I would trade up for Devonte Smith

There are two great prospects in the draft (Lawrence and Sewell) and another ten or twelve really good prospects (especially if three or four QBs are among them). With the 11th pick, the Giants will get one of the really good prospects and he will fill a position of need. If it isn't Devonta Smith so be it. I'm fine with Surtain, I'm fine with Rousseau, I'm fine with Pitts, hell, I could even be fine with Wyatt Davis if Gettleman could sell me on the idea that he was gonna be a 10-year fixture like Chris Snee.

Smith. This draft has 8-9 receivers that will be taken in rounds 1 and 2. Take BPA in round 1 and round 2, and the odds are that one of those will be WR.

I wanted Washington to lose and for the Giants to make the playoffs. I think they would've had a very decent shot at beating the Bucs this past weekend and even if they would've hit a brick wall versus the Packers the following weekend, it would've meant a lot to their confidence going forward, the culture in the locker room, and perhaps even offseason recruiting purposes.

All that being said, we will feel the difference between drafting in the 11-hole each round and drafting in the 19- or 25-hole. If you go by the trade value chart, going from 19 to 11 in each round is roughly the equivalent of an additional early 2nd round pick and going from 25 (had they beaten the Bucs but lost to the Packers) to 11 is roughly the equivalent of an additional late first round pick (mid-20s).

Usually just missing the playoffs amounts to the difference between drafting 18-20 and drafting 21-25 (or 26-32 if you're lucky). It's a unique situation for the consolation prize to be the 11th pick in the draft. And as I said earlier, the 11-hole is not a bad spot to be picking this year.

For the record, I'm not sure what were should do with the pick (yet).

But if WR is the choice, and Chase is there (as well as Smith), I'm going Chase.

He's just bigger, stronger, and probably faster. And keep this in mind. In 2019, when he last played, his season at LSU was 84/1,780/21+ per catch/20 TDs.

A great WR prospect.

In comment 15120169 bw in dc said:

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Smith does seem to have a "Gumby" element to his game. He seems to bounce up quickly after hits. But if Chase is just as productive, as fast, and his similar hands, why wouldn't you take the bigger athlete?

I tend to shy away from smaller WR's, but I like everything about Smith, other than his frame - he is an elite route-runner, elite hands, while not a Ruggs-type burner very quick in small spaces (looking forward to his 3-cone). Then you hear about his work ethic, his maturity, how he was a leader on the Bama team.

Chase is a tremendous player, I'll be happy to have him, and to be honest, I don't know as much about him, but Smith doesn't want to be great, he HAS to be great. I love that in a player.

In comment 15120169 bw in dc said:

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In comment 15119896 Section331 said: Quote: In comment 15119614 bw in dc said: Quote: Tomorrow he's heading to Austin, TX to be the HC at UT. Will be interesting if he can spin similar magic for the 'Horns. I like Smith, don't get me wrong. But his body type does bother me, so I would prefer a bigger body like Chase instead. He had a great, great year last year at LSU. He's just forgotten b/c of Covid and the opt-out. Not surprised that someone would jump on Sarkisian. I have no idea how he will be as a leader, but his offense was a pleasure to watch. And I agree, Smith's size does concern me, but he does a really good job of avoiding direct hits, and he uses his feet to avoid jamming at the LOS. If you watched the GB-TENN SNF game a couple of weeks ago, Collinsworth spent a good deal of time on how another Devanta, Adams, avoided jamming with footwork. Smith is in the same mold. Smith is a great route runner, great hands, and I suspect he'll clock out in the 4.4 range. He's got plenty of speed. I'd be thrilled to get Chase too, but if both are on the board, I think I would lean Smith. Smith does seem to have a "Gumby" element to his game. He seems to bounce up quickly after hits. But if Chase is just as productive, as fast, and his similar hands, why wouldn't you take the bigger athlete?

my biggest problem with Chase is the lack of an elite attribute. He isn’t the biggest, has playable speed but not a burner, not very twitchy, wins with hand fighting and leverage (which is good in college but guys are much better technicians in the NFL and can reduce the effectiveness of that). That’s why I see a ceiling of Jarvis Landry for Chase. Landry is a damn good receiver in his own right, but he wouldn’t be ny ideal WR1.

Smith on the other hand has rare acceleration, extremely smooth athlete, natural hands that easily pluck passes away from his body, he’s sudden out of breaks, he just does things that are in that top percentile of Elite WRs.

...great hands.

But I'd worry about the pounding he'll take. Doesn't have a ton of muscle.

Then again, Deshaun Jackson lasted a pretty long time...but of course never ran crossing routes. Never.

Fair enough.

With Chase, I see great hands, elite jumping ability and plus game speed. He always seemed to run away from quite a few defenders when I watched him in the SEC.

And I really like his versatility to play either the outside or the slot.

But the year off is a concern, so I could see that as a valid point.

Look, I won't throw the remote if we chose Smith. And his body type could be an outlier in the NFL because today's game is more open and less physical. However, like I mentioned, I will stick with my original view that if you think both Smith and Chase are even in skill sets, I'll take the bigger, more durable physique.