Giants Draft: Why Can't They Find LB's?

I said I'd get around to this.   The Giants haven't drafted a pro bowl linebacker since they took Jesse Armstead in their historic 1993 draft.   Ironically, in Jesse's case, it took him longer to be a pro-bowl LB than it should have because Reeves and his staff tried to make him a safety.  They also wasted time with Jason Sehorn trying to make him a safety.   Think about that every time you're really frustrated with our current coaches.   At least most of the good players get to play.  Though Jernigan had to wait, he isn't going to be Armstead or Sehorn.

So why has it been 21 years?  Part of the reason has been the devaluation of 4-3 LB's across the board.   Teams started finding they could get them late (heck, Jesse was an 8th rounder) so they started waiting.   Of course, waiting isn't the most pro-active thing you can do when you want a player.   So waiting till they were gone has been one issue.

Another issue is that they are still going for far more 3-4 LB's and trying to convert them, than they've gone for pure 4-3 LB's.

Another issue has been their unwillingness to trade up for guys they liked, like Patrick Willis or Rolando McClain (thank the big Giant in the sky for that one).

Though their eagerness for McClain does show a disconcerting inability to scout LB's.

So it seems that the problem has been an overall discounting of the LB position, a habit of waiting too long, and an inability to consistently identify LB talent.   This is like some sort of dystopian nightmare for Giant fans.   We used to have the best LB's earth when we played the 3-4, and even before that when Carson and Van Pelt were playing the 4-3.

But how has it really played out?  Well, we've won 2 Superbowls and until recently were always pretty good against the run.  Pierce came in as a free agent and helped us win one, and then Boley did the same.    We got lucky with Chase Blackburn, who had been a lower level DL at Akron before morphing into a SuperBowl game changing Mike.   That was pure luck.

In general, though, missing rangy LB's has left a big hole in the middle of our D, which guys like Jason Witten have made borderline Hall of Fame careers out of settling into.

Anyway, as long as the game is played the way it is played, teams need LB's and the Giants have been terrible at drafting them.    Beason (who'm they had also liked as a prospect) came in last year and really shaped up the D.  Just as Pugh showed the value of young talent on the OL, Beason showed the value of having really football players at LB.

Now, we may be in no man't land tomorrow at 12,  meaning Martin and Beckham are off the board.  In that event I would look pretty closely at trading down or taking CJ Mosley or Ryan Shazier.  They're not my top choices, but they are going to be really good NFL LB's and we could sure use some of them.

If not, I'd like to see the Giants pick up Kirksey from Iowa or a similar guy on day 3.