However, if they Giants do not improve their record and stay in a similar spot in the draft, who might they take?  Here is the entire FanSided NFL Mock Draft.  The Giants selection is highlighted below:

 23. New York Giants – Ezekial Ansah, Defensive End, BYU

Osi Umenyiora could be gone through free agency and it’s no surprise that the Giants like to stockpile on talented defensive lineman. Ansah is a prospect that draws comparison to Jason Pierre-Paul, so it doesn’t take much to understand why the team would be excited to add a player with this kind of potential.

While this is certainly a possibility, many fans would like to see the Giants land an offensive lineman who could walk in and start at one of the tackle positions.

The Giants are currently slated to choose #24 in next years draft if the season ended today, which of course it doesn’t, and here is the analysis from our Mock Draft Expert:

 24. New York Giants – Tyler Eifert – TE/Notre Dame

Two “Domers” taken in the first round?! He’s no Manti Te’o but Tyler Eifert is looking more and more like he will be a first round pick for the Giants. Martellus Bennett has shown them what a good pass catching tight end can do for Eli Manning, but he’ll likely bolt and capitalize on his success with a big contract somewhere else. Eifert has the ability to be a pass catching tight end but could be developed as a fine blocker as well.

Here is the flaw in this analysis as I see it.  A good pass catching tight end doesn’t make Eli better….Eli elevates the players around him.  Martellus Bennett hasn’t made Eli better, Eli has made Martellus better, along with the Giants coaching staff.  Not sure Bennett will just say “Thanks for letting me show I’m a viable target, but I’m leaving”  He might just want to stay with the ELIte QB he currently has, and remain where he could win a championship…or two.

By the time all seven rounds of the 2012 NFL Draft in April came to pass the Giants wound up walking away with a grand total of 0 DEs. Although they did draft a defensive cog for the middle of the D-Line in N.C. State DT Markus Khun.

Now that the 2012 NFL Draft is in the books and Reese didn’t take a DE some 2013 MFL mock drafts have already started talking about how Reese will look to make up for not drafting a DE in this past draft and take one in the upcoming NFL Draft. And that’s something this week’s edition of ‘This Week In Mock Drafts’ addresses.

According to Walter over at walterfootball.com who has already come out with a couple of 2013 NFL mock drafts where in each one of them he has the Giants selecting a DE. Walter’s mock draft order is based on his 2012 NFL Power Rankings, where he has the Giants at the top of ranks, thanks in part to their Super Bowl win, and that means Walter has the Giants picking once again at the bottom of the first round

In his earlier 2013 mock he had the Giants taking DE Jackson Jeffcoat out of Texas with the 32 overall pick and his updated mock draft from May 15 has the GMEN going in the same direction but with a different player. So, with Jeffcoat being the previous pick for the Giants who does Walt have them drafting in his most recent mock?

Well, that would Michigan State DE William Gholston. The name Gholston should be familiar to NFL fans, as William is cousin to former top ten NFL Draft pick and bust Vernon Gholston. Let’s hope that the only similarities the two share are their freakish athletic abilities and that Vernon’s negative attitude towards playing hard and his lack of toughness doesn’t transfer to William once he becomes a pro in the NFL.

October 1, 2011; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Joe Bauserman (14) tries to get a pass around Michigan State Spartans linebacker William Gholston (2) at Ohio Stadium. Michigan State won the game 10-7. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-US PRESSWIRE

In his quick write-up for Gholston being mocked to the Giants Walt had the following to say:

“I imagine that Jerry Reese is crying in his sleep right now because he didn’t get to add a pass-rusher in the 2012 NFL Draft. I’m sure he’ll make amends next April.”

By taking a look at some of the profiles on Gholston it’s easy to be drawn into him with his physical attributes. What NFL fan wouldn’t want their team to draft a 6’7, 280-pound D-Lineman that can physically impose their will against offensive linemen? You wouldn’t hear any complaints from me; until Gholston didn’t produce, that is.

But produce he has so far in his short Spartan career where he has recorded 83 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. A couple of stat lines during his 2011 sophomore season immediately stand out while looking at his numbers, as he had back to back games in October against Nebraska and Minnesota where he recorded 15 and 14 tackles, respectively!

