Draft Review Pt. 1: The OL

The Giants channeled the spirit of George Young, this weekend, and cluster drafted OL's. Young did that effectively between SB 21 and 25, but sort of lost his fastball (Gragg, Zatchka) thereafter.  This is the first time the Giants have hit OL in 1, 3 and 5 in God knows how many years, but it was great thing to finally see.

In the first, the Giants took OLT Andrew Thomas.  Thomas had been the number one OL prospect all during the NCAA season, then became the victim of flavor or the week rankings after the games had stopped. He's 6'6" or 6'7" and 315 with long arms and a projectable frame that could see him playing at 330 at some point. He's already a great run blocker and a darn good pass protector who will only get better with pro coaching and game experience.

In the third round, the Giants took OT Matt Peart who is also 6'6" or 6'7" and around 318 with slightly longer arms and an equally projectable frame.  He trained with Thomas in Florida before the combine and considers Thomas his brother. They are incredibly similar in body types but not experience.  Thomas was able to start as a Frosh at an SEC powerhouse program, while Peart, who came to football late, was able to start at UConn, which is even what it was when the Giants took Will Beatty. Peart might need a full season to develop, but he's already come really far really fast, so it could be sooner.

Usually when you have two good tackles they're called bookends.  Rarely are they as similar as these two.

Another point, one of the reasons that this tackle class was so good, it that Thomas, Willis and Wirfs were all able to start as freshman for big time football programs - at Georgia, at Alabama and at Iowa.  Ferentz is an OL coaching legend and Wirfs was the first Frosh to start for him. For what it's worth, Peart, who picked up Football in HS. And he came along so quickly, he too, was able start as a Frosh for Division 1 Connecticut. Those kids who could start as Freshmen are what you want to look for with premium picks. You don't want to ignore prospects with different stories later in the draft.

In the fifth, the Giants took Oregon LG Shane Lemieux. Boom. He's a power broker.  It was interesting that they did not take a Center, but Lemieux was shown doing C drills and snapping the ball on his Instagram, so he might compete at C, too. It would be great to have a power guy at C. The Giants haven't had that since pre-injured Brian Williams. So keep your fingers crossed. Like Giant Legend Rich Seubert, Lemieux started his football life as a TE.

After the draft, the Giants signed Rhode Island T/G/C Kyle Murphy. They might use him to back up the middle three positions, while Peart starts out as the swing tackle. They also signed former Louisville RT Tyler Haycroft. He was a walk-on who earned a scholarship, down there, and may also be tried at Center. These are high character players and that will give them chances.  We haven't hit on a UDFA free agent OL since the aforementioned Mr. Seubert.  When Gettleman was running Carolina he found Andrew Norwell in UDFA, so his success has been recent that that of Mara Tech.

Needless to say, we have long called for this kind of a draft and laser focus,  and this weekend we finally got one.  Cluster drafting OL's how necessary it was with a young Franchise QB and Franchise Back.  Huge relief and kudos.