Grading the trade: Giants show aggressiveness to move up and land offensive weapon the NFL surprisingly forgot to draft earlier
New York gave up three draft picks, including one from next year, to move back to the third round and take wide receiver Malachi Fields.
The New York Giants didn’t have a third-round pick. Well, they made sure to move up and get a third-round player after all. Late on Day 2 of the NFL Draft, the Giants invested a lot to select Notre Dame wide receiver Malachi Fields.
To move up to the 74th overall pick, the Giants sent picks No. 105 (fourth round), No. 145 (fifth round), plus a 2027 fourth-round pick. It’s ok to be aggressive, and hopefully for the Giants, Fields will be a massive piece of the offense — but trading up, especially giving up future capital, is always a major risk.
On the other hand, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler projected Fields as a late second, early third-round type of prospect, so the value is there to make up for the investment.
Grade: B-
Malachi Fields’ scouting report
Fields came to Notre Dame as a consistent producer while at Virginia. At around 6-4 and 220 pounds, he is a true boundary receiver who creates some big plays down the field due to his size, length, and catch radius. While Fields isn’t an incredibly fluid athlete, he clearly has a role for an NFL team.
There aren’t going to be many cornerbacks that can consistently match him from a physicality perspective, both in the passing and run game. His route running will never be anything special, so a team will need to be content with that role dependence. This a valuable player, but not an overly dynamic one who could become a solid No. 3 option in an offense.
Positional reasoning
The Giants decided they needed to add more high-end talent at wide receiver, because the depth was already there. Outside of Malik Nabers, who’s their star, No. 1 receiver, the other projected starters are Darius Slayton and Darnell Mooney — who signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Giants after being released by the Atlanta Falcons.
In total, the wide receiver room now has 13 players. It also already had Calvin Austin, Isaiah Hodgins, Xavier Gipson, Jalin Hyatt, Gunner Olszewski, Ryan Miller, Courtney Jackson, Dalen Cambre, and Beaux Collins.
After suffering for years with the lack of talent at wide receiver on the Baltimore Ravens, it was natural that John Harbaugh was going to chase a different reality in New York — and the draft is a definitive proof of that conclusion.