The former five-star high school recruit has used his physical tools quite effectively at the collegiate level where he has been named to the All-Big Ten second team by both coaches and the media, the Yahoo! Sports All-Big Ten, the CollegeFootballNews.com’s All-Sophomore second team and he has also won the Danzinger Award for defense, which is awarded to the Spartan’s most outstanding player from the Detroit area.

While it’s no guarantee that Gholston will come out after his junior season if he does some have projected him to be a top-15 pick but he’ll have to compete with what could be a potentially deep DE draft class with the likes of Florid State’s Brandon Jenkins and LSU’s pass rushing duo of Sam Montgomery and Barkevious Mingo.

For now Gholston still has at least one more year to go at Michigan State but he is a name to possibly remember, if all goes according to his plans, or someone we’ll forget about just as quickly as cousin. What do you GMEN HQ fans say? Is Gholston the type of player you’d like to see line up on the D-Line for the Giants? Let us know in the comments section.

Ah, yes, the good old 2013 NFL mock drafts have been circulating the internet pretty much since the last pick in the 2012 NFL Draft was announced and they’re going to keep on coming out right up until draft night for the 2013 NFL Draft.

As long as that keeps happening I’ll still have material for this column and today is no different, as we have Peter Schrager of FOXSports.com chiming in with his first mock draft of the season. This isn’t the first time Schrager has been featured in the pages of GMEN HQ and if you were to go back into the archives of our site you’d find a TWIMD written all the way back in June of last year where we covered Schrager’s first mock draft for the 2012 NFL Draft.

Back then Schrager had the Giants slated to pick 19^th overall where they would miss the playoffs completely and he mocked Boise State OT Nate Potter to the GMEN. Fast forward to the year 2012 and the Giants didn’t pick in the #19 spot (actual pick was 32^nd overall) or miss the playoffs (they won the Super Bowl!!!) and Nate Potter didn’t go to the Giants (he was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals); nor did Potter get picked in the first round (he went in the 7^th round, pick #221). Add that all up and you have the NFL equivalent of a three and out, punt on 4^th down, only to have it returned by the opposing team to the house for a touchdown.

So, let’s see what Schrager has cooking for the Giants and his 2012 NFL mock draft from May 1^st, 2012 where he states early on that:

“Yes, I know. Constructing a 2013 Mock Draft in April of 2012 is beyond absurd. It’s ridiculous. Hell, it’s borderline pathetic.

But as football fans and true NFL diehards, we are all very sick, sick people. Let’s be sick together.”

Onto the madness then… Just like Potter, an offensive tackle, being taken by the Giants last year in his first mock draft for the 2012 NFL Draft, Schrager once again goes down that well and selects an offensive tackle for the Giants in the 2013 NFL Draft. Except this year he has the Giants selecting an OT at 29 overall instead of 19 overall. In his write up for the Giants selection in his 2013 mock draft Schrager says the Giants will win the NFC East, take out the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs but don’t repeat as Super Bowl Champs, as he has the Packers taking home the Lombardi Trophy. We’ll see how that prediction goes once next season is played out but let’s get back to the mock.

Oct, 15, 2011; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Miami Hurricanes offensive linesman Seantrel Henderson (77) in the third quarter at Kenan Stadium. The Hurricanes defeated the Tar Heels 30-24. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

With the 29^th pick in the 2013 NFL Draft Schrager has OT Seantrel Henderson from Miami going to the Giants. Henderson comes in at 6’8, weighing 345 pounds and he used to be a #1 high school football recruit who was also the first offensive lineman ever to win the USA Today High School Offensive Player of the Year award. Henderson’s name was in the news a while back and not for a good reason either, as he was suspended for the Hurricanes’ opening weekend spring practice back in March for violating team rules.

Henderson’s Hurricane career hasn’t gotten off to the greatest of starts either. His freshman season was okay and saw him start nine games, then his sophomore season took a dip due to a season opener suspension and three games were missed later on because of back surgery in the offseason. Even with those negatives on his resume for the 2011 NCAA Football season Henderson did manage to play in eight games, starting two of them, and allowed zero sacks while only registering one penalty against. Not bad stats for an O-Line and something Henderson can build on that could see him garner daft attention if he decides to leave school early.

Right now, Henderson doesn’t seem like a bad pick by Schrager for the Giants, as their O-Line could use the help, but again, it’s May of 2012 and we still have a whole season of college football to be played where Henderson could play poorly, get suspended for a good chunk of the season, suffer a brutal injury, or not even declare for the draft in 2013.

