EAST RUTHERFORD -- Sure, Jerry Reese is keeping his options open, but his response to a question about the Giants trading up inside the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft was pretty telling.
It's pretty easy to see why the Giants have never done that during Reese's tenure as general manager.
Reese left the door open to a trade-up from the Giants' current No. 23 spot Thursday during his pre-draft press conference. It doesn't take much reading between the lines, though, to realize it's unlikely.
"If we have an opportunity to trade in the first round, we'll do that," Reese said. "Right now, we'll just kind of let the board fall like it does. If we feel like we want to move up and get somebody, we'll move."
Then came the caveat.
"It costs to move up, though," Reese added. "If you're going to move up, you're going to give away a lot of draft picks to move up, even if you just move up a couple of spots. We like taking our picks."
That's the key. The Giants only have seven picks in this year's draft - one in each round. They may end up getting a 2018 compensation pick as high as the third round due to Johnathan Hankins signing with the Colts, but that's not a given quite yet. So they don't have a lot of surplus draft capital available to grease the wheels on a trade without giving up cracks at the bat.
That's why a Giants trade-up likely is not in the cards, unless a player the Giants desperately want (like Alabama tight end O.J. Howard) falls down the board and within what the team has decided is reasonable striking distance. Despite going 11-5 last year and making the playoffs, the Giants are still in the process of rebuilding their roster from top to bottom after several years of bad drafting.
That is a process that takes time, and picks. Reese has demonstrated over the years he prefers to keep his picks. Unless the Giants encounter an extraordinary situation (like when safety Landon Collins fell out of the 2015 first round), expect Reese to stand pat at No. 23.
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James Kratch may be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find our Giants coverage on Facebook.