The New York Giants have eight selections in the 2025 NFL draft. Five of their picks are their own, one is a compensatory pick and two others were acquired through trades.
The Giants have five selections in the first 105: Nos. 3, 34, 65, 99, and 105. No. 99 is a third-round compensatory pick they received from losing safety Xavier McKinney in free agency last season.
General manager Joe Schoen expected the team to be awarded such a high pick and worked some of their free agency signings around the formula.
"We were conscious of it last year. You hit pause on free agency when you get to a certain level," he told reporters at the NFL owners' meetings. "When we were going through last year, we thought [cornerback] Adoree' [Jackson] would sign a contract with somebody else before we had an opportunity to get him back.
"We didn't get him back until right before the season, but when he didn't sign and then [offensive lineman] Ben Bredeson did, we knew basically our estimate on the formula that there would be a good chance that we would get a good pick. And it ended up being a third-round pick.
"Our estimates initially did have it as a third-round pick, and we were ecstatic to get that."
The pick will go a long way in helping the Giants get a top-rated player at a position of need or simply add some depth and a building block for the future. Either way, it's a free pick and Schoen plans on making the best of it.
Schoen also explained that the comp formula plays a huge role in how a team approaches through free agent process.
"It's a big part, especially financially, where we were last year obviously with Jermaine Eluemunor, [Jon] Runyan, Motor [Devin Singletary], and then the Brian Burns trade," he said. "So financially, we were up against the cap a year ago. So to sign a one-year, 3 or 4 million dollar player and maybe lose a third-round pick, that's how you're going through it. You're thinking about, well, you can't sign a UFA at X-amount because it'll cancel it out. So, we're definitely conscious of it. We were definitely thinking about it as we went through free agency a year ago."
Aside from the five picks mentioned above, the Giants have the 154th pick in Round 5 (from Seattle), the 219th pick in Round 7, and the 246th pick in Round 7 (from Buffalo).
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants were 'ecstatic' to receive a third-round compensatory pick
