New York Giants Draft Wrap

The NFL draft is over until next year.  Right now, teams are trying to sign enough undrafted free agents to fill up their offseason 90 man roster limit.  Unsigned draft picks now count toward that limit, so, unless they cut someone, the Giants can only add 6 players.   But as you know, between now and the season, the bottom of the roster is always fluid.

So what do we make of the Giants draft?  They took some players I was on the record as liking, and they took some others that fit the way they draft.   For some reason, this draft felt a little subdued.   That's probably because the value of the draft was primarily in offensive and defensive linemen,  rather than QB's, WR's and RB's.  Let's take a look back.

In the first, the Giants took Justin Pugh.  If he is what they think he is - a guy who can plug all 5 spots on the OL, it was a home run pick.   Here's why - and Giants fans know this - you can't win without good line play.   Now, in 2011, the Giants did indeed win with a declining OL, but that was the last hurrah for that group.  In fact, the Giants haven't gotten really dominant line play since the 2010 season, when, swamped with injuries. Coach Flats was able to get production out of any five guys he ran out there.   Many of those guys are now retired, the Giants had to do something.

First, they re-signed Will Beatty, who was the last prime pick they spent on an OL, and who really did seem to be coming on this past year.   Next, they took Pugh and it was the first time they spent a 1 on an OL since 1999.  In fact, the Giants have tried to get by with late round picks and UDFA's like David Diehl and Rich Seubert for a decade plus, but guys like Jeff Hatch, (who was a third!)  Guy Whimper, and Mitch Petrus never took the next step and never became one of the top 5.  Last year's OL picks, Mosely and McCants, can't be discarded quite yet, but neither looked like "a guy" last year.

Pugh definitely looks like a guy.  In fact, he is reminiscent of most of the guys we've been successful with over the years, like Luke, Seubert and Snee.  So, if he can come in and be an 8-10 year guy like those guys, the pick was a home run.

In the second, the Giants took a planet theory, run stuffing, blocker occupying load named Johnathan Hankins, out of Ohio State.   At OSU, Hankins was heroic, playing many more downs per game than most of these run stuffers can handle.   He won't have to do that with the Giants.  Hopefully, he won't get a rookie red shirt, like Linval and Austin did, but he could.  If he doesn't he will both help against the run (where we were gashed last year!) and help the pass rushers by occupying blockers so they can do their thing.  He's also insurance against Linval leaving as a free agent next offseason.   He was downgraded because he's not a pass rush threat, but the Giants have have pass rushers, in fact they got one more in the third!

DaMontre Moore could turn out to be the best pick in this draft - not just the best Giant pick - but the best value pick.  This is true because the Giants got him in the middle of the third round, and there's at least a 50-50 shot he will be better than one or two of the pass rushers that were taken in the first.   Here's why that is very possible.  First, he was the youngest player in this draft, thus he has more time.  Second, though he is young, he was massively productive in college.   Third, he's been doing it all with god given talent, because no one has taught him any pass rush moves!   Now he is coming to Pass Rush Central.

With the Giants, DaMontre will have an opportunity to learn from Tuck and Kiwi, and they had an opportunity to learn from Michael Strahan.  And Michael had an opportunity to learn from LAWRENCE TAYLOR.   So DaMontre will join the true lineage.  And I'm not kidding. Those teachings have turned out of a lot of great players.  So combining his youth, his talent, and his teammates, I think there's a really good chance he turns into a star, much like Justin Tuck did years ago when he was our third rounder.

In the Fourth round RGIII got us a back-up quarterback.   What?  In any of the past few years, Ryan Nassib would have been somebody's first round pick.  At Syracuse he was better than Andy Dalton and Christian Ponder and some of the other guys who were getting picked in the first pre RGIII.   This year, the only QB picked in the first was EJ Manuel, a projection out of Florida State.  Have the teams come to their senses or lost their minds?  We'll see.  What we did see yesterday was the Giants seeing a player whose value was just too great, so they moved up and grabbed him.   I was ready for them to take another position player so I was a little surprised by the move, but I like it.

David Carr is a text book example of why expansion teams should not be allowed to draft a franchise QB until they have a working OL.   Anyway, Carr was abused early in his career, and has never really gotten over it.   So, it is time to bring in someone who can do more than place hold the back up spot, and Nassib is that guy and he got a 41 on his Wonderlic!

In the Fifth, the Giants did what they've done best.   They took a freak.  Cooper Taylor was all ACC as a Freshman at GA Tech, before coming down with a rare, but thankfully treatable disorder.  Healthy again, he went up to Richmond and resumed his career. Now he's a 6'4" 230 lbs safety, who runs sub 4.5 and busts out sub 7's on the three cone.  Watch his tape.  He will remind you a bit of Sehorn.    Taylor gives the Giants a big, hybrid S who looks like a perfect fit and perhaps even an upgrade for their 3 safety look.

The Giants used their 6th in the Nassib trade.

In the Seventh, the Giants had two picks.  First they took Eric Herman a big guard from the ascendant Ohio U program.   Herman dominated his lower level and that is absolutely crucial for lower level picks.  We'll see if he's another guy.   Then, with the second to last pick of the draft, the Giants took Mike Cox, a running back who didn't play much at Michigan, then transferred to UMass and didn't produce much.  Anyway, the Giants had him in and he apparently blew the doors of his workout.   We'll see if he can help.

Overall, the Giants did what they usually do and got a bunch of Giant-type players.  Let's hope they pan out.