Giants Draft: A Note on Projects and Development

I don't like taking projects and don't frankly think the Giants can afford to this year.    Too many weaknesses around the roster.   That said some guys, like Troy Niklas the TE from ND are being called projects, when they are probably much better bets than that.   Niklas was recruited to three different schools to play 3 different positions.  He is a scion of the Matthews clan, one of the NFL's royal families.   As soon as they made him a TE, he made plays.  See, he's already a football player and that's the biggest part of the battle.  The hardest thing to to teach in the NFL is instincts.    That's why so few of the basketball players who try to become TE's are any good at it.   So, before you call one of the Giants picks developmental or a project, look at his tape and see if he's instinctive --  a hand catcher, a knee bender, a guy who can play the ball on D, a guy who will jump on a fumble, etc. That's not a project, that a usable football player.

Btw, the real JPP had pass rush instincts.  The JPP of TE's has no discernible instincts.  That's why one was not a project and one has been nothing more than a project.