Basically, the Cowboys were the Browns last chance so they had to give up a lot more than they wanted to. Here's the article. Still, you have to hate that the Cowboys might have gotten a good pick from the Browns - who thinks it'll be a top ten?
Last year's #1, Matthias Kiwanuka, is going to have a try at playing SAM. Kawika Mitchell, who I assumed would play SAM, will compete with Wilkinson at WILL. Obviously Pierce will play in the middle.
SAM = Mathias Kiwanuka / Zak DeOssie / Reggie Torbor
MLB = Antonio Pierce / Chase Blackburn
WLB = Gerris Wilkinson / Kawika Mitchell
I'm beginning to think that things aren't looking good for Torbor. His strength was rushing the passer but Kiwi should be as good or better doing that.
Kevin Boss is another sweet pick at a huge position of need for the Giants. NFL.com has a long list of positives. He's got the hands of a basketball player, he's a workout warrior. Newerascouting also says nice things.
This guy had better be as good as the reports say he can be - he'll probably be our second tight end and see significant playing time behind Shockey.
LB Zak DeOssie (Brown) is an awesome pick. He should be good on specials (wedge buster) and might be our future longsnapper. And there's every reason to believe he can play linebacker in the NFL. He's 6'5", 250 lbs, and he plays fast. His dad was a linebacker (and long snapper) and played for a few teams including the Giants.
His NFL.com profile is kind of funny because it lists one of his negatives as not being able to fight through double teams. If our linebackers are getting double teamed, something is seriously wrong so that should be a non-issue. He interviews well.
Kevin Gleason's article says that Ross might be good but that ultimately the Giants screwed up by not taking a linebacker or a left tackle. I think he's an idiot. Show me a left tackle who was available at #20 who can come in and start at a higher level than David Diehl. There weren't any there. Joe Thomas might be as good as Diehl but then again look at what's happening with Robert Gallery. He went #3. Levi Brown went #5. The Giants couldn't possibly have chosen a left tackle at #20.
Tom Canavan's article reminds us how badly the Giants defense needs help defending the pass. He doesn't mention that the safeties can be blamed for muc of that - obviously we didn't help ourselves at the safety position on day 1.
Regarding linebacker, OK, the Giants could use a WLB.
Arthur Staple's article shows us that Reese would have traded down with Cleveland if they had made us the same offer they made the Cowboys. He correctly points out that Ross was a better pick than beason or Staley because Ross helps (potentially helps) at two positions of need, punt returner and corner.
Mike Garafolo's article offers something new - that Ross will compete with Corey Webster for a spot.
John Branch says Ross will compete with both Webster and Madison. Like all the other articles he talks about how the Giants tried to trade up for one of the other corners but couldn't find the right deal (like the Jets did).
Keep in mind that scouting reports on ESPN and NFL.com and wherever are often wrong. For example ESPN says Ross will be better in a zone scheme. NFL.com says he is a "liability" in zone. Obviously one of them is wrong!
I'm sure I'll have more articles soon but for now, enjoy:
Who would have thought that when the Giants went on the clock at #20 Brady Quinn would still be on the board? There were some good guys in positions of need to. Alan Branch was there. Dwayne Jarrett was there. Reggie Nelson, Joe Staley, Beason, Meachem, etc. Some trade down possibilities one would think.
The Giants stayed at 20 and took Aaron Ross, a big CB with good hands who can return punts. I like that he's 6-1. I like part of his nfl.com scouting report:
Ross not only excelled as a cover cornerback for the Longhorns, but was also a standout as a punt returner, scoring three times on 76 runbacks during his career. His natural hands were evident, as he also deflected 33 passes and intercepted 10 others. Despite only one full season as a starter, he also generated 205 career tackles.It sounds good, but they also say he's not ready to play corner in the NFL because he bites on pump fakes, grabs jerseys (PI penalties), isn't a strong tackler, isn't strong, doesn't understand complicated schemes, can't play zone, etc.
Who can say how the pick will turn out? All I know is we have two chances. He could be a good return guy. He could be a good cornerback. If he does only one we at least get some value. If he does both than this is an excellent pick. We'll just have to wait and see.
Here's a quick article on some of the top prospects at WR. It seems to me that if we really want to concentrate on pounding the snot out of the other guys we should be looking at defense or offensive line and tight end on offense.
We have an interesting article on Sagnuolo's contributions - a list of players that fit his new system. Some possible press corners are Pitt's Revis, Arkansas' Houston, and Fresno State's Marcus McCauley.
