NFL-Giants: NY Giants football news

The Giants made a call to expected undrafted free agent Virginia Military Institute senior Vicheal Foxx to ask if he’d be available for an early May mini-camp. At 6’4″ and 320 pounds, he’s got the right size to play defensive tackle.

I never liked Gabe Watson at #25, but never thought he’d be a day 2 pick either. Now, he’ll have to play hard to reach his second contract because his first contract won’t make him rich. That should be motivation enough for just about anybody…

Orien Harris was someone a lot of people talked about in the 2nd round. Jonathan Lewis from Virginia Tech is a guy I really like. We’ve also got Rodrique Wright and Babatunde Oshinowo on the board. I think Montavious Stanley could develop into a nice run stuffer as well. Don’t forget DT Johnny Jolly, a 320 pound run stuffer. I also didn’t see Steve Fifita drafted; he’s another 320 pounder. All 4 defensive tackles I wrote about last week are still on the board. Add Jonathan Lewis (who I really thought would go in round 2 or 3) and we have 5 defensive tackles I’d be real happy with. If the Giants choose two with their 4th round picks I will be a very happy man.

At corner, we’ve Will Blackmon and DeMario Minter who can develop into starters. CB Alan Zemaitis was great in college but I’m not sure that’ll translate into the pros.

Seems to me that there’s lots to get excited about in the 4th.

WR Sinorice Moss, from University of Miami, was the Giants highest rated receiver (I’m surprised he was rated high than Holmes). I can see him pushing Tim Carter and Jamaar Taylor for playing time, especially since neither of those guys has done much. I have no problem with trading up either. The Giants still got one pick in the third round and will have an extra 4th rounder.

If it were me the pick would have been Jimmy Williams or the trade down. Frankly, I think it is awesome that the Giants were able to trade down. Just awesome.

I figure the Giants would want to come out of this draft with 2 defensive tackles, 1 or more corners, 1 linebacker, and 1 wide receiver. Now they can get 4 of those on day 1 and 2 more in round 4 (near or at the end)!

So what happens to my excitement? The Giants take Mathias Kiwanuka. No Jimmy Williams, no linebacker, no defensive tackle, no Chad Jackson or Moss. Very puzzling.

Crazy draft – I need a rest.

I’ve got some reading material for you as you prepare for draft weekend. First up are some comments and things from the blogger mock draft I reported a few days ago (the one where I picked Jimmy Williams at 25). I doubt he falls that far in real life, but we’ll see.

And some articles. Pierce is still talking defensive tackle. Says some very nice things about Clancy. Wish he were here. There’s an article on Carpenter. On the one hand they say he can play any linebacker spot. On the other hand they say he’s most likely a SAM. With Emmons, Short, and Torbor SAM seems to be the linebacker spot where the Giants have the most depth.

Personally, I think CB needds to be a priority since they are impossible to find in free agency (Madison and Allen being exceptions this year). Garafolo mentions Maroney, Carpenter, and Chad Jackson.

Pierce and Arrington came up to Giants Stadium from Virginia together, late because Arrington’s car broke down. Everybody sounds happy. Osi says it feels like the Super Bowl and Arrington says he likes his contract.

So Perry over at Chicago Sports blogs recently set up a mock draft where we bloggers could play armchair GM. We could trade picks and everything (which I tried to do but had an offer rejected). Luckily, Arrington’s signing became publi right before I went on the clock. The only LB on the board I would ahve considered was DeMeco Ryans, but there was better talent available in Jimmy Williams (CB), Snatonio Holmes (WR), and Eric Winston (LOT). Here’s how the draft played out:

1. Houston Texans – Reggie Bush RB USC
2. New Orleans Saints – Mario Williams DE NC State
3. Tennessee Titans – Matt Leinart QB USC
4. New York Jets – D’Brickashaw Ferguson OT Virginia
5. Green Bay Packers – A.J. Hawk LB The Ohio State University
6. San Francisco 49ers – Vernon Davis TE Maryland
7. Oakland Raiders – Michael Huff DB Texas
8. Buffalo Bills – Brodrick Bunkley DT Florida State
9. Detroit Lions – Chad Greenway LB IOWA (the real shocker to me)
10. Arizona Cardinals – Vince Young QB Texas
11. St. Louis Rams – Haloti Ngata DT Oregon
12. Cleveland Browns – Manny Lawson LB N.C. State
13. Baltimore Ravens – Jay Cutler QB Vanderbilt
14. Philadelphia Eagles – Winston Justice OT USC
15. Denver Broncos – Mathias Kiwanuka DE Boston College
16. Miami Dolphins – Chad Jackson WR Florida
17. Minnesota Vikings – Ernie Sims LB Florida State
18. Dallas Cowboys – Bobby Carpenter OLB Ohio St. (this one also surprised me)
19. San Diego Chargers – Antonio Cromartie CB Florida State (interesting)
20. Kansas City Chiefs – Tamba Hali DE Penn St.
21. New England Patriots – LenDale White RB USC
22. San Francisco 49ers – Kameron Wimbley DE Florida St
23. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Deuce Lutui G Southern Cal
24. Cincinnati Bengals – Gabe Watson DT Michigan (I wasn’t going to take him anyway)

25. New York Giants – Jimmy Williams CB Virginia Tech (sure he’s got attitude problems, but the Giants have enough leaders on D to keep him in line and he was the best talent available and at a position of need – I ranked need nose tackle, corner back, receiver, LOT, WILL and the LOT and WILL would have little chance to be more than backups. I tried trading down with the Colts, thinking they’d want DeAngelo Williams offering them #25 for #30 and their 3rd rounder.)

26. Chicago Bears – Santonio Holmes WR Ohio State (This blogger told me he wanted Williams but was one pick too late).
27. Carolina Panthers – DeAngelo Williams RB Memphis
28. Jacksonville Jaguars – DeMeco Ryans LB Alabama
29. New York Jets – Nick Mangold C Ohio State
30. Indianapolis Colts
31. Seattle Seahawks
32. Pittsburgh Steelers

The Giants made a huge improvement on their entire defense by signing all pro linebacker Lavar Arrington allowing the Giants to turn their first round dratft needs to a quality corner or safety. Arrington had spent the last six years with the Washington RedSkins.

“We needed a big, power player to add to our defense and LaVar Arrington is that,” said general manager Ernie Accorsi. “He has a presence about him and he makes us a better football team. The agreement we came to is a fair deal for the player and a fair deal for the organization.. We came to an agreement that achieves what everybody wants: the player being rewarded for performance. Which is exactly what LaVar and the Giants wanted.”

Arrington has 67 tackles (335 solo), 22.5 sacks, 11 forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries and three interceptions for his career and made the pro bowl three years in a row from 2001-2003.

Well looks like the Giants signed Arrington today, boosting their defense and their chances at winning more games. With that said I stand by my proclamation that this team will not win more than seven games this season. In my previous post I outlined the first half of the season, in which the Giants start 4-4. Here is the final half of the season done in a game-by-game analysis.

Week 10

This has to make you smile. Arrington at WILL, Pierce at MIKE, Emmons at SAM (or Torbor or Short but I think Emmons is best) is a good looking linbacking corps! Wow! I’m excited!

7 years and 49 million seems like a lot but you have to trust the Giants cap management which has been good recently. I don’t know how much is guaranteed. Newsday predicts a 7-8 million dollar signing bonus which is a lot but not unreasonable. Anyway, who excited?