What say you GMEN HQ readers? Is Henderson a player that intrigues you? Would you like to see him on the Giants’ roster at some point? Do you think he’ll have a good college football season this year? Let us know in the comments section.

Anything can happen when a mock draft is released that early and pretty much everything did. Looking back at his first 2012 mock draft here were a few highlights:

• The Giants were picking 20^th overall
• Andrew Luck went 1^st overall… to the Buffalo Bills
• Landry Jones and Matt Barkley went in the top 5; neither entered the draft
• Vontaze Burfict was selected 28^th overall by Browns; he went undrafted

It’s easy to fault Perloff for all his mistakes but that’d be no fun. He knew as well as anyone reading his mock draft that producing a way too early mock draft wouldn’t stand the test of the time but he did one anyway. If you want to check out each of his picks from his first 2012 mock draft then go on right ahead.

Since I enjoyed reading Perloff’s mock draft so much last year I went looking to see if he had typed one up for the upcoming 2013 NFL Draft, and to my joy he did! So, how about we have at it and see what Perloff’s 2013 crystal ball has in store for the GMEN in regards to next year’s draft?

Before we delve in though let me forward you Perloff’s note about how his draft is: “ordered by predicted finish in 2012. Picks 1-20 are based on standings, while picks 21-32 are based on order of elimination from playoffs.”

Now that the Surgeon General’s warnings are out of the way let’s talk about where Perloff projects the Giants and that’s at the 20^th overall spot in the first round, which is the exact same spot he had the GMEN picking last year and which also means he sees the Giants yet again missing the playoffs. Of course the Giants didn’t miss the playoffs and actually ended up winning the Super Bowl so maybe this is a good sign.

Who does Perloff see the Giants taking with the 20^th overall pick? Last year it was Ohio State offensive tackle Mike Adams, who ended up being selected in the 2^nd round of the 2012 NFL Draft that just passed. This year Perloff has the Giants taking an offensive tackle again and this time it’s Ricky Wagner from Wisconsin; here’s what Perloff had to say about him in his mock draft:

“The Giants go best player available and continue to rework their line with the next breakout offensive line star from Wisconsin.”

Just like drafting an offensive lineman last year made sense to most mock drafters, including Perloff, it makes just as much sense this year. The tackle positions will be up for grabs this year and it’s no lock that Will Beatty will be given his starter’s spot back after being put on the I.R. last year due to an eye injury. Beatty, David Diehl, former 4^th-round pick James Brewer and incoming rookies Brandon Mosley and Matt McCants will be in the mix for the tackle spots and nothing will be settled when it comes to the Giants’ O-line until the end of the pre-season.

Sep 17, 2011; Chicago, IL, USA; Wisconsin Badgers offensive tackle Ricky Wagner (58) blocks during the game against the Northern Illinois Huskies at Soldier Field. Wisconsin defeated Illinois 49-7. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

So, projecting an offensive lineman is the safe route to take by Perloff, as the Giants will eventually have to address their O-line weakness early in the draft at some point so why not 2013?

If you want to know more about Ricky Wagner we can tell you that he’s 6’6, 322 pounds, is a redshirt Senior, was an All-Big Ten consensus honorable mention back-to-back years and was a left tackle starter for all of the Badgers’ 14 games in 2011. The Badgers saw a couple of their key cogs on the O-Line drafted in the 2012 NFL Draft with guard Kevin Zeitler going to the Bengals at 27^th overall in the first round and center Peter Konz being taken by the Falcons in the second round. Wagner could have followed their footsteps and entered the 2012 NFL Draft, where he probably would have been taken pretty high but he chose to return for one more year of college football.

Wisconsin has provided the NFL with some quality offensive linemen in recent years such as Gabe Carimi (drafted in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft), Kraig Urbik (3^rd round, 2009), and (Joe Thomas, 3^rd overall pick, 2007). Wagner might be next in the line of Badger O-linemen to play and start in the NFL and he might even see his name called in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft; perhaps even higher than 20^th overall.

However, we still need to remember that it’s May of 2012 and the 2013 NFL Draft isn’t until April of next year. Who knows what can happen between now and then and it’s best not to think about Wagner in a Giants uniform just yet, even if he would be a nice addition.

