It’s Super Bowl week, and the NFL world is converging on New Orleans. But for the New York Giants and 29 other teams, the festivities there are a mere distraction. Their focus is on the future, looking for ways to improve their fortunes in the upcoming season. A large part of their attention, of course, is focused on the upcoming NFL Draft.

The Shrine and Senior Bowls are behind us, and the next major date on the calendar is the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine at the end of the month. That is to say: It’s still early in the process, and there is plenty of time for teams to shuffle up their boards with new evaluations.

When it comes to the Giants specifically, the primary questions on everyone’s minds are: How do they view the QB prospects, and will they pick one in the first round?

There’s plenty of debate about whether the consensus top quarterbacks are worthy of being taken at No. 3, but the Giants are desperate to find their franchise quarterback. Does that mean they have to take one at No. 3? Do they trade up to No. 1 to ensure they get the one they covet most? If they don’t like the QBs available, who would they take at No. 3? Would they trade down?

With all of these questions in mind, we created a first-round big board for the Giants, broken into two sections: the players they’ll likely consider at No. 3 (or higher) and the players they could pick if they move back in the draft.

Let’s get to it:

Candidates for No. 3 pick

Cam Ward, QB, Miami, 6-foot-2, 223 pounds

It’s no secret the Giants want to attack the QB position this offseason, and it appears the best way to do that in this draft is by picking Ward, who seems to be separating himself from Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders as the top QB available.

After stops at Incarnate Word and Washington State, Ward completed 67.2% of his passes for 4,313 yards, 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions while leading Miami to a 10-3 season. As The Athletic’s draft guru Dane Brugler wrote recently, Ward is a prospect best compared to “fireworks.”

“His ability to create explosive, dazzling plays with his elusiveness in the pocket and natural arm talent is unmatched in this class. However, fireworks also come with a warning label — when Ward gets careless with his decisions, negative results follow. Nonetheless, his on-field upside and football character make him the current favorite to be the first quarterback drafted.”

When we spoke with Brugler in late November about the QB prospects, he thought Ward would be best served starting his NFL career sitting behind a veteran so that he could develop at his own pace. Brugler also noted that while Ward has a reserved personality, NFL scouts see him as “ultra-competitive.” That mentality sounds like it could fit in New York.

Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado, 6-foot-1, 198 pounds

Sanders is the other QB in the mix to be the first signal-caller selected. He completed 74% of his passes for 4,134 yards, 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this season as Colorado went 9-4. He looks to be the most polished and, in some ways, the most fascinating QB prospect in this draft, in large part due to his superstar father and Colorado coach, Deion Sanders.

As our NFL National Insider, Jeff Howe wrote recently, opinions are mixed on Sanders. Some teams, Howe said, are “curious whether Sanders will fully dedicate himself to being a great player at the NFL level, which is something they hope to uncover over the next couple months of meetings.”

Sanders has been busy meeting with teams already, including the Giants where he seems to have impressed GM Joe Schoen.

“He’s a great kid,” Schoen said last week at the Senior Bowl. “Really good personality. Football smart. Dad’s a football coach. It’s a little bit cliche, but he checks all the boxes of (having) a dad who’s a football coach and the passion that he approaches the game with. It was good getting the meeting.”

Travis Hunter, CB/WR, Colorado, 6-0, 181

With just two QBs in the mix for top picks for now, things get interesting for the Giants when considering other top prospects. There might be no more intriguing player than the Heisman-Trophy winning Hunter who shined this season as a two-way superstar (he played 600 snaps apiece at cornerback and wide receiver this year).

In November, Brugler wrote that Hunter is the “best draft-eligible player in the country,” and he didn’t anticipate that changing in the months leading up to the draft with Hunter’s ball skills and athleticism keeping him the top prospect. Beyond the Heisman Trophy, Hunter won both the Biletnikoff Award, which goes to the nation’s top receiver, and the Bednarik Award for college football’s best defensive player.

As for his fit on the Giants, it depends on where they’d play him — at least primarily. It seems most draft experts believe he’ll play cornerback in the NFL, though creative teams could certainly try to mix him in at wide receiver for a handful of plays each game.

But the Giants do desperately need a No. 1 cornerback. They drafted Deonte Banks with their first-round pick in 2023 in hopes he could become that player, but he hasn’t proven up to the task. Alarmingly, he endured issues with production and effort during this past season.

If Hunter is on the board, will he be too rare of a talent to pass on even if the Giants don’t have their long-term future at QB?

Abdul Carter, Edge, Penn State, 6-foot-3, 250 pounds

Can the Giants afford to draft an edge rusher with their top pick? It’s obviously not a pressing need after the team acquired Brian Burns last offseason to pair with 2022 top pick Kayvon Thibodeaux. However, Carter appears to have legitimate game-wrecking talent. Smart teams don’t often pass on those kinds of players, even if he doesn’t fill an immediate need.

