Giants Reported Trade Offer to Titans for No. 1 NFL Draft Pick, Cam Ward Revealed

The New York Giants reportedly put together a big trade haul in an attempt to get the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Giants offered the Tennessee Titans their No. 3 pick this year, next year's first-round pick and a handful of other picks in return for the top pick in the 2025 draft. Ultimately, the Titans didn't budge and used their No. 1 pick to take Miami quarterback Cam Ward.

After the first round, general manager Joe Schoen acknowledged the team tried to trade up to No. 1.

"Yeah, we've had conversations going up and back, and again, just it takes two to tango in those situations," Schoen told reporters Thursday. "And yeah, there wasn't any...Tennessee stayed and took Cam Ward."

The Titans made up their mind about keeping the top pick days before the draft despite plenty of trade interest. General manager Mike Borgonzi told reporters on Tuesday that the team had "come to a consensus" about keeping the top pick.

ESPN's Jeff Darlington reported before the draft that New York was the "most aggressive" team when it came to trying to trade up to No. 1. Darlington added that a Giants source said, "[The Titans] were never moving off the pick. We tried."

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, one team said the Titans "never opened the door" for a trade.

Had the Giants traded up, they presumably would have gone the quarterback route and selected Ward. The team instead took its quarterback later in the first round, trading up to No. 25 to take Jaxson Dart.

The fixation with Ward makes sense. The Miami star had an outstanding collegiate career, collecting 4,313 passing yards and 39 touchdowns in his senior campaign. He was the No. 9 overall player and top quarterback on the final big board from Bleacher Report's NFL Scouting Department.

While New York ultimately couldn't move up for Ward, the Giants got a star at No. 3 in Abdul Carter. The Penn State edge was the No. 2 player on Bleacher Report's NFL Scouting Department's big board, only behind two-way star Travis Hunter.

In his final season at Penn State, Carter totaled 68 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, 12 sacks and two forced fumbles.