What do you think GMEN HQ readers? Would you like to see Wagner suit up in a Giants uniform one day? If not Wagner who do you have your eyes set on for the 2013 NFL Draft? Is it too early to start talking about the 2013 NFL Draft? Let us know in the comments section.

Apr 26, 2012; New York, NY, USA; New York Giant fans react to the pick of David Wilson during the 2012 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall Mandatory Credit: William Perlman/The Star-Ledger via US PRESSWIRE

So, how about we get down to it and open the results envelope, shall we? So, the mock draft prognosticator that picked the New York Giants to take running back, David Wilson, from Virginia Tech, with the 32^nd overall pick in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft was…

Nobody!

Yup, you read that correctly. Not a single mock draft prognosticator that was featured in the many TWIMD I wrote up for GMEN HQ had Wilson going to the Giants. If you were to count them all up there was a total of 22 mock drafts that I covered, and if you include my mock draft, then that number would be 23.

You may not think this but not having a single mock drafter out there mocking Wilson to the Giants is a good thing, as it proves just how useless mock drafts can be. Anything can happen in the world of the NFL and a mock draft for the 2012 NFL Draft from May 2011 is pretty much worthless the moment it’s written. How about we go back to that very first mock draft I covered on May 30, 2011 to see what the crystal ball said the Giants should do but never did?

Before I do that though let me first give Ryan Van Bibber of SBNation.com some credit, as one of his mocks was the only one I could find that had the Giants taking Wilson at 32; some good guesswork there.

Now back to Chad Reuter,  who put together a mock for CBSSports.com in May of last year, where he had the Giants selecting 19^th overall in the 2012 NFL Draft. One strike against him already. Then he mocked a linebacker to the Giants: Vontaze Burfict. Strike two. What’s strike three? That  Burfict, due to off the field issues and a poor combine, went completely undrafted.

That was possibly the worst pick Reuter could have made for the Giants last year and goes to show you why mock drafts don’t mean anything in the world of pro football.  They are only useful when it comes to wasting time reading them or having a little fun trying to play keyboard GM.

We can give Reuter some credit though, since that was his first mock draft, and instead let’s use his most recent seven round mock draft that he put together for NFL.com. In that mock draft he had the Giants selecting TE Coby Fleener, who was a popular choice amongst many mock draft writers, but that didn’t pan out either. Although, Fleener was taken two picks later by the Colts, so that wasn’t such a bad mock guess.

Out of all the mocks I wrote about in TWIMD only one had mocked a running back to the Giants and that was done so by Darius J. Pendergrass from RealHypeSports.com. That running back wasn’t Wilson though. Neither was it a running back that entered the draft this year. It was Arkansas running back Knile Davis, who returned to Arkansas for another season after missing out on his 2011 campaign due to a pre-season season ending injury sustained during a summer practice.

Now Davis might become a Heisman candidate if his season plays out the way most predict it will. That would have been a pretty sweet pick for the Giants, but we would need a time machine of some sorts to make it happen and I don’t think Bill and Ted really care about the NFL enough to alter such course of events.

Some other names thrown around by various mock draft prognosticators when it came to guessing the Giants’ 2012 first round draft plans included Bobby Massie (taken in the 4^th round by the Cardinals), Harrison Smith (29^th overall in the first round to the Vikings), Nick Perry (Packers 1^st round pick, #28 overall), Jonathan Martin (Dolphins 2^nd round pick), Luke Kuechly (Panthers 1^st round pick, #9 overall), Mike Adams (Steelers 2^nd round pick), Kelechi Osemele (Ravens 2^nd round pick), Zach Brown (Titans 2^nd round pick), and Courtney Upshaw (Ravens 2^nd round pick).

A hodgepodge of draft prospects that range from actually being drafted in the top 10 picks of the draft all the way to 4^th round of the draft. Right there shows you everything you need to know about mock drafts and how valuable they are.

Really, the only two mock drafts that are actually worth reading are Mike Silver’s Ultimate Mock Draft, where anybody is free game to be drafted, and that includes current NFL players and Greg Cosell’s mock draft that is based solely on watching game tape; both obviously for different reasons.

Yet, even though we know that people still write mock drafts and we will still continue to read them at a furious pace because mock drafts let us get in on the fun of what it would be like to be an NFL GM who’s in charge of molding the future of their franchise. That’s also the reason why I’ll keep covering mock drafts for GMEN HQ throughout the upcoming season and hopefully someone will already have their 2013 NFL mock draft out so I can get right back into the groove of things and mocking in the free world.

