The pressure is on the New York Giants to get significant impact from their first two selections in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. Doug Farrar of SB Nation, a veteran NFL Draft analyst, took a swing this week at a two-round mock draft.
Should Doug be sending his resume around the next time there are general manager openings? Let’s look at his haul for the Giants.
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Round 1 (No. 5) — Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State
Farrar writes:
New Giants head coach John Harbaugh at the scouting combine:
“The inside linebacker isn’t always considered a value position, but you can’t stop the run without an inside linebacker making tackles in the middle. You can’t do it. That becomes pretty important.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen at the scouting combine:
“Coach and I have talked about that a lot. Stopping the run is very important to Coach Harbaugh. It’s important to everybody. It’s just something we haven’t done well. So that is definitely something that we’ll be conscious of this offseason in terms of how we’re going to be able to do that better.”
Sonny Styles, who can also rush the passer and drop back into coverage:
As it happens, I was standing with Doug in the crush of reporters talking to Styles when he asked these questions. It is really cool to see the application of the information Styles provided, especially the second play by Styles. I love to actually see him using his film study and his instincts to move to the play before the snap of the ball.
A few notes about Farrar’s first round:
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Farrar has the Dallas Cowboys trading their two first-round picks, Nos. 12 and 20, to the Arizona Cardinals to move to No. 3 and select Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love. I didn’t see that coming, but it is the kind of headline-grabbing move Jerry Jones loves to make.
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Farrar has Ohio State safety Caleb Downs falling all the way to the Miami Dolphins at No. 11. I can’t help but wonder if Downs’ decision not to go through athletic testing at the NFL Scouting Combine or the Ohio State Pro Day might cost him a few million dollars on draft night.
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Farrar has the draft’s top two cornerbacks, Mansoor Delane of LSU and Jermod McCoy of Tennessee, being selected before Downs. Delane went No. 7 to the Washington Commanders and McCoy No. 9 to the Kansas City Chiefs.
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Farrar has a player I would love for the Giants at No. 37, Oregon guard Emmanuel Pregnon, going No. 22 to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Round 2 (No. 37) — Germie Bernard, WR, Alabama
There is no explanation to go along with the second-round picks, but Farrar did drop this via ‘X’:
There isn’t much debate over whether or not Bernard is a good player. There is some about how high his ceiling might be.
In his Bernard prospect profile, Chris Pflum of Big Blue View writes this about the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder:
Best traits
Worst traits
Bernard projects as a possession receiver at the NFL level. He has the ability to play out of multiple alignments at the next level and could be a useful movable piece for a creative play designer, and has utility as a ball carrier on jet sweeps and screens as well as a receiver.
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Valentine’s View
Wide receivers Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon, Jordyn Tyson, Omar Cooper, Denzel Boston, KC Concepcion, Chris Brazzell, and Chris Bell are already off the board here. If you are going to select a wide receiver here, which is certainly a defensible decision, Bernard is probably the one who carries the least amount of risk.
I might, though, have been tempted to select Texas A&M guard Chase Bisontis, or a defensive tackle like Christen Miller og Georgia or Lee Hunter of Texas Tech here.
Your thoughts, Giants fans? How did Doug do?
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