After Day 1 and the selection of Neal, I thought OL was still in the mix, but only if the guy was BPA. It was still a need, but no longer a priority. So I get the addition of Ezeudu and I'm confident that they didn't reach for him at all, he must've been in the BPA mix. But after selecting Neal and Ezeudu on Days 1 & 2 (and after having spent on Glowinski, Feliciano, Garcia, and Douglas in free agency) I assumed it would take an OL sticking out like a sore thumb or a center who they were high on. And since they
shirley don't see him at center, they must've had a pretty high grade on him. Clearly they had a much higher view of him than did the draftniks, who mostly viewed him as a 7th round/priority free agent. In that way, he was the most surprising pick to me.
To me, Wan'Dale Robinson is the most curious pick. Not that I don't like it. Seems like the type of guy that ate the Giants defense for the last few years. Thought it was different they didn't look for an outside type to replace Slayton.
For the record, I was hoping they'd draft DE Dominique Robinson, who was picked right after they took McKethan.
Belton was more of a surprise to me initially. But safety was such a glaring need that they probably couldn’t afford to wait. If Martindale thinks Belton is a good system fit, the 114th pick isn’t a big investment.
Belton was more of a surprise to me initially. But safety was such a glaring need that they probably couldn’t afford to wait. If Martindale thinks Belton is a good system fit, the 114th pick isn’t a big investment.
I think it was a matter of how the draft fell. Possibly if they landed a CB they were targeting in Round 2 they would have gone with someone like Nick Cross in Round 3. Considering they hired Mike Derice from Indy (he was the area scout for guys like Woods and Cross among others over the years), the Giants probably thought highly of the guys he pushed.
With that said, the reason I have him as the most curious pick is because of everything else going on. One, we knew nothing was going on regarding the trade front with Bradberry. We knew he wasn't going to be here. Two, we've drafted slot corners in each of the last 3 years. Three, he is very skinny.
With all of that said, he will be tried inside and outside. He has good height and even Flott said he's working on adding weight. Do they eventually see him as an outside guy? Can he handle the slot against bigger WRs that play there in today's NFL? Can he blitz and handle the run game at his size? In the clips I saw he can come up and tackle but college is different than the NFL. A good OC will get a big slot WR and run in his direction. This is what is difficult about playing the slot position on D. You have to be ready for everything (speed, quickness, size, strength, run support, etc.). Teams will find your weakness and expose it. Offenses have set the trend if anyone and everyone lining up in the slot. Defenses are still playing catchup.
It will be interesting to see what Flott can handle and how Wink will handle these matchups. I expect Love will be used a lot all over the field.
Belton was more of a surprise to me initially. But safety was such a glaring need that they probably couldn’t afford to wait. If Martindale thinks Belton is a good system fit, the 114th pick isn’t a big investment.
I think they had to strike while the iron was still hot, so to speak, when they drafted Belton, even if it meant passing up some pretty good prospects at several other positions. They couldn't afford to wait any longer as pickings were getting very slim. There wasn't another Safety drafted until #152.
Say, for example, Flott is getting beaten by bigger WRs in the slot. You may see a bigger corner get moved inside to play that matchup with Flott moving outside if he matches up better against that particular type of WR. With that said, it isn't easy at all and we may see one of our safeties go there first before another corner hence why I said Love should have a big role this year because of his versatility.
And even Lemieux. Patellar ligament tears are not guaranteed heals.
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career-threatening injury to Gates last year should have reminded you how fragile an NFL career can be.
And even Lemieux. Patellar ligament tears are not guaranteed heals.
I wouldn't be surprised if Lemieux is not in the roster this year. Pass blocking is too important in today's NFL. If he doesn't improve dramatically in that area then I don't see a spot for him unless we get an onslaught of injuries at the position. We have a bunch of bodies there now. Even if we keep 9 OL it will be tough:
Absolutes:
Thomas
Feliciano
Glowinski
Neal
Rest of the bunch in no order:
Ezeudu
Peart
Gono
Lemieux
Garcia
Bredesen
Gates
Mbaeteka
McKethan
Cunningham
Hamilton
Gotta imagine Peart and Gates are on the PUP list to start. I would assume that Ezeudu is on the roster, I just didn't want to automatically assume he was. Bredeson probably will he because he plays C. Garcia may start for us. If we take those guys then that is 7 right there
Thomas
Ezeudu
Feliciano
Glowinski
Neal
Garcia
Bredeson
Since that is 7 we are looking at 1 to 2 more but no backup OT so the next guy or even 2 need to play OT. With only 1 or 2 spots left, who stays and who goes from this list:
Lemieux
Gono
Mbaeteka
McKethan
Cunningham
Hamilton
Gono
Mbaeteka
McKethan
Cunningham
Hamilton
Gono and McKethan stick. Mbaetka goes to the PS.
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Lemieux
Gono
Mbaeteka
McKethan
Cunningham
Hamilton
Gono and McKethan stick. Mbaetka goes to the PS.
They signed Mbaeteka to a three year deal. I believe they could have made him an international exception and choose to give him a regular contract. I would think they will protect him rather than expose him to waivers.
