Giants go for Gophers safety in second round
Joe Schoen continued to replace players he lost in free agency on day two of the draft.
The Giants GM selected Minnesota safety Tyler Nubin at No. 47 overall in the second round after letting Xavier McKinney walk to the Packers in free agency this March.
That followed Thursday’s first-round selection of LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers, which added a new No. 1 playmaker to an offense that lost Saquon Barkley to the Eagles on the open market, as well.
Nubin, who turns 23 in June, played 55 games with 43 starts across five seasons for the Golden Gophers. The second-team All-American’s 13 career interceptions were the most in program history.
He was a four-year starter at Minnesota, and his stats were extremely consistent from 2021-2023 after the pandemic-shortened 2020 year: He recorded between 52 and 55 tackles in all three seasons from 2021-23 and between five to nine passes defended each year. He intercepted three to five balls each season, including a career-high five in his final year.
Schoen has let a starting safety walk in free agency in consecutive offseasons, with Julian Love going to the Seahawks in 2023 and McKinney leaving for Green Bay this spring. Nubin’s rookie contract is dramatically cheaper, although the GM used a significant draft asset to acquire him.
Schoen traded away the Giants’ original second-round pick at No. 39 overall to the Panthers to acquire pass rusher Brian Burns in March. But he still had the No. 47 overall pick, which he acquired in last fall’s Leonard Williams trade to Seattle, to take Nubin.
On Friday night, the Panthers interestingly traded over the Giants to the No. 46 slot at the last minute to select Texas running back Jonathon Brooks. It’s not clear if the Panthers did that because they believed the Giants were going to take the Longhorns’ bell-cow back.
A ton of defensive tackles and corners already had come off the board in the early second round at other Giants positions of need.
And they opted not to take a quarterback at No. 47, even after trying to trade up on Thursday night for North Carolina QB Drake Maye.
So Schoen took Nubin, who projects as a deep-half starter alongside Jason Pinnock, with Dane Belton and veteran signing Jalen Mills in the mix.