The Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants were the only teams to emerge from the 2025 NFL Draft with two first-round picks. The Falcons used theirs to address a glaring weakness—an NFL-worst pass rush in 2024. The Giants, on the other hand, believe they secured both the best pass-rusher in the draft and their quarterback of the future in a single night. To make that happen, New York made a bold move back into the first round, though notably, they didn’t have to give up a future first-round pick to do so—unlike the Falcons.
With the 25th overall pick, the Giants selected quarterback Jaxson Dart. However, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Dart was just one of four players the team was prepared to trade back into the first round for. New York had identified three teams as potential threats to take a quarterback—or move up to do so: Pittsburgh at No. 21, Cleveland (armed with extra picks after trading down from No. 2 to No. 5), and the always-aggressive New Orleans Saints.
The Giants had their eye on four prospects they were willing to trade up from No. 34 to land, with Dart being the quarterback on that list. While they ultimately chose him, it raises the question: who were the other three? Could they have been considering Shedeur Sanders, whose surprising slide may have made him a tempting option? We may never know for sure.
Following the Dart pick, the Giants selected defensive tackle Darius Alexander and running back Cam Skattebo. That opens up further speculation—were backs like Quinshon Judkins or TreVeyon Henderson under consideration? What about quarterback Tyler Shough?
It’s possible that Dart was the only player they deemed worth the cost of a trade-up—but the mystery around the other three targets lingers.