Heading into Week 17, the Giants just needed to lose their final two games to clinch the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft. But the Giants upset the Colts in Week 17 and ended up with the third pick. Giants owner John Mara insists he was happy to get a win.
When asked why the Giants didn’t tank their final two games to get the top pick, Mara said he and his team will never do that.
“If I had thought that we were tanking in either one of those games, I would have fired everybody. We are never going to do that in this organization, as long as I’m standing on this side of the grass,” Mara said.
Mara seemed to take offense to the question, but as long as the NFL incentivizes teams to have bad records, questions about tanking will remain. A worse record can give teams a higher draft pick, a higher priority on the waiver wire, and an easier schedule. Unless the NFL changes those incentives, it will always be valid to question whether teams that are out of the playoff race are better off losing.
