Giants NFL Draft 2026: Why did New York select Arvell Reese, Francis Mauigoa?

He’s just a puppy.

Reese does not turn 21 until August. Schoen said his pass rush upside is “tremendous.”

“He’s just scratching the surface. You see the size, the length, the traits. And again, like Coach was talking about, just the versatility that the player has and how we can use him with some of the pieces that we already have,” Schoen said. “We’re not going to necessarily have to ask him to win off the edge, we’ve got guys that can do that. So we have a phenomenal defensive staff and they’re going to find creative ways to use him.”

Harbaugh added that “it’s all upside” for Reese.

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Francis Mauigoa (No. 10)

The Giants again had the option of selecting Downs, or trading down. They chose to add to an offensive line that, while good enough in 2025, has been a problem more often than not for most of the last 15 years.

Why Mauigoa?

“We stuck with the board,” said Schoen. “And Sisi’s another 20-year-old, believe it or not, he’ll be 21 in June, so we got two young players that we’re fired up about. But a powerful young man with tremendous athleticism and size. And I don’t know if you guys saws saw his interview there on TV, they asked him what he should tell Jaxson. And that was, that’s the type of kid he is.

“So again, to get those two young men that have size and athleticism and the makeup that we desire, and the fact that we know that we’re going to have those guys under contract for five years, to add to some of the young foundational pieces that we already have, I mean it’s really exciting, really exciting.”

He will play guard.

The Giants won’t ask veteran right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor to move inside. Mauigoa will start his career in between Eluemunor and center John Michael Schmitz.

“We’re going to put him inside at guard. He can certainly play tackle,” Harbaugh said. “Sometimes we call these schools and get the film, and they have two really good rushers down there in Miami in (Ahkeem) Mesidor and (Rueben) Bain, and to watch the practice film — he’s going against NFL dudes on a daily basis, and doing a really good job, it was pretty impressive. He can certainly always bump back out to tackle at any point. We’re going to start him at guard.”

What about Mauigoa’s back?

Mauigoa had a recheck on his back shortly before the draft, and some analysts expressed long-term concern. Schoen said “He’s fine. He’s good right now.”

The Giants are not that concerned because they now have Adam Bennett, the trainer at Miami while Mauigoa played there, on their staff. So, they have the most personal information on Mauigoa possible.

“We’re comfortable with it,” Schoen said. “We’re fortunate that the (Adam Bennett) former trainer from the University of Miami is now one of our trainers. So we have somebody that’s been with him for his entire time at Miami, and lived with him through the process. It was an injury that occurred in the Texas A&M game, and we were certainly comfortable with it.”

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