Quote:
Quote:
Lemieux
Gono
Mbaeteka
McKethan
Cunningham
Hamilton
Gono and McKethan stick. Mbaetka goes to the PS.
They signed Mbaeteka to a three year deal. I believe they could have made him an international exception and choose to give him a regular contract. I would think they will protect him rather than expose him to waivers.
Fair enough. I wasn't sure exactly what his status was, but from listening to Daboll's comments, he's clearly got a long way to go before he's ready for prime time. If they keep 10 OL he'll probably make the final 53.
For the record, I was hoping they'd draft DE Dominique Robinson, who was picked right after they took McKethan.
Yeah, this. They probably had a high enough grade on McKethan that with him still available and the coach vouching for him they wanted to give him a shot.
It’s all about the OL, maybe you guys need a refresher course...
Quote:
career-threatening injury to Gates last year should have reminded you how fragile an NFL career can be.
And even Lemieux. Patellar ligament tears are not guaranteed heals.
and Pio. Don’t sleep on Pio.
Quote:
In comment 15709009 Eric from BBI said:
Quote:
career-threatening injury to Gates last year should have reminded you how fragile an NFL career can be.
And even Lemieux. Patellar ligament tears are not guaranteed heals.
and Pio. Don’t sleep on Pio.
Didn't he drive DG out of Metlife last January?
Keep drafting multiple OL EVERY draft until you KNOW the position is good. Draft at least for depth, and maybe, just maybe a late round pick rises above and becomes a starter.
With that said, the reason I have him as the most curious pick is because of everything else going on. One, we knew nothing was going on regarding the trade front with Bradberry. We knew he wasn't going to be here. Two, we've drafted slot corners in each of the last 3 years. Three, he is very skinny.
With all of that said, he will be tried inside and outside. He has good height and even Flott said he's working on adding weight. Do they eventually see him as an outside guy? Can he handle the slot against bigger WRs that play there in today's NFL? Can he blitz and handle the run game at his size? In the clips I saw he can come up and tackle but college is different than the NFL. A good OC will get a big slot WR and run in his direction. This is what is difficult about playing the slot position on D. You have to be ready for everything (speed, quickness, size, strength, run support, etc.). Teams will find your weakness and expose it. Offenses have set the trend if anyone and everyone lining up in the slot. Defenses are still playing catchup.
It will be interesting to see what Flott can handle and how Wink will handle these matchups. I expect Love will be used a lot all over the field.
an under-discussed aspect of flott is that he had one of the highest wonderlic scores in the entire draft (think it was a 38). during minicamp Robinson made a comment that during the season there were times he came off the field and told his coaches that Flott seemed to know his routes before he started them.
they had him on a top 30 so he's clearly a guy who had traits they identified. he's athletic, one of the youngest/smartest players in the draft, and feisty. anything can happen but a lot to work with there.
Keep drafting multiple OL EVERY draft until you KNOW the position is good. Draft at least for depth, and maybe, just maybe a late round pick rises above and becomes a starter.
Always like the idea of using a mid to late rd pick on oline or dline. Gotta keep the pipeline fresh. Looking forward to watch oline develop this yr. We are 3 deep from a competitive standpoint. We may be 1 interior olineman away from a very good oline. Would love to see gates playing in November to solidify center, May be a stretch but is possible. Feliciano should be a decent feisty stop gap. Between him, SL and Glowinski. Got some attitude and decent talent level.
that if it's late in the draft and you don't have a strong conviction, pick someone large and unusual.
Coaches always talk about valuing versatility in their O-linemen, but they will make an exception if the guy is especially good at that one spot. Chris Snee was an example of that. A Pro Bowl right guard, but probably just a journeyman at any other position (except maybe center, we'll never know). That could be how they see McKethan and maybe why he flew under the radar with so many draftniks who viewed his positional limitation as relegating him to the undrafted pool. I know there is mention of him at tackle because of his size, but I think that's limited to right tackle (rather than being the backup swing tackle on game day, he could back up both right guard and right tackle, with Neal switching to left tackle and McKethan taking over at right tackle if Thomas were to get injured during a game). I think if he had starter capability at right tackle, he wouldn't've spent all his college years at right guard. Off the top of my bald head, I can't think of a single case of a guy spending his college career at guard and becoming a quality starter at tackle as a pro.
It all makes sense to me now.
There might be a guy in the 7th round that you had a 5th round grade on, but you don't have room for him on the 53 and that someone will likely grab him off your practice squad so you go in another direction
There might be a guy in the 7th round that you had a 5th round grade on, but you don't have room for him on the 53 and that someone will likely grab him off your practice squad so you go in another direction
Yep, you have a Quincy Roche situation. Late in the draft when a team has a litany of players with the same grade the two important considerations appear to be (1) roster depth for the reasons you said and (2) how many at that position remain on your board. If you have a lot of one position on the board you might bypass that position until UDFA even if you have less roster depth there. I am surprised they didn't take a QB if one was on their board with the same grade as McKethan because it seems like they had plenty of OL they thought merited a try out.