Last week’s mock draft was SI.com’s Don Banks’ mock draft version 4.0 and I had mentioned last week how Banks was planning on doing seven mock drafts and we now have his fifth version.

I want to highlight Banks and his current frenzied mock draft coverage to show just how much or how little most mock draft prognosticators know. I’m not singling out Banks or saying he doesn’t know anything about mock drafts; the point I want to make is unless you’re in the draft room for a specific team you have no idea what their draft plans are or who they’re going to take. In fact even the people running those draft war rooms don’t know who they’re going to take until they’ve handed in their draft card and that can be due to a player they coveted not being there when they’re next to pick or going for a player they never thought would reach them by the time their turn came up.

Drafts in any sport are immediate and you can never plan ahead, no matter how much we like to talk about them in the form of mock drafts. Mainly, mock drafts are about having fun and putting on our GM hat for a little while just to see what it would be like to run an NFL team.

Having said that let’s see who the Giants are taking in Banks’ mock draft version 5.0 and compare that to his last mock draft…

Sep 24, 2011; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils receiver Aaron Pflugrad (4) runs with the ball as he is pursued by Southern California Trojans defensive tackle Christian Tupou (left) and defensive end Nick Perry (8) at Sun Devil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

So, mock draft 4.0 from Don Banks was released on the 4^th of April and saw the Giants select OT Bobby Massie out of Ole Miss. Mock draft version 5.0 from Banks was released a week later on April 11 and you would think that with just a week’s time in between mock drafts and the Giants not really being in the mock draft news cycle that the pick would just stay the same and Massie would once again be the pick, just like he was in Banks’ mock draft version 3.0.

However, and this is where mock drafts show how big of a crapshoot they really are, that’s not the case and the Giants, according to Banks this time, will select DE/LB Nick Perry from USC. Why Perry and not Massie again? It’s not because Massie was mocked to an earlier selection in Banks’ latest mock draft because his name is nowhere to be found in list of 32 mock draft picks and that means Massie has fallen into the second round and beyond list of prospects according to Banks.

Banks mocking Perry to Giants at 32 instead of Massie for a third straight mock just goes to show how difficult it is to predict what teams will pick which players since we don’t work for any of the teams in the NFL. All we can really do when talking about mock drafts is speculate which players go where or tell those listening who we’d draft if we were in charge of such a decision. That’s the main reason why I wanted to feature Banks and his mock draft prognosticating skills for a second week in a row.

One thing we do know about the Giants is that they like to go with the best player available method of draft picking/never saying no to a good DE and that seems to have influenced Banks in his mock draft version 5.0 and he even says as much when discussing his mock selection for the Giants at 32:

“The Giants have greater needs at running back, offensive tackle and inside linebacker, but Perry carries a first-round grade and New York sticks with its belief that you can never have too many quality pass rushers. Perry might even be able to play at weakside linebacker in the NFL, which would allow the Giants to shift Michael Boley to the middle.

Perry has once been featured in a previous installment of TWIMD and if you’ve forgotten about him feel free to refresh your memory. In the meantime do you think Perry will be a Giant? Should Banks of stuck with Massie or another offensive lineman? Are mock drafts worthless? Let your opinions be heard in the comments section!

Jan 2, 2012; Glendale, AZ, USA; Stanford Cardinal offensive tackle Jonathan Martin (55) during pre-game warmups prior to the 2012 Fiesta Bowl against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cowboys won 41-38 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

And the mock draft featured in this week’s TWIMD, the latest one posted by Scott Wright at Draft Countdown, one of my go-to and should be yours too, NFL draft related websites, brought me back to reality. In his newest mock draft posted on his website on March 30^th, Wright has Kuechly be taking in the top half of the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks, who pick 12^th overall.

That’s the area of the draft I feel Kuechly will probably get drafted and there’s no way the Giants will trade up to pick a linebacker, which means my dream of seeing Kuechly and Mark Herzlich teaming up once again in the NFL to stop opposing offenses won’t become a reality. Oh well, this isn’t the first time the Giants probably won’t draft a college prospect I really want and it won’t be the last!

