2026 NFL draft: New York Giants land 'chaos causer' in Field Yates mock

[ASFN Admin]

The New York Giants are getting very little respect heading into the 2025 season. NFL draft analysts are still predicting that Big Blue will be selecting near the top of the order in the 2026 NFL draft, which means they are in for another dismal season despite many of the wholesale changes the team has made this past offseason.

In a recent 2026 mock draft, Field Yates of ESPN has the Giants drafting second, behind only the Cleveland Browns. Translation: ESPN's Power Football Index is predicting another 3-14 season, or worse.

In addition, Yates has the Giants trading back from No. 2 to No. 4 with the New York Jets. With that fourth pick, the Giants select Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods, who Yates calls a "chaos causer."

Entering the season, two non-quarterback prospects rise above the rest for me: Ohio State's Caleb Downs and Woods. The Giants are well-positioned at safety after signing Jevon Holland, so I'm going with Woods and adding to an already outstanding defensive line. Woods is a chaos causer. He had just three sacks in 2024 after none as a freshman in 2023, but his game goes far beyond the box score; every opponent O-line had a plan for him on each snap last season. He also has the positional versatility to line up and rush from multiple spots, which would help alongside Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Dexter Lawrence II and Kayvon Thibodeaux.

Of course, we have several issues with this entire scenario. The Giants may have been 3-14 last year, but keep in mind, they lost eight of those 11 games by one score or less. With improved quarterback play this year, they should win at least 7-8 games this season.

Although Woods appears to be a nice pick here, the Giants used a third-round pick in this year's draft on Darius Alexander, a player they like a lot. Unless Yates is predicting Alexander to be a bust -- or completely forgot about him -- it's hard to imagine the Giants going defensive line with a top-5 pick.

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: 2026 NFL draft: Giants land 'chaos causer' in Field Yates mock

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