Mike Garafolo speculates about Jerry Reese trading up for Levi Brown or draftinf for need if they stay at #20. Has he been listening at all to Reese? How many times do we have to hear that drafting for need lands you the next Cedric Jones. Always go BPA in round 1. Reese has said it so why didn't Garafolo hear?
Kevin Gleason plays the same game but at least he admits that reporters are alwyas wrong.
Here's a better article on character risk prospects. The Giants met with UNLV cornerback Eric Wright and Miami safety Brandon Meriweather. This article has some of the same quotes but ads that the Giants have gotten rdi of their infamous 500 question pschological profile test.
I wrote about Walter Thomas back on April 12th. Now the New York Times are writing about him. Some guessers have him going in the 5th round. I don't guess, but this would be a hard pick to argue with considering the potential of a 375 pound guy who can bench 100 pounds more than he weighs and then do a backflip. There are character concerns though - there's a reason he couldn't play in college and you'd hate to spend a draft pick on a guy who ends up not playing because of something stupid...
This interesting article on drafting players with existing character concerns is pretty interesting and has a quote from Jerry Reese:
"A lot of us have done things in our past," says Jerry Reese, who for 11 years worked in the New York Giants' personnel department before becoming the team's general manager after last season.Personally, since good teams are built through the draft, I think you have to draft as few busts as possible. Salary cap issues make that especially important in the first round. This makes draft picks like Kiwanuka relatively safe (although good guys can also be busts like Tim Carter)."These are young kids. They're impressionable kids. So you can't absolutely kill a guy because he went out and had a beer after a party and got into a scuffle or something. A lot of these kids get parking tickets. Some of them get speeding tickets. But we get all that information. If a guy's got a blotter, if he's got a long list of character flaws, you have to take that stuff into consideration."
Anyway, in the first round I think you need a high character guy, but how do you define that? Brandon Merriweather interviews well but has that on-field incident and got into a shooting incident. But he was using a licensed handgun and defending a friend who had been shot. That doesn't sound so bad so is he really a character concern?
Here's an interesting New York Times article on Tony Ugoh's visits (to the Giants and other teams).
Jon Beason also came for a visit. The article mentions Jessie Armstead, another Miami linebacker and tries to draw some similarities. Of course beason is expected to go about 7 rounds earlier than Armstead did...
Beason seems easy to root for:
"If someone based it just on character, he'd be a top-five pick," said Beason's agent, Marty Magid of MRM Sports in Conshohocken, Pa. "I've had teams text me and tell me 'This kid's unreal.' He'd be the poster child of what the NFL's image should be.""Just give me the opportunity, show me where the grass is, show me to the meeting room, give me a good position coach who wants to teach you and I'll be fine."
I just returned from a little vacation in Cebu (in the Philippines) to find that I didn't miss any real Giants news, only a garage sale.
There are a few old (new but without new information) draft articles. Reese said the Giants would get someone good at #20. The Giants also need to do well in the second round.
The Giants might not be done in free agency either.
The Giants signed Marc Hickok to compete with Josh Huston in training camp. Better than nothing I guess but it's hard to get excited about a guy who couldn't make an NFL Europe squad. At least he's a Giants fan.
We've also got an article on David Diehl who talks about switching positions and power running.
Giants sign QB Anthony wright, defensive tackle Marcus Bell and defensive back Michael Stone. Wright is a mobile QB with a strong arm and accuracy problems. That makes for a good backup because you don't have to change the playcalling for him (he has the arm to make any throw unlike Hasselback) and he can buy time when things go wrong (and they often do go wrong when the backup QB is in).
Marcus Bell is a nose tackle who can't really get to the QB much (86 games with 21 starts in his career and has recorded 165 tackles and 6.5 sacks) but holds the point of attack. He's not an every down player, especially because coditioning is a concern.
Michael Stone has played in 52 games (17 special teams tackles for Arizona in 2004 and then again for the Patriots in 2005). I'm not sure what this means for Jason Bell who is a special teams guy / DB much like stone is. Can the Giants have two DBs on the roster who don't really play in the secondary much but who are good special teams guys? Stone is sort of a Safety/CB tweener who did have one decent season as a DB with the Patriots in 2005 (46 tackles in 13 games, 3 starts).
It's interesting to see Reese make a fairly risky move in cutting Petigout and then make a number of smaller, safer moves like trading Carter for Droughns, signing Kawika Mitchell, and now these new guys.
We don't see many articles on the Giants these days (but there are lots of copies of the schedule floating around. Here's one.
Droughns says he's ready to do some winning now that he's not in Cleveland while Cofield says the schedule can't be as bad as last year.McKenzie said he's never been to Europe so he's looking forward to the Giants vs. Dolphins game in London.
