Giants Draft: Review Pt. 9 Players Not Projects

One thing I mentioned in my initial thoughts was that the Giants spent the draft picking football players instead of projects.   Sure, their 6th rounder, Bennett Jackson, is in the middle of the position switch from WR to corner, but he's got both the flippable him and the effort level to get it done.  Then we'll have yet another good corner with size and speed.   But beyond that, they took some very versatile guys all of whom are already instinctive.

Over the years, and I've been following the daft seriously since around junior high, I think it's become clearer and clearer that most busts occur because the player is either uninstinctive or has tight hips.  I really think those are the two biggest things that can get missed in the process.

Remember NFL Europe?   It was supposed to be a developmental Spring league, where the foreigners could be entertained and young prospects could get extra reps and develop.   Ideally it was supposed to be on a level between college and the pros.    It should have been fun to watch.   But it wasn't and here's why, with the exception of Kurt Warner, whom the league missed on, and a few others like Cullen Jenkins and James Harrison, who was a superstar in Pittsburgh for a few years after having bounced around NFL Europe and various practice squads (roid much?).

The reason why the level of NFL Europe was so abysmal during its 16 year run was that while college and the NFL feature league average players and stars, NFL Europe only had league average or worse and no stars.   They didn't know how to play football.

Ironically, the league was crawling with draft book darlings who either had great 40 times or massive bench press reps, but what they didn't have was instincts.

You see this all the time in the NBA draft where teams are constantly drafting guys who don't know how to play.  Except the Spurs.  And in the old days, the Celtics and Lakers.

Apparently, a lot of NFL teams are catching onto these distinctions as we saw the picks correspond to actual football talent more than they usually do over this past draft.  It may be the effect that teams like Seattle and San Francisco are having.

For the Giants, it's probably the reminder that players like Will Hill and Jon Beason gave them, that got them back to drafting football players and not wing and a prayer guys.

Btw, the UDFA class is still missing some names, but it is also full of football players rather than projects and camp should be great.