The New York Giants closed the 2025 regular season Sunday with a 34-17 win over the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., ending a difficult year with a rare stretch of success. The victory was the Giants’ second straight, their first winning streak in 755 days, and their first win over the Cowboys in 10 meetings. It was also the first time New York defeated quarterback Dak Prescott in 15 tries. The result moved the Giants to a 4-13 record and dropped them to the No. 5 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Giants approached the finale without any visible effort to manage draft position. Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, making his first career start against Prescott, led five consecutive scoring drives and threw two touchdown passes. One sequence late in the first half changed the tone of the game. With the Giants trailing 10-9 and facing third-and-16, Dart avoided a sack and delivered a side-arm pass to tight end Daniel Bellinger. The play was intended to stay within field-goal range, but Bellinger broke multiple tackles and turned the short completion into a 29-yard touchdown, giving the Giants a 16-10 lead before halftime.
“I hate ’em,” wide receiver Darius Slayton said after the game. “I don’t care if it’s postseason, tiddlywinks in Florida, I want to beat ’em.”
The Giants’ locker room carried a celebratory tone after the game. Owner John Mara, who is cancer-stricken, was surrounded by family members and received a game ball. Linebacker Bobby Okereke said Mara told players he felt energized heading into treatment because football motivates and fulfills him.
“It’s easy to roll over, but we finished strong,” said defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, who, along with Slayton, is the longest-tenured Giant, having joined the team in 2019. “It feels good to beat them. It’s been a long time.”
Dallas approached the second half conservatively. Despite owner Jerry Jones stating publicly that finishing with a .500 record mattered, head coach Brian Schottenheimer removed Prescott at halftime with the Cowboys trailing 16-10 and replaced him with Joe Milton. Prescott entered the game with a personal 14-game winning streak against the Giants dating to 2017. His last losses to New York came twice during his rookie season in 2016, and he missed the Giants’ 2020 season-finale win due to injury.
The Giants gradually extended their lead in the second half. Kicker Ben Saul connected on his fourth field goal to make it 24-17. Okereke intercepted Milton later in the fourth quarter, and running back Devin Singletary followed with a touchdown run that sealed the outcome. The final quarter unfolded in front of a half-empty stadium as the game moved toward its conclusion.
The victory finalized the Giants’ draft slot. Entering Week 18, New York’s projected position ranged from No. 1 to No. 7 depending on results around the league. A loss to Dallas, combined with a Las Vegas Raiders win over the Kansas City Chiefs — which occurred — would have given the Giants the No. 1 pick. Instead, with the Giants’ wins and losses by the Tennessee Titans, Arizona Cardinals, and New York Jets, New York landed at No. 5 in the draft order, as listed by Tankathon.
The outcome also aligned with changes in betting markets tied to the Giants’ offseason outlook. With the team eliminated from playoff contention, sportsbooks including BetMGM and Caesars list the Giants at +20000, or 200-1, to win Super Bowl LX. During the season, those odds had climbed as high as +100000 before settling late in the year.
The most active Giants-related betting market has centered on the team’s next head coach. With the coaching search moving forward, DraftKings lists Jeff Hafley as the favorite at +300. Chris Shula follows at +550, with Mike McCarthy at +650, Kevin Stefanski at +800, and Lou Anarumo at +900.
On the field, the season ended far differently from how much of it played out. Earlier in the year, the Giants blew five fourth-quarter leads and five double-digit leads, contributing to a nine-game losing streak that spanned the firing of head coach Brian Daboll and the interim tenure of Mike Kafka.
“We can’t accept what happened this year to happen ever again,” Dart said.
Roster construction now takes priority. General manager Joe Schoen’s status has not been formally announced, though a change would be surprising despite a 7-27 record over the past two seasons. The Giants hold seven picks in the 2026 draft: their own selections in the first, second, fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds, plus a sixth-round pick from the Cowboys acquired in the Jordan Phillips trade and another sixth-round pick from the Miami Dolphins from the Darren Waller trade. The Giants do not have a third-round pick after using it to move up to select Dart in the 2025 first round.
The Giants are locked into the fifth pick. They would have had the No. 1 pick if they lost today since the Raiders won.
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) January 5, 2026
Draft position affects how those assets can be used. Ahead of the Giants’ win over the Raiders last week, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said the team was expected to “evaluate all options, including looking at (Indiana QB) Fernando Mendoza,” if it held the No. 1 pick. Mendoza, the Indiana Heisman winner, is the top quarterback prospect in the 2026 class at this stage, with Oregon quarterback Dante Moore’s draft status still undecided. Falling to No. 5 limits the possibility of a major trade-down.
The Athletic’s NFL Draft analyst, Dane Brugler, recently said, “Here is an unfortunate truth about the 2026 NFL Draft: It is extremely underwhelming in the top-15 picks. There are good players at the top of this class, don’t get me wrong. But relative to most drafts, this year won’t match up at the top.”
The Giants now pick in a range similar to recent years, after selecting edge rusher Abdul Carter with the No. 3 pick in 2025 and wide receiver Malik Nabers with the No. 6 pick in 2024. According to The Athletic’s annual Giants fan survey, fans prefer cornerback or offensive line as the team’s top draft priorities, followed by defensive line, wide receiver, and inside linebacker. Free agency is expected to influence how those needs are addressed.