There is a nightmarish scenario that could be taking shape for the New York Giants.
Currently, the New York Giants are 2-10 and would hope the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft if the season ended today. The problem is that there are still five games left to play.
The Giants aren't going to the playoffs. They aren't posting a winning record. At this point, you are just hoping that New York stays competitive in its losses but ultimately lands a top three-to-five pick in the 2026 draft.
That way, the Giants have the flexibility to trade down, where a quarterback-needy team may be willing to surrender significant draft capital in order to move up.
But if New York falls out of the top five, things get really dicey.
You might think there is no chance of that happening considering the Giants are, again, just 2-10, but have you seen the remainder of their schedule?
The most difficult part of the slate is over for New York, who just experienced an NFC North gauntlet and nearly came away with wins over all three of the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions, blowing late leads in each contest.
Yes, the Giants will face the 10-2 New England Patriots next Monday, but after that, they'll have the Washington Commanders (likely sans Jayden Daniels), the Minnesota Vikings, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys. The only game on the road over those last four will come against the Raiders, who are incredibly beatable regardless of where the matchup is played.
New York Giants edge rusher Brian Burns. Credit: Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images.Considering that New York has actually been very competitive all season, I can easily envision a couple of wins — at least — in there for Big Blue.
The Giants could very well finish 4-13 or even 5-12, the latter of which would basically be guaranteed to take them out of the running for a top-five pick.
That would be the absolute worst-case scenario for New York.
Yeah, yeah. I get the whole "culture" talk and how winning games helps with that, but let's be honest here: is 4-13 going to help the culture any more than 2-15?
You know what does help build a good culture, though? Finding good players, and you increase your chances of doing that with a higher draft pick.
The Giants need as much draft capital as possible. They don't even have a third-round pick this year. They absolutely need to trade down in the first round to try and acquire a stash of draft choices to help fill out the roster.
But it's a lot harder to do that when you don't land a high enough draft pick.
To be clear, New York is not going to be tanking. Mike Kafka is coaching for a job, and professional athletes are far too competitive to even entertain that thought.
But it would be remiss to ignore the fact that losing these games — again, in competitive fashion — would benefit the Giants moving forward.