If I made the money that NFL players make, I'd be in Europe pretty often but whatever. Here are some travel tips for the Giants who have never been to England. Let's just hope they saty away from Amsterdam which is pretty close...
Anyway, lots to do in England. Tourists could do some ghost hunting in Pengersick Castle (in Cornwall in the United Kingdom), or do some movie tourism (DaVinci Code tourism or Robinhood or Harry Potter). Here's a more in depth England vacation itinerary.
I know the Giants won't really be vacationing in England, but I have to blog about something and there's not much going on as far as Giants news...
This article on falling draft prospects says Alan Branch is a top 20 pick but probably won't make it to the Giants. Of course we all know how well the reporters did guessing when gabe Watson would go last year. He was also a first round lock but went in round 4.
If the Giants don't get a tackle early, there's the big but raw, Walter Thomas. In this article on rising prospects, they say some nice things about the quick 6'5" 370 pound DT from NW Mississippi CC. Who was it that said there are only so many big football players and youw ant more on your team than the other team? There's always Quinton Echols as well.
And here's a good article on the Patriots draft habits. Seems like we could learn a thing or two from those guys.
Happy Easter! Enough with the nicities. This idiot says the Giants are setting up Coughlin for failure by doing only one thing to improve the team (trading Carter for Droughns).
The Giants did sign Kawika Mitchell. And they are looking at guys like Jay Fielder and Kris Jenkins. They tried to work out somethign with Al Wilson.
This other idiot says that unless the Giants trade up they won't get a starting left tackle in this draft. Show me a rookie who can come in and beat out Diehl at left tackle. Look at Robert Gallery - did he win the starting left tackle job right away?
They also say we need someone to replace Barber's receiving skills. Our backs might be big, but they can catch.
I think it's clear that the Giants will go BPA early although they could trade up to get someone in a need position or down if there's no one in a position of need. In later rounds where grades are fairly equal on different players they will draft for need. Since the reporters are idiots, what do the Giants really need?
Keep in mind that you draft guys to compete for starts and back guys up - not many draft choices start and have an impact in their first years so you don't count on drafting an immediate impact player / starter.
I think the Giants need a tight end. Last year we had two and noe Shiancoe is gone via free agency. This elaves us with Shockey who never stays healthy for an entire season.
The Giants need a speedy receiver. We have Sinorice Moss as our #3, but don't know if he'll amount to anything. Who's our #4? Tyree? Anthony Mix?
The Giants need a free safety who can cover. Show me Gibril Wilson and Will Demps in coverage and I'll show you a Giant fan crying or throwing his remote. James Butler didn't put them on the bench...
The Giants need a DT. Who wants to sign William Joseph?
We need an OLB. Wilkinson might not be ready to start and we have no one behind him at WILL.
The Giants need a corner, preferably a fast one. Sam Madison is solid but will need to be replaced. Corey Webster has to improve but it doesn't look like he'll turn into a number 1 corner.
I continue to wonder about cutting Luke. There was the injury risk, but he was a good left tackle and those are hard to replace. The Bucs seem happy (probably unrealistically happy) they got him.
While we dream of trading our #20 for Lance Briggs or drafting a stud linebacker, ESPN guys talk about our all-time favorite linebacker, LT.
And if you've got time, come give my Squidoo sports tourism lens an awesometastic (5 star) rating. If you're not sure that I deserve the 5 stars, watch the video of the Japanese woman throwing out the first pitch. I'm sure that after seeing the video (wait for the slowmo) you'll be very generous with your ratings.
A while back I read an article on draft prospects and the name Quintin Echols caught my eye. The Giants need defense and a big nose tackle would be just great. The Giants could use a big 320 pound run stuffer and some flexibility in not resigning William Joseph.
Now I don't see much about him on the draft sites, but he has the size and production to be an NFL player. The guy is motivated to play hard and stay clean - he seems to take his family responsibilities seriously.
NFL draft news says conditioning is an issue. I remember people saying something similar about Cofield but it turns out he was just playing so many snaps he got tired. As part of a rotation you might see more energy per snap. This is a subscription site, but here's a link to the Google cache - let me know if it works. They have him ranked 20th (out of 145 college DTs) and say he could be a good value pick in the late round.
Nothing real special about his combine. 25 reps, 5.4 second 40. He did weigh in at 328 and they say he has battled weight problems so that could be a concern. Apparently he practiced well leading up to the east vs. West Shrine game.
I know this has been a lot of space to devote to a late round pick that probably won't end up with the Giants, but there's not a lot of other news for me to write about and I want to help you all find your Giants fix...