Giants: Drafting OL's

So this is day 2 of my "Drafting..." Series.   Today we'll look at OL's.

Drafting offensive lineman isn't as fun as taking big playmakers, but it's really, really necessary.  The Giants blew it off for too long (although, it's also fair to say that in a lot of drafts, there were no Giant type OL's available where the Giant picks were coming up-- it's freakish but true), and now they have to finally fix it.

Because the Giants are switching to a different O this year, it's possible that what they are looking for in their OL's will also change.  For example are they going for more of a spread look?  That requires a different technique, likewise, going to a straight drive blocking style would require a big adjustment.

Since the Giants did not switch their OL coach, I'll assume they're going to go with the old school pulling and trapping scheme that lead to so many 5.0 yards per run seasons in the not so distant past.

So the Giants will be looking for big guys, with good feet, who can execute the pull and trap, mirror and slide and square up targets on the second level.   Got it?

What this means is guys who are able to execute both the running plays and the pass plays, that's huge.  Just about every team insists on that, because doing otherwise would tip plays,  That's why you don't see rotational OL's like you do rotational DL's.

So what else is important for an OL?

I was lucky enough to have a long conversation with an NFL Scout several years ago, and he told me, and I've really come to believe it's true,  that CONSISTENCY is most important factor for an NFL OL.   That is, the ability to execute your assignments on a down to down basis.  At the time, he was using Bruce Matthews as his example of what he was talking about.  Big guy, good hands and feet, who executed his assignments on every down.  That's hard to do, but really, really essential if you want to have a good line and be able to run and pass with impunity.

So, more than finding guys who can, on a given play block a guy into the next time zone, you want guys who can,  from down to down get at least a tie.

This is where teams screw up and how value then becomes available to teams that know what they are doing.

Part and parcel of this faulty thought process, is drafting and acquiring OL's that are just too big.   Sure athletes keep getting bigger and bigger, but there's only so much weight an athlete can work with before getting gassed, losing their technique and becoming a liability.

We saw this with the Cowboys back in `07, they had a huge line, and the Giants would just wait for them to get gassed in the second half and pounce.   Lombardi for us, head scratching for Dallas.

Some other physical things to look for: arm length.  Some teams really want to see long arms on their OL's.   While long arms might allow a guy to create more space in pass blocking, and theoretically lead to better punches, they can also lead to more holding calls, because they are harder to get inside a guy's frame than shorter arms are.  That's not to say shorter arms are better.  A short armed OL has to really have great feet so he can reposition.  So if a guy has short arms, make sure he has great feet.  Pugh is like that.

Hands: I think having big strong hands might even trump the arm thing.  Being able to grab the numbers and control your guy is huge.   Pugh does this, too.

Feet:  Possibly the most important thing.   Can he keep them moving while engaged in a block?  Can he plant his foot and redirect?   Can he mirror a pass rusher?   Can he run down field and square up a target?  Huge.  I don't really want any "Right Tackle" guys.  Those are guys with bad feet.   Same with G's who can't pull.   Give me guys with the feet to play anywhere.  Pugh has those.

Knees and hips:  These are huge.  Can the guy consistently get in and out of his stance without getting off balance?  Does he have the power fire out of his stance?  Does he get lazy and start waist bending (this is really bad!)?    This is really important because though it's pretty to add upper body strength, it's not as easy to get stronger in the lower half. And if you're not a natural knee bender, you'll probably end up waist bending and getting blown up a lot.

Upper body:  It's important to be strong here, too.  It's hard to measure just how, as there are guys with lousy BP numbers who play with good power because of their lower bodies.  What you don't want here is a guy who is top heavy, because that can lead to balance problems and waist bending.

Last year, the Giants drafted Eric Herman who was sort of top heavy and ended up on the p-squad.  A few years ago they took Mitch Petrus, who killed the BP at the combine.  He was top heavy and though he had good feet, he had bad balance.  Weird, but he couldn't make it.

Overall: with defenses rotating more and more players and packages, you need OL's who are in shape and can compete for 60 minutes without getting gassed to the point that they become inconsistent.

Character also matters a lot.  Consistency seems to correlate somehow with reliability.  That means that his teammates can rely on him on the field and the coaches can rely on him to stay in shape and out of trouble off the field.

Watching tape of draftable OL's is a little tricky, since we don't necessarily know what assignment they are trying execute.  So what you want to look for is clean execution, where they move someone on a running play, and where their man can get at the QB on a pass play.  It's also important to see what's going on with their feet on their blocks, do they keep them moving?  Do they maintain balance and base?   Do they consistently square up and fit their target?   You don't want to see guys who are reaching and grabbing because they were slow off the snap or are unsure of their assignment.

It's also important to see if they can get out on the second level and square someone up for a block.   A lot of times, you'll see guys who aren't really good at that.   Another drafting flaw for some teams is assuming you can coach someone up.   That's just not always true.   And it's really hard to make players care more, and a lot of faulty execution is from a lack of focus from play to play -- and that speaks to the consistency issue,

In the past 10 years, the Giants have drafted two really good OL's: Chris Snee and Justin Pugh.   They could both execute all the plays in college, including hitting guys on the second level, and carried that to the pros.   They've also drafted on maddeningly inconsistent guy, in Will Beatty.   Will Beatty has good feet to mirror and slide.  He doesn't; however, always use them, so he either gets beat or grabs a guy in a choke hold as he goes by.   That can lead to penalties...  Beatty wasn't consistent in college and isn't consistent now, and they probably need to start phasing him out.   So draft guys you really like as are, and don't assume you can fix them.

Back to the tape thing, so you want to see them run block, pass block and get out on the second level. I also like to see guys who after they have executed their assignments, will block someone from the other team.  Love to see that on tape from both OL's and TE's.  Tells me they are into the game.

Another thing I like is versatility -- guys who can play more than 1 position.   Pugh can play all 5.   Snee can also play C, but we haven't seen because he put a deathlock on RG for years.

The guys I like for the Giants in this draft, are consistent guys, who can execute all three kinds of blocks and have the versatility to play more than one position.

That's why I love Martin from ND and don't like Lewan from Michigan.  Martin can play all 5 positions with good consistency.   You add that to a line that already has Pugh and you're in good shape going forward.  Lewan is inconsistent and sucks on the second level, and I have no reason to believe he will get better in the pro's.   He's also getting arraigned after the draft.  Who needs that?

If the Giants decide to go another way in round 1, I also really like Joel Bitonio from Nevada who can probably play 4 or 5 positions and is very Giant-like.  Jack Mewhort from OSU could be interesting in the third, but he had cop trouble 2 years ago, and the Giants would have to make sure he'd be reliable, and I just don't want to wait till the third to hit OL for the first time.  The Giants haven't gotten a good OL outside of the second round since David Diehl in 2003.   So start sooner.

There are some interesting C's in the third round mix like Richburg, Marcus Martin and Swanson.  They could be interesting, but I'd want to know they can also play G.   Late in the draft, there's G Chris Watt from ND and he, reportedly can also play C.   He's a good guard, who could be a really good C.

In any event the Giants need to find two versatile, consistent OL's who can pass block, run block, and  fit blocks on the second level.  One should be able to play T and G and one should be able to play C and G.  They don't need to draft any projects who they hope can be something they aren't already.