unlikely, again, the better team likely will be resting its starters. The Bills have clinched the AFC East and are locked into the No. 2 seed in the AFC.

To surpass the Titans, the Giants need Tennessee to beat the 9-7 Houston Texans. Yet again, the superior team doesn’t have anything to play for. The Texans have already won the AFC South and are locked into the conference’s No. 4 seed.

Finally, they likely would need the Browns to beat the 11-5 Ravens. (We say “likely” because the Browns’ strength of schedule appears to be close enough to be in play for the Giants to win the tiebreaker). This game should have meaning for the Ravens, as they have not yet clinched the AFC North.

It’s also worth at least mentioning that if the Giants win against Philadelphia and get to four wins, they could fall even further down the board. Five other teams are sitting at four wins, and the Giants’ strength of schedule is better than four of them.

All of this will play out in due time, and then we’ll have months to debate what the Giants should do with their pick. For now, however, the locker room is enjoying the feeling of winning for the first time in more than 10 weeks.

“The win feels great,” outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux said. “Definitely does feel worth it. It’s worth it. I’ll tell you that.”

We’ll see about that.

(Photo of Drew Lock and Malik Nabers: Ed Mulholland / Getty Images)