The NFL draft board for most of Thursday night looked like it was cooperating beautifully with the Giants’ needs.
It looked like they might have the pick of the litter among some of the top receivers and cornerbacks, as most teams were passing on the two positions the Giants needed to address most in this draft.
Then, as the first round reached pick No. 19, the board began to spin potentially out of the Giants’ control, and they found it necessary to make a move and trade up one spot.
They traded fifth- and seventh-round picks to the Jaguars to swap pick No. 25 for No. 24 and nab Maryland cornerback Deonte Banks.
“The way the board was breaking down, we were getting depleted [in options],’’ Giants general manager Joe Schoen said. “I would say it got pretty tense. We had a lot of irons in the fire — whether it was moving up or moving back. We had a lot of opportunities to move out of 25.
“But we didn’t want to be greedy. [Banks] was a player we like, we covet, let’s not get cute, let’s just take him and move on to Day 2 of the draft. There were receivers going off the board, and lot of corners were going. Banks was a guy we liked, spent a lot of time with and decided to go get.’’
Schoen called Banks “a prototype from a size standpoint,’’ adding, “he’s athletic, physical, he can run — he ran 4.32 at the combine — he has arm length, big hands, he was a four-year starter, [and] schematically he’s a good fit.’’
If the move up one pick didn’t come across as a big deal to the casual fan, the reaction from Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale told the story: The Giants landed their man.
Deonte Banks (No. 3), who was drafted in the first round by the Giants, leads his Maryland team out on the field during a game last season. APInside the team’s draft room, Martindale was seen on a TV clip hugging Schoen and shaking him, not wanting to let go — looking like a boy on Christmas morning who’d just been given his first bicycle.
“You guys know Wink’s defense and what he likes, and Deonte fits that mold to a tee,’’ Schoen said. “So yeah, he was ecstatic.’’
Giants head coach Brian Daboll, whose beloved Rangers were getting smoked by the Devils in Game 5 on Thursday night at Prudential Center as the draft was unfolding, had a much better night than his hockey club. Though Daboll is an offensive coach by background, he knew this was a key piece for his defense, which needs to be better on the back end than it was last season.
“You can never have enough good corners,’’ Daboll said. “It’s a passing league, and we’re in a tough division. Banks is a tall, press man-to-man corner who we had graded high, and we’re happy to have him.’’
As the draft approached the Giants’ No. 25-overall pick, no receivers had been taken in the first 19 picks. The Giants are receiver-poor. So, this looked good for them.
Then came a run on receivers in picks 20-23 — with Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, TCU’s Quentin Johnston, Boston College’s Zay Flowers and USC’s Jordan Addison going consecutively to the Seahawks, Chargers, Ravens and Vikings, respectively.
Deonte Banks APThree cornerbacks were gone by the 17th pick, and the Giants didn’t want to take a chance on losing out on Banks.
This is Year 2 of the Schoen era after Year 1 went rather well, considering the Giants enjoyed a “look what we found’’ season of surprise (a surprise even to themselves) by going 9-7-1 and making the playoffs in a year expected to be a teardown and rebuild of a roster that had produced 22 wins in the previous five seasons.
Mike Tannenbaum, currently an NFL analyst for ESPN who’s a former Jets general manager, has lived what Schoen is living right now. He joined a Jets team that won one game in 1996 and had faster-than-expected success under Bill Parcells, going 9-7 in ’97 and getting to the AFC Championship game in ’98.
“So, I don’t think there’s any truth to teardowns,’’ Tannenbaum told The Post on Thursday. “It’s all about culture and great coaching, and I think Brian Daboll did a great job last year. You can win for today and develop for tomorrow, and that’s what you’re supposed to do.’’
That’s exactly what Schoen is trying to do. And the Giants’ task “tomorrow’’ is to find receiver help for a unit that’s thin and without a WR1. That search begins with Friday night’s second and third rounds.
Tannenbaum called the offseason trade for tight end Darren Waller “a good start’’ to helping build around quarterback Daniel Jones.
“But you’ve got to add more weapons,’’ Tannenbaum said. “They’re going to have to score more points consistently to ultimately get to where they want to go.’
