It’s only 3 rounds, but so far the Giants are having a great draft. Sure, it helps to be picking 9th. But the Giants are getting it done with each pick. Yesterday we got the #6 guy on our board with the 9th pick, Ereck Flowers. Today, the Gmen traded up from 40 to 33 and took SS Landon Collins. The Giants paid a little bit (R4 & R7 picks) to move up, but they would not have gotten their man otherwise. Fwiw, we liked Eric Rowe enough that we would have probably been a little more patient in waiting for one of them to fall to us at 40, but you cannot quibble with the move. The Giants got certainty. And that certainty gave them half of the Safety solution. We had Landon Collins ranked 24th. So grabbing him at 33rd overall is terrific. The knock on Collins was that he was going to get overdrafted by a Safety-hungry team in the middle of R1. Getting him in R2 is excellent. Another side perk is that R2 contracts are friendlier for the team economically. That means it will help the cap and other contractual advantages that R1 picks 11-32 don’t have. But let’s not lose sight of the big picture here… the Giants got a solid Safety and addressed a big need.
With the 74th pick the Giants picked Owa Odighizuwa. If he is healthy, this pick is going to rock also. He had a medical issue (hips) which obviously turned more than a few teams off. ASSUMING THE MEDICAL IS FINE (the Giants claim to have checked it all out), Odighizuwa is going to be a very good addition. He is going to be a situational pass rusher early. That is perfect for Spagnuolo’s DL rotation. He plays well vs pass and run. And he can easily grow into an all 3 downs starter opposite JPP.
Damontre Moore, paging Damontre Moore. Wake up call for Mr. Damontre Moore- time to mature and start playing consistently or else you are going to be passed up on the depth chart.
Wonder had Owa ranked 49th overall. So this is yet more value with potential and loads of upside.
No sour grapes, we would have preferred the 4-3 LBer Eli Harold at 74. But he fell too, and was taken 5 picks later at 79. I just feel that LBer is a bigger need. Regardless, Odighizuwa is a very very solid pick and he should be able to help the Giants in a big way.
Supplemental add Saturday AM:
Some perspective is necessary for this post. Newcomers may think we are homers who just want to go crazy for anything that Reese did. We do not do that on this NY Giants blog. In fact, we strive for objectivity. As but one example, back in 2011, we did not do cartwheels when management was claiming how lucky they were that Amukamara “fell to them” in Round 1. We disagreed, because our draft analysts both had Amukamara a lot lower (30 and 35) than the 19 that he had dropped to. We even referred to the one alternative (Castonzo) that would haunt the Giants, not because Castonzo was a world beater OLineman, but because he filled a need and was there for them.
Contrast the Giants taking a player at 19 that we valued at ~33 with what has taken place the past two days….
Flowers taken 9th (our rank 6th)
Collins taken 33rd (our rank 24th)
Odighizuwa taken 74th (our rank 49th)
The Giants did very well, helped Eli, helped Spags, and filled a big need at Safety. When we praise the team, it is because we believe it is deserved, not because we see the world through Big blue colored glasses. The Giants got 3 players that we graded higher than where we took them. This has never happened before. So if we can be critical when they take Amukamara (who has turned out to be exactly what we said he would be, fyi, a solid starter), we also have to be effusive in our praise of a job well done here in 2015. And as fans, we are thrilled.
Onto Day 3. We have 3 picks: Round 5, Round 6 and a Round 7 pick (245, from Denver in trade for K Brandon McManus). Keep up with us on Twitter as we comment on who the Giants took. Nobody’s usually even heard of these Day 3 guys except our draft analyst savant. But as this tweet from 2012 will attest, we know a thing or two about some of the late round gems that are out there.
Take a chance, roll the dice on ILB Burfict
— Andy Furman (@UltimateNYG) April 28, 2012
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAmazingly, Burfict went UNDRAFTED. He “only” racked up 120 tackles as a rookie and went to the Pro Bowl the following year. Ya think the Gmen could have used ILB help? Ya think the Gmen CAN use ILB help if Beason gets hurt again? This is why these later rounds matter.
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