The Giants.com crew shares final thoughts heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, which begins Thursday night in Green Bay.

John Schmeelk: Draft Week is finally here. I have many thoughts but have consolidated them as best I can. My mind keeps going to what the Giants might do with the 34th pick and how that decision will dictate the ultimate success of the draft.

On the surface, it might seem ridiculous to say that about a team which also owns the third overall pick, but that's where we are. There are a lot of needs and options with what they might do with the selection. If the Giants want to add a young quarterback to the roster, they will have options here. There is a chance that one of Shedeur Sanders, Jaxson Dart, Tyler Shough and Jalen Milroe will be in play. Just waiting and picking might be the best option, but there's no guarantee the quarterback they want will still be among them.

The Steelers may select a quarterback at 21st overall. The Rams could be on the lookout for their Matthew Stafford replacement at 26th overall. The Browns could be interested in a quarterback at 33^rd, and it would not surprise me if the Jets, Raiders, or Saints might be looking to move ahead of the Giants for their future franchise quarterback at the back end of the first round.

Would the Giants be willing to use one of their third-round picks and/or some of their Day 3 picks or 2026 draft capital to move up to get their guy? How far would they move up? The Giants need to deepen the talent base on the roster, so a move like this does come with consequences.

It's also possible that the Giants get to 34th overall and all of Milroe, Shough and Dart are still available. In this case, could the Giants trade down and still get one of the three? Maybe the Giants have decided they prefer a different quarterback and want to wait. Teams are often looking to trade up to the picks at the top of the second round to get any players that fell through the cracks on Thursday night. The Giants may be able to pick up extra capital and still get a player they covet while picking up another Day 2 pick.

The Giants may also just want to stick and pick a non-quarterback. Given the depth of the class, a good defensive tackle is likely to be on the board at 34th overall. There should also be an offensive lineman available that can contribute quickly, though it's more likely a guard than a tackle. With the depth of the class at running back, tight end, and wide receiver, there will be good players at those positions not only at 34, but also 65, 99, and 105. If the Giants want a weapon, the timing will be very interesting. What they do at the 34th pick will impact all of those decisions.

Picks and the top of the second round often yield strong value, and the Giants will be in position to take advantage of that at pick 34. In one of the deepest drafts in recent memory, they should be able to do the same with their picks outside the top 60. My guess? A quarterback will be acquired by using the 34th pick in some way and they will fill out those other spots with the excellent depth in the draft at all those positions.

Dan Salomone: Every draft, especially one where a quarterback is seriously being discussed, is about conviction. The only time we find out if a team has it is when commissioner Rogel Goodell says – or doesn't say – the name at the podium. Until then, we don't know what the top brass thinks behind closed doors, and that's all that really matters.

Right now, Joe Schoen, Brian Daboll and company could be low on a quarterback perceived to be high on their board. Conversely, they could be high on someone off everyone's radar.

In five months or five years, no one will care where that player was taken if he leads them to success.

"Everything has to fall in the line too, relative to draft picks, where you're picking, if somebody gets picked ahead of time," Daboll said the Annual League Meeting at the beginning of the month. "Everybody out there, 'Oh, my gosh, (Falcons quarterback) Michael Penix got taken here.' You don't know when they're going to get taken. If there is an affinity you have for a player, if you feel like that player is the right player and they're sitting there at whatever pick you have, is it a reach, not a reach, I'm not going to get into that. It's how you feel about the player and does that player match where you want to take them."

Matt Citak: John and Dan already discussed the quarterback situation, so I'm not going to touch on that. Instead, I want to take an overall look at this week's draft. The Giants were pretty active in free agency, adding starters and depth players on both sides of the ball. The roster certainly looks a lot improved from this time last year. To me, the biggest thing going into the draft is the fact that as of right now, the Giants don't really have any glaring holes on the roster, something that we could not have said heading into the last few drafts.

At the start of the offseason, an argument could be made that the secondary was a big area of need. Of course, the Giants went out and signed Paulson Adebo and Jevón Holland right at the start of free agency. Depth on both the offensive and defensive line could have been considered another need two months ago, but after signing James Hudson III and Stone Forysthe, along with the returns of Greg Van Roten and Aaron Stinnie, the Giants now have a good amount of depth across the offensive line. On the other side of the ball, Chauncey Golston, Roy Robertson-Harris, Jeremiah Ledbetter and Victor Dimukeje were all signed to help the defensive line.

The current roster undoubtedly has a lot more depth than last year's, but the biggest thing these signings did was allow the Giants to now go into the draft with the ability to simply take the best player available at each pick, rather than having to address specific needs. Outside linebacker, wide receiver and cornerback aren't really positions of need, but due to the moves made in free agency, the Giants can happily select Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter at No. 3 if they so choose. And that goes for all eight of the team's picks. You could argue that the Giants could afford to add another interior defensive lineman at some point in the draft, but with that being one of the best and deepest positions in this year's class, there's a very good chance that a DT is the top player on the Giants' board when they're on the clock at No. 34, 65, or 99. Other than that, the Giants really can address any position they want with each of their picks. But don't take it from me. Here is what GM Joe Schoen told reporters just last week.

"I've tried to set it up each year that we can go into the Draft and play a game, and the hope is you're better than you were the year before, as of today or next Thursday when we go to play the game," Schoen said in his pre-draft press conference. "So if there is a blue chip or generational type talent or something you just can't pass on, even if you maybe already have starters at that position, you don't pass on that type of player.

"Again, if you go need based, that's when, I think sometimes, you can make mistakes at times. Again, I like to go in so you're not backed into a corner where you have to take a certain position and you can take the best player available."