TIGHT ENDS

The NFL Draft is fewer than three weeks away. The Giants open their offseason training activity (OTA) schedule on April 18 in East Rutherford, and soon after they will have new rookie teammates plucked from the draft on April 27-29 in Philadelphia.

The Daily News will take a look at each of the Giants’ greatest positions of need and break down the top five targets. We start with one of the most intriguing positions, given the combination of Big Blue’s scouting interest, the position’s talent pool in this draft and the potential impact on the Giants: The tight ends.

And we’re cheating and including six players, because they’re all worthy of consideration:

I’m skeptical of mock drafts predicting Howard as a Top 10 pick — not because Howard isn’t talented enough, but because in a draft so deep at more critical positions such as corner and defensive end, I find it incredibly risky to spend an early first-rounder on a tight end. Think about how risky it is considered to select a running back that high; now the Jets, for example, are going tight end at six? I’ll believe it when I see it.

I’m not saying Howard definitely will last until the Giants’ 23rd pick. In fact, the odds are against it. However, the Giants have done so much homework on Howard and other top tight ends, and they would so benefit from a major upgrade at the position, that not only do I believe they would select Howard if he fell; I wonder even if they would trade up a few picks to get him, swapping a 2018 pick, maybe (just spitballing here, I don’t know anything about a possible trade up).

I understand this goes against the logic of this draft. It’s so deep at so many positions that it is arguably unwise to trade up for any player when another solid choice at some other position is therefore falling into your lap.

Still, as the Daily News first reported, the Giants went right after Howard with a formal interview at the NFL Combine in early March, the first official indication not just of their interest in him but in pursuing a tight end as early as the first round.

Howard, while underused as a receiver at Alabama, is an incredible athlete who did his best work in the Crimson Tide’s last two national championship game appearances, both against Clemson: four catches for 208 yards and two TDs two years ago, and four catches for 106 yards and a TD this past season.

I do wonder if the minimal routes Howard ran in college would deter the Giants or any other team for that matter. There are also important questions about whether his desire and work ethic ever will consistently match his talent. However, big-play ability, size, the ability to give Eli Manning a 6-6

Everett’s tape, despite often playing against lesser competition, shows a receiving target as accomplished at posting up in the end zone and making tough catches in traffic as he is at outrunning defenders. He ran a slightly faster 40 time (4.62) than David Njoku (4.64). He plays with a confident, in-your-face attitude and is described in an NFL scouting report as a blocker this way: “Blocks with anger and is prone to longer engagements than most blockers on perimeter.” That last part is particularly interesting because Ben McAdoo wants guys who will attack and dominate the line of scrimmage.

Everett’s eight-catch, 95-yard and touchdown performance in an opening week upset of Mississippi State was an eye-opener. And though he had a couple of one-catch duds late in the season, he has recorded consecutive 40-catch seasons in 2015 and 2016, with eight TDs in 2015 and 49 grabs for 717 yards and four scores last season. Everett is raw, from his routes to his overall game. But he has the potential, talent-wise, to be one of the top tight ends in this draft if he lands in the right hands.

Ben McAdoo coached tight ends at Fairfield, Stanford and then for the Green Bay Packers (2006-11). McAdoo, we know, is extremely confident in his scheme, play-calling and his specializations. This makes Everett, to me, the sleeper tight end on the Giants’ radar — even though an early NFL.com draft picked the Giants taking him at 23. Recently, Everett’s name has fallen out of the conversation. Don’t forget it, though maybe as a second-rounder.

Njoku’s size and athleticism are tempting, as are the Cedar Grove, N.J., product’s 2016 stats (43, 698, eight TDs). He’s a high-character guy who emulates ex-Giant standout and former Miami product Jeremy Shockey. So it’s all there for Njoku, except he does require significant work as a blocker, and while he’s a first-round talent, I’m not sure he’s as much of a can’t-miss, wellrounded specimen as the Daily News’ top Giants tight end target.

This is splitting hairs, but I guess I’m saying that I’m not as positive the Giants would go tight end in the first round with Njoku as they would with another player. Njoku also may be selected well ahead of pick 23, too, so they might not even get the chance.

Either way, Njoku shows all the signs of being a solid-to-standout pro.

It’s hard not to fall in love with Hodges, particularly due to his consistency in college: 45 catches for 526 yards and seven TDs; 40 catches for 530 yards and six TDs; 48 catches for 691 yards, a careerhigh 14.4 yards per catch and seven TDs last season. Hodges has size, he scores,