Of course just because a mock draft says the Giants won’t be picking the guy I want doesn’t mean it might not happen. A mock draft is just a mock draft and, after all, anything can happen! Alright now that my crush on Kuechly has reached its unhealthy pinnacle lets move onto to a player the Giants might be targeting and could potentially get with the 32^nd overall pick in the upcoming draft according to Wright at DraftCountdown.com: OT Jonathan Martin from Stanford.

You’ve probably gotten used to reading about players from Stanford the Giants might take in this feature but usually it’s tight end Coby Fleener or other offensive lineman such as Bobby Massie or Mike Adams. Martin’s name is new to TWIMD and one that could very well be uttered by Commissioner Roger Goodell at the podium in connection to the Giants’ first round draft pick.

Giants fans know that the team’s O-Line could use a re-haul and youth infusion and it might be time for the Giants to once again invest a first round pick to improve their O-Line, something that hasn’t happened since the drafting of Luke Pettigout in the 1999 NFL Draft. Last year’s starting RT Kareem McKenzie won’t be returning to the team, which means his spot will probably be filled by former 2^nd round pick Will Beatty who’ll be returning from a season ending eye injury. Beatty had his fair share of ups and downs throughout the season last year and he by no means has a lock on a starting job.

That means any rookie OT that might be drafted by the Giants, especially one early in the draft, could potentially see a lot of playing time early on and Martin may be that man, even if Wright isn’t completed sold on him. Just read what he had to say about Martin in his write up about from his most recent mock draft:

“Jonathan Martin is a bit overrated and doesn’t necessarily stand out as either a pass protector or run blocker but the base physical tools are there and with top blockers at such a premium these days someone may roll the dice much earlier than this.”

Overrated, not a pass rusher or run blocker that stands out? Then what is he? A guy in pads that stands up once the football is hiked? Wright doesn’t really provide as ringing endorsement for the man that was in charge of protecting the presumptive #1 pick in the 2012 draft Andrew Luck but that has never stopped a team from drafting someone early when they shouldn’t have, just because they had him atop their draft board. It’s just that the Giants never operate that way.

Our FanSided buddies NFL Mocks have some pros in regards to Martin’s play from their profile on him such as Martin having “good upper body strength”, and that he’s a “very smart kid.” That’s not really enough information to base drafting a first round pick off of and Martin’s performance at Stanford’s Pro Day didn’t help matters either, as he didn’t do more than 20 bench press reps; making other draft pundits think out loud that Martin would be better suited to right tackle and not left tackle or even guard.

I hope the Giants stay away from Martin but I’m no Jerry Reese. What do you say GMEN HQ readers? Is Martin’s reputation as Luck’s blindside protector going to cause a team to draft him high in the draft? Will the Giants be a team that considers him at the top of the offensive tackle position for the draft and take him? If you don’t think Martin should be a Giant who are some other OT prospects you’d like the Giants to draft? Let us know in the comments section!

Evan Silva’s first mock draft for ProFootballTalk.com, dated March 22, 2012, actually has RG3 going to the Colts and Luck “falling” to the ’Skins. Will that actually happen on draft day? Honestly, I highly doubt it, but more surprising things have happened in the world of football and drafts and who thought that Peyton Manning would be a Denver Bronco right now? I don’t think you could go wrong with either player and Jim Irsay is a bit of wildcard so Silva’s upset prediction for draft day could come true.

Now that we got the mandatory Luck/Griffin talk out of the way let’s move on to who Silva believes the Giants will be taking with the 32^nd overall pick in the upcoming 2012 NFL Draft…

NOV 25, 2011; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Boston College Eagles linebacker Luke Kuechly (40) in a game against the Miami Hurricanes at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

…And the award goes to Boston College inside linebacker Luke Kuechly!

A lot of mock draft talk centered on Kuechly has the former Eagle pegged as a top-15 pick in the draft and most mock drafts I read usually have him going to the Eagles with the 15^th overall pick but with the Eagles trading for DeMeco Ryans their need for linebacking help has diminished and that’s a good thing for the Giants who can use help at the position, especially in the middle!

The 6’3”, 245-pound middle linebacker and former two-time All-American would help fill a big hole for the Giants. Chase Blackburn came back to the Giants during the middle of the season to help solidify the MLB position after Jon Goff’s season ending pre-season injury but there’s a chance neither player will return to the squad next year and that would leave untested Greg Jones atop the depth chart. Ideally undrafted free agent Mark Herzlich would be able to take over the position but he also batted injury problems last year.