So is Carter really that good?

“Carter is the closest thing we’ve seen to Micah Parsons since … Micah Parsons,” our Nick Baumgardner wrote recently. “He’s a true game-changer who has improved almost every time he’s taken the field, had dominant stretches in the College Football Playoff and isn’t close to his ceiling yet.”

Will Campbell, OT, LSU, 6-foot-6, 319 pounds

This one feels like a bit of a stretch for a couple of reasons. First, Campbell hasn’t separated himself as the top offensive lineman in the draft class. At least not yet. Second, offensive tackle isn’t the most pressing need the Giants have right now. Between the quarterback question and players the caliber of Hunter and Carter potentially available, taking a tackle might not even be a conversation. But in New York, where the offensive line has struggled for a decade, investing a premium pick in a top tackle should be worth considering. Remember, left tackle Andrew Thomas’ health has been an issue for the past two years, and the Giants don’t have a long-term right tackle.

Campbell earned the starting left tackle job for LSU not long after arriving there and allowed just two sacks in 38 career starts. Some scouts see him at tackle while others see him as a guard, Brugler wrote recently. Regardless of position, Brugler believes Campbell is the best offensive lineman in the draft. His positional flexibility could be a huge asset for New York after injuries derailed the line to varying degrees over the past two years.

Trade-back candidates

Perhaps no top QB is available at No. 3 after Tennessee and Cleveland make their selections. Or maybe the Giants just don’t like the QB(s) available. In this hypothetical scenario, the Giants decide to collect assets by orchestrating a trade back a little deeper in the first round but still around the 10. Here are five prospects they could target if they move down. 

Kelvin Banks Jr., OT, Texas, 6-foot-4, 325 pounds

According to some draft boards, we should have led this portion of the list with Josh Simmons rather than Banks. The reason we decided to exclude the Ohio State tackle, who seems to be moving quickly up big boards, is because he suffered a season-ending knee injury this fall. Given the Giants’ recent offensive line injury woes, that felt like enough of a deal-breaker to go with Banks over Simmons. However, if Simmons gets through the draft process with a clean bill of health, that will be grounds for reconsidering.

Now, with that note out of the way, Banks would hardly be a consolation prize. Beyond having position flexibility, he won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s top interior lineman, offense or defense. While Brugler has said there are differing opinions on his best position (tackle or guard), he projects as an immediate starter, which would be big for a New York line that could use another injection of young talent.

Mason Graham, DT, Michigan, 6-foot-3, 320 pounds

There’s no denying Dexter Lawrence’s dominance as one of the best at his position. But as my colleague, Dan Duggan, highlighted last week, Lawrence is even better when he gets to play alongside another quality player on the interior. For years, that was Leonard Williams, but there’s been a void next to Lawrence ever since the Giants traded Williams to Seattle in 2023. Could Graham step into Williams’ shoes and help get the best out of Lawrence?

“He’s clearly the top interior tackle in this class and the type of versatile difference-maker inside (at age 21) every team covets,” Baumgardner wrote recently. “He can play in any scheme, inside or out, and he will absolutely help a team’s culture.”

Will Johnson, CB, Michigan, 6-foot-2, 200 pounds

If Hunter isn’t in the cards for New York, but they still want to target an upgrade at cornerback, Johnson could be the guy. He has intriguing size and looks like he could have a penchant for taking the ball away. During 32 college games, he intercepted nine passes and notched 10 pass-breakups.

However, there are some worries, as Johnson missed time this season with multiple injuries.

As is the case for almost all of these prospects, where he’ll be drafted is hard to nail down, but Brugler is a fan of Johnson’s skill set: “I do really like Johnson’s eyes, feet and coverage IQ to match and make plays on the ball. He has a starter-caliber skill set.”

Malaki Starks, S, Georgia, 6-foot-1, 205 pounds

Jason Pinnock, who started opposite rookie Tyler Nubin, will be a free agent so this group will likely need bolstering. If the Giants want to keep the youth movement alive and build a formidable young secondary, Starks could fit the bill.

Starks, a consensus All-American in 2023, intercepted six passes and broke up 17 during his 43 games at Georgia.

“He is one of the 10 best players in this draft, regardless of position, and can wear any hat in the secondary,” Baumgardner wrote recently. “His game — and versatility — is not unlike that of Lions standout Brian Branch.”

Jalon Walker, LB/edge, Georgia, 6-foot-2, 245 pounds

Walker, this year’s Butkus Award winner as the nation’s top linebacker, is another player who could help boost the pass rush in the short term while also potentially allowing them to let Thibodeaux walk in free agency if they didn’t want to offer him a new contract.

He played off-ball linebacker at Georgia, but he’ll likely serve primarily as a pass rusher in the NFL due to his “length, power and explosive movements,” Brugler wrote recently. That said, it seems he’ll have the versatility to play multiple roles within Shane Bowen’s defense.

(Photo of Abdul Carter: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)