CLEAN SLATE

Giants 2020 schedule set as draft standing takes hit

The Giants played their way out of favorable draft position but clinched third place in the NFC East. Who cares? It’s not much of a consolation prize for fans who had their hopes set on potentially franchise-changing passrusher Chase Young of Ohio State. Assuming he enters the 2020 NFL Draft, he likely will be off the board when the Giants pick, even if they stay within the top five selections (currently No. 4) when the season wraps next week.

But, if you are a fan who travels to road games, the full list of 2020 opponents is complete now that the NFC divisional standings are locked following the Giants’ 41-35 win Sunday against the Redskins.

Giants coach Pat Shurmur said he was “happy for our fans” to experience a win. Told some of them rather would have had better draft position than a win, Shurmur shrugged it off.

“Coaches don’t think like that,” Shurmur said. “All the offseason stuff figures itself out. We don’t worry about that. We were here today to put a good performance on the field and do everything in our power to win a game. Next week we’ll do the same thing.”

Fourteen of the 16 opponents are known years in advance under the NFL scheduling formula, as the Giants will have their traditional home-and-homes with the Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins. All four NFC East teams also face all NFC West and AFC North teams, splitting the games between home and road.

The remaining two games are decided based on the previous season’s standings.

By sweeping the season series from the Redskins, the Giants will win a tiebreaker in case both teams finish with identical 4-12 records after next week’s season finales.

So, the Giants will draw the third-place team from the NFC North (Bears) on the road and the thirdplace team from the NFC South (Falcons) at home. The Falcons clinched third Sunday because they swept the season series from the Panthers.

The order of the games will be determined at a later date, usually late in April. Here are the Giants’ 2020 opponents:

HOME: Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, Cardinals, 49ers, Browns, Steelers, Falcons