If the Giants are able to land Kuechly they would be bringing in the man who replaced Herzlich at Boston College after Herzlich missed all of the 2009 season due to his battle with cancer. Eventually Herzlich returned and the two were able to play with each other.  That camaraderie the two share would not only be a boon to the Giants off the filed but also on it as they have a familiarity playing beside each other. It’s not very often that two dominating college linebackers get to continue their pro careers together and it would make for a nice combo for the Giants’ linebacking rotation.

Kuechly showed off a lot of athleticism at the combine and you can see that in the numbers he posted:

• 4.49 40-yard-dash
• 27 bench-press reps of 225 lbs.
• 38-inch vertical leap
• 4.12 20-yard shuttle time
• 3-cone drill completed in 6.92 seconds
• 10’3” broad jump

Feb 27, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly runs the 40 yard dash during the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

Damn, that’s impressive! Quarterbacks would not only be afraid to see Kuechly rush at them from the blindside but they’d also be wary of throwing over the top of his head with that vertical leap; he could easily get an interception as he would a sack on a QB! That’s the type of linebacker the Giants need to get. He also showed during his BC playing days that he’s a beast when it comes to tackling and in his three-year stint with the Eagles he made a total of 532 tackles, which averaged out to 14 tackles/game, 7.9 of those 14 were solo tackles.

Below are the pros and cons from NFLMockDraft.com’s scouting profile on Kuechly so that you can get a little more insight on the man:

Pros–Good size…great instincts…tackling machine…smart kid…team leader…very sharp…performs under pressure…can play sideline to sideline because of instincts and speed… very aggressive against the run…solid in coverage limitations…relentless…extremely productive…making more plays in the backfield this year

Cons–Plays on a terrible team, or not a very good team…up tackles at an alarming rate, but very low percentage come behind the line of scrimmage (in 2010 and also 2011, but less so)…only three career sacks so not a great interior pass rusher, or he is not used in that way a lot.

 

Kuechly isn’t the first linebacker that has been linked to the Giants in mock drafts during the season and he won’t be the last. Previous linebacking names you’ve seen me talk about include Courtney Upshaw from Alabama, Zach Brown out of North Carolina, Oklahoma’s Travis Lewis, Manti Te’o from Notre Dame and Arizona State’s Vontaze Burfict.

Other than Te’o though, who’s staying at Notre Dame for another year, I wasn’t enamored with any of the linebackers that were being mocked to the Giants in previous installments of TWIMD that I had written about. That all changes with Kuechly and he’s one name that I would really like to see play on the Giants next year.

Sure, he might not be able to get to the quarterback a whole lot, with only 2.5 career sacks in three years at BC, but with the bevy of defensive ends the Giants have that won’t matter as much. Kuechly is an athletically gifted player with smarts and that’s something you need from an inside linebacker in the pros. This is what Kuechly said about his play:

“I think I’m a smart player. I think I do a pretty good job preparing myself; that’s something I take pride in. Being prepared, and knowing what each individual guy is responsible for. I can point at different guys, and let them know what they’re doing if they have questions. I take pride in having the ability to do that. And doing that, and knowing what everyone is doing, you can play faster. It allows you to be more successful.”

I don’t know about you but I think Kuechly would fit right into the Giants’ system. The fact that he has BC blood in him doesn’t hurt his chances of being picked by the Giants. What do you Giants fans out there say? Do you like Kuechly? Would you be happy if he lasted till the end of the first round and the Giants took him? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!

Apr 22, 2009; New York, NY, USA; ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. during the 2010 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

In the early stages of the rise of mock drafts Kiper was the man many people viewed as an NFL Draft guru. Whatever he had to say was heard by his disciples as gospel and he’s still a very popular man to this day in the world of NFL mock drafts and the actual draft itself after landing an on-air personality gig for ESPN during its televised draft coverage.

Even though I’ve switched my allegiances from Kiper over to NFL Network’s Mike Mayock I know there are still many Kiper fans out there so I thought I’d take a look at his most recent mock draft to see who he has the Giants taking with their 32^nd overall draft pick in the upcoming 2012 NFL Draft for this week’s version of ‘This Week In Mock Drafts.’

