Giants Draft: Finding Giants

The draft is over and the Giants once again killed it. Like last year, they seemed to find value wherever they picked, and it was always late. I mentioned last week that the Giants, like the Steelers, Pack and some other teams, have a much easier time with the draft because they know what they want and don't pay as much attention to need. This befuddles people like Mel Kiper, who is a terrifically nice guy who has fallen in love with his own un-hired team building strategies. Put simply, if you don't draft for need in the order he's identified them for your team, he's gonna give you low marks. He gave the Giants a C+ for what's looking like an A or better draft.

The Giants say they go to the draft and always take BPA. This too confuses many. What it really means is "we pick the best Giant-type available." Thus, when so many of their picks coincide with perceived needs, they think the Giants are drafting for need. It's nice when best Giant available and a perceived need coincide, but it's just happenstance. They just take the best fit for them, whether it meets a need or not.

Let's take a look at what happened in the first two rounds. The Giants ended up taking David Wilson, and passing on Rueben Randle, Cordy Glenn and one or two others. Looking at it we can see that there were very few Giant-type RB's left, but more Giant type WR's. So they picked Wilson, who was the #2 RB on the board for them, believing they had identified Giant type WR's who might be there when they picked again, like Mohamed Sanu.

The Giants were then amazed to find Rueben Randle still sitting there at 63. This was a bit of a miracle, and just a tribute to the concept that very few teams know what they are doing at the draft. If you've noticed anything from watching football, it's that there are natural WR's and sort of made WR's. The natural guys the Giants have had have been guys like Mike Sherrard, Ike Hilliard and Hakeem Nicks. Guys who just know how to play the position and set-up defenders. Rueben Randle is another one of these guys, except he's 6'3" and 210. Usually, a guy like that is more of a power receiver, and though he has the power traits, he has all of the WR traits, too, including great feet.

Randle and the TE they drafted Adrien Robinson fell in the draft because they were in programs that didn't throw the ball much, thus they didn't produce to their true talent levels, though both flashed. The Giants were able to grab both because they saw through the illusion their systems created and saw pieces that could really flourish in their system. And they didn't have to trade up for either guy, they just let the draft come to them.

I mentioned last week that the Giants have had bad luck trading up the past few times, I mentioned Sinorice and Kehl, and forgot all about Ramses Barden, who has been pretty forgettable so far. Jerry acknowledged as much when he talked about the bad luck they'd had with trade-ups over the weekend.

In the 3rd, the Giants snagged a falling player with a red flag whom they had done all of their homework on, in Jayron Hosley. It was the Mario pick all over again, and Marc Ross mentioned the similarities in the two picks in his presser. He's a little undersized, but he fell because he blew his pot test at the combine. The talent is first round, and he was an amazing value - like Mario Manningham - where the Giants got him.

Then the Giants grabbed the ringer, Adrien Robinson, and started hitting the OL. Giant OL's are sort of their own breed and thus hard to find. I think it's pretty comical when fans get agitated because the Giants haven't spent a high round pick on an OL. Like the Giants are gonna let a rookie protect Eli. Get serious. Also, there were relatively few Giant type OL's in any of their windows. This is sort of true a lot, and one of the only times I have felt they made a mistake was back in 2009 when they had Max Unger sitting there for them and took Clint Sintim instead. That's been a disaster and one of the reasons some people were wigging out about the OL this weekend. But the Giants grabbed two Giant type guys in terms of hands, feet and dispositions in Brandon Mosley and Matt McCants.

Mosley is a David Diehl clone who will probably be on the Right Side at T and G. McCants is sort of a magic feet and extra long arms type. Beatty is sort of like that, but McCants may have better feet and does have even longer arms. He's cut out for the Left Side. People thinks both will need a lot of development, but we'll see. Diehl was pressed into service as a 5th round rook and has been there ever since.

Also, it should be noted that, though many think McCants is really raw, he was a 4 year starter and all conference in his last two years, so though he may not have had the best OL coaching at UAB, he sure got a lot of experience had the position beat at his level. We'll see what happens with him.

In the seventh the Giants took Markus Kuhn, a very athletic, big bodied guy who is newish to football. Jerry Reese called him the Mitch Petrus of defensive tackles. I guess he could have also called him the Dave Tollefson of DT's, but Dave is gone, and they've found yet another Giant.

Just another great draft by the Giants as they keep displaying mastery and minimizing mistakes. We done Front Office, Giant Scouts and Giant Coaches. Well done!