Giants Draft 2014: Weston Richburg Interview

Credit: Troy Babbitt-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Giants addressed a distinct roster shortcoming in round two of the NFL Draft (pick #43), selecting center Weston Richburg from Colorado State. Yes, the 2nd round is a bit early to address the center spot and Richburg wasn’t the top rated target at his position in the eyes of most talent evaluators. But make no mistake — the Giants don’t view this pick as a reach to fill a need.

Speaking on Richburg, GM Jerry Reese stated that he grabbed a player “we think will be a starting center at some point, and it gave us some depth and [he] will battle right now for that center spot and have some versatility, play guard for us.” 

WithTheFirstPick.com Editor Peter Smith conducted an interview with Richburg on March 6th. Key excerpts from that exchange can be found below:

"PS: How much trust did they have in you when it comes to line calls from Coach Fairchild and then as a senior with Coach McElwain?WR: I was really fortunate because my first offensive line coach (Pat Meyer), who is now the offensive line coach of the (Chicago) Bears.  He really threw me into the fire my freshman years; really gave me a lot of responsibility early on.  He stuck with me.  He kept me in there to keep the best five linemen in there, so I was always in there.  He really trusted me with that.As far as responsibilities go, I was taking control of basically everything.  Making theMike points, kind of declaring what kind of front the defense was in, and then making a pass protection call or a run call.  So, I was really fortunate to be able to control a lot of things up there.PS: Was Alabama your best game, the one you sort of point to as what teams should be expecting from you?WR: Yea, well, I think that was good for teams to see, because there’s always that argument that a guy coming from the Mountain West can’t play with bigger guys.  So to go there and play well against Alabama; that was big for me in this whole process I’ve been going through with teams scouting me and seeing what I’m all about.  So, I definitely point to that, show them what I could do against big time competition like that.PS: I get the sense that if you stepped into a bear trap, you’d find a way to make one last block and finish the play.WR: Yea, I’d say that’s something that you gotta do to earn the respect of your teammates.  You kinda got to show that you’re able to lay your body out there and make the play work.  It might not be pretty sometimes.  I can count many times where I’ve do something that’s not pretty, but it might save a quarterback or running backfrom getting hit.  So yea, I think I’m willing to do that.  If I can just continue that on, it is really gonna earn some respect from some guys I think.PS: Do you have a preference as far as zone or gap scheme?WR: I don’t.  My first staff that was with us, we did a lot of zone stuff.  And then Coach McElwain did a lot of gap scheme type things.  And I really enjoyed both of them.  I think I can do good things in both; real physical in gap scheme and can move well in a zone scheme.PS: Is there someone you compare your game to in the NFL?WR: Yea, I’ve been asked this before and I list a couple guys, because I like to look at a lot of different guys, try to imitate what they do.  I try to get my athleticism from thePouncey twins.  I think they’re really athletic players, really mean as well.  And also, Logan Mankins, who’s a guard.  I just like his attitude and the way he goes about things and how he goes after people.  I think those are three guys that I try to imitate the most and try to take pieces of their game and put it into mine."