New York Giants: 2017 NFL Draft Best Option To Find Starting Defensive Tackle
The New York Giants have three star-caliber defensive linemen. The best place to find the fourth force of nature would be the 2017 NFL Draft.
In 2016, New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese made three scrutinized decisions that have since revitalized the organization. Received in an all but unanimously poor manners, Reese signed Damon Harrison, Janoris Jenkins, and Olivier Vernon to three massive contracts.
A year later, all three players are coming off of All-Pro seasons—a sign that, through better and worse, Reese can be trusted.
As the 2017 NFL Draft nears, Reese will have an opportunity to put the finishing touches on an elite defense. Harrison, Jenkins, and Vernon are all signed long-term, as are the likes of Landon Collins and Jason Pierre-Paul.
Following the departure of Johnathan Hankins, however, the Giants have a void to address—one that could define the 2017 season.
Hankins was the least heralded of the Giants’ starting defensive linemen, but his departure was without guaranteed reparation. His decision to sign with the Indianapolis Colts came late in free agency, thus limiting New York’s options.
Fortunately, the 2017 NFL Draft could provide the Giants with the perfect low-cost opportunity to solidify the defensive line.
Rather than signing a one-year stopgap at the second defensive tackle position, New York can find a sustainable solution. Said player would likely be signed to a four-year deal that would come at an easily affordable cost.
In turn, the Giants could build a defensive line with four star-caliber players and only pay three of them at market value.
Perhaps most importantly, as Harrison, Pierre-Paul, and Vernon age beyond their prime, the fourth player would enter their own. That’s an ideal situation that would not only create continuity over the remainder of the decade, but trickle into the next.
Fortunately for the Giants, there’s a deep class of talent along the defensive line in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Former Michigan State Spartans star Malik McDowell could be an option at No. 23 overall. He’s an explosive athlete with the potential to be a dominant pass-rusher, and while his motor has been questioned, New York’s veteran front could help him in that regard.
Deeper in the draft, New York could take a look at run stoppers such as Chris Wormley of the Michigan Wolverines, Dalvin Thompson out of Alabama, or Carlos Watkins of the national champion Clemson Tigers.
Regardless of whom Reese targets, there will be options who are both affordable and promising. That would be an ideal combination for a Giants team that won 11 games in 2016 by dominating the war in the trenches.
There may be other areas of need, but rounding out the defensive line with a developable young talent should be a top priority.
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The New York Giants can continue building up a championship-caliber team during what projects to be a wildly influential 2017 NFL Draft.