Giants: Drafting Receivers

The Giants are probably going to draft a WR this year.    They might do it in the first, where Texas A+M's big Mike Evans might be, but I'm really hoping they wait till the second and pick Allen Robinson or Davante Adams.    Evans is a good player, and would be a weapon of Eli, but I have some reservations about his utility.   He's big and straight-line fast, with a large catching radius, but he doesn't have particularly big hands given his size, and he has some trouble redirecting, so I think the team that drafts him will have to limit his routes, like the Lions used to do with Herman Moore.   I don't think he'd be a bad pick for the Giants, but I see more versatile WR's that could be available in the second, and I'd rather grab one from that pool.


Allen Robinson might be my favorite WR in the draft (aside from Sammy Watkins, who'm we just can't get).   Robinson is 6'2 and 220, and strong.  He ran a bad 40 at the combine but was explosive in jumps and shuttles and the 3 cone (for 220).    Yesterday, at his pro day, he ran in the 4.4's and jumped even higher.  There's a rumor he was down to 208, but that probably goes on all over the place and a team will take charge of his weight when they get him.

I love Robinson because he is heroic.   Heroic is a term I use for playmakers who can make the big, physical play.   During his first few years, Hakeem Nicks would do this for us routinely.  Robinson can make a lot of the same plays, win jump balls and win battles against physical corners and safeties.  

Like Hakeem, Robinson is more quick and powerful than flat out fast.  Would love for the Giants to get him in the second.

Davante Adams is another strong WR, who's probably faster than Hakeem and Robinson.   He teamed up with Derek Carr at Fresno State and went off.  He plays strong and can also win the ball down the field for whoever gets him.

I also like Moncrief, Matthews and Latimer as strong WR's who we could take in the second, though, Latimer could even fall to the third because of his injuries.

One strong but smaller WR (though not small, at a hair under 6') is Odell Beckham from LSU.  He's also just under 200 pounds, but he's explosive and strong.  In fact, I think it can be argued that he, and not Mike Evans, is the WR after Watkins in this draft.

I think he'll be picked between our first two picks, so I doubt we'll get him.  

There are a pool of WR's in this draft that I don't want to daft from, and that's the slighter group of WR's headlined by Marqise Lee and featuring guys like Paul Richardson, Brandin Cooks and Bruce Ellington.   I love Lee, but I think he will be hurt all the time.   Same with the other guys, some of whom have hand size issues.  We play in the NFC East, and we are at our best when we have big, physical guys.

Also, Jernigan and Mario are also slight, so we could use more size as the position.

This could turn out to be an historically great WR draft, and I think the Giants will have an opportunity to grab a great one in the 2nd round.