The New York Giants drafted Arvell Reese with the fifth pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The New York Giants' defense could be deadly next season.
Before the 2026 NFL Draft, the Giants had Kayvon Thibodeaux, Brian Burns and Abdul Carter. Now, New York has Arvell Reese in the mix.
"The New York Giants should be thrilled, because Arvell Reese was almost universally seen as a top-three pick throughout the lead up to this event," NFL analyst Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report wrote.
Reese had 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks for Ohio State last season. He was a First-Team Associated Press All-American, the Big Ten Conference LB of the Year and a First-Team All-Big Ten selection.
Reese lined up all over the field at Ohio State. He played 56% of his snaps at outside linebacker, 38% at inside linebacker and 6% at defensive back. He's a very versatile player.
Reese said the majority of teams told him he would play outside backer and then there were a couple of teams, including the Giants, that mentioned inside backer.
"It didn't really matter to me," Reese said. "Getting into the league is what mattered the most to me. It didn't really matter to me. I played both at Ohio State, [Buckeyes defensive coordinator] Coach [Matt] Patricia put me at both roles, so I'm just excited to be in this situation. … There's not one or the other that I like to play more. I would say I got more reps at inside backer, but I like playing, I honestly like playing both. That was my role last year, so I appreciated both, respected both roles."
The Giants traded Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals after Lawrence requested a trade. With Lawrence gone, Thibodeaux, Burns, Carter and Reese are the top players on defense.
"Arvell is a versatile player, and we're going to play him at inside backer, Will linebacker," new Giants head coach John Harbaugh said. "Our defense is pretty flexible, position-less you might call it. We'll have an opportunity to move those guys around. But he'll line up next to Tremaine, and he'll be in the A gap, the B gap, the C gap, the D gap, off the edge. He'll be moving around with all of our guys. Abdul and Brian and Kayvon and Tremaine."
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