Kiper’s mock drafts are a part of the ESPN Insider brand so if you don’t have access to their site then you can’t read his article, so don’t click on this link if you’re not an insider. Don’t worry Giants fans we got you covered later in this article for his analysis on the Giants’ pick.

In his most recent mock draft, version 3.0, that was published before the big trade that saw the Redskins mortgage their future for the present and let it be known that RG3 will be a Redskin, Kiper has taken the route many mock draft prognosticators have taken and mocked a tight end to the Giants.

The tight end that Kiper has going to the Giants, as of right now, is the same one that was featured in a previous installment of ‘This Week In Mock Drafts.’ And that would be Stanford’s tight end, Coby Fleener.

This is what Kiper has to say right now about Fleener going to the Giants:

“The Super Bowl was great for the party, but the Giants took a hit on the personnel side, where they lost a pair of tight ends to injury. Fleener has overtaken Dwayne Allen of Clemson as the top tight end on my board, and the Giants need one. He has great hands, will run a lot better than people think and knows how to work in a pro-style system, lined up on the line of scrimmage. He’s a great red zone target. The Giants also need offensive line help, or could target a linebacker here, but Fleener makes a lot of sense.”

The scouting report from our fellow FanSided brethren over at NFLMocks.com on the 6’6, 247-pound tight end, project Fleener as a late first round to 2^nd round draft pick and compare him to Kevin Boss, Marcedes Lewis and Tony Scheffeler.

FanSided also went on to say about Fleener that he’s a, “big play threat at all times…can line up in the slot and run pretty good routes…good at finding holes in zone coverage…impressive body control and ability to catch the ball in his soft hands…”

Those were the nice things they had to say but they also had some concerns about Fleener that revolve around his age (he’ll be 24 during his rookie campaign), his lean build that might not lead to him holding up in the blocking game, questions about whether he’ll be able to handle not being the go-to receiver in an offense and that’s he’s not very dynamic once the snap goes off.

Every rookie is going to come into the professional football ranks with holes in his game so Fleener should be able to work on his game as he progresses. If the Giants do take Fleener he’ll have to work on his game much sooner, especially if they don’t sign a veteran free agent tight end, because he would shoot up to the top of the tight end depth chart in New York because of injuries to Ballard and Beckum.

It’ll be interesting to see whether or not the Giants do take a rookie tight end in the first round since they would potentially be in the running to start as a rookie and make a big impact in a pass heavy offense.

It’s funny what being a champion does to you and if Osi were to stick around and be the third player in a three-man defensive end rotation to go along with Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul then the Giants would have the scariest three man D-Line rotation in all of football.

Dec 26, 2009; San Francisco, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans defensive end Nick Perry (8) before the game against the Boston College Eagles in the 2009 Emerald Bowl at AT

However, we can’t predict the future and if a team came calling on or near draft day that saw them offer the Giants a valuable draft pick for the rights to Osi GM Jerry Reese would have to at least listen.

Personally, if I was Reese, I’d keep Osi if he were to play under his remaining contract because there aren’t too many defensive ends out there better than him when he’s healthy, happy and focused. Yet, that’s not always the case with Osi and if you can trade him and get something of value in return you can always draft his potential replacement and that’s just the scenario we have lined out for you in the latest installment of ‘This Week In Mock Drafts.’

While Chris Bach of NFLGridironGab.com doesn’t come out and say outright that Osi will be gone and the Giants will draft his replacement with the 32^nd overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft he does throw out the idea that Osi is “likely leaving” and has mocked to the GMEN DE Nick Perry out of USC to take his spot on the team via the draft.

Based on the scouting report of Perry from our good friends at NFLMocks.com, which you can check out fully by clicking RIGHT HERE, we can tell you that Perry is a 6’3, 250-pound end who recorded 5 sacks and 42 tackles in 9 games for the Trojans last year. For his career he has totaled 18 sacks, 92 tackles, and 4 forced fumbles in 34 career games.

NFLMocks says that Perry has, “elite speed and explosion off stance”, to go along with “surprising strength” but that he, “struggles when run at”, with a history of injury and might need time to develop some moves.

However, Perry earned the nickname of ‘Workout Warrior’ at the 2012 NFL Combine and he now has draft pundits talking him up as a potential top 15 pick based on the following combine numbers:

• 4.64 40-yard run
• Lifted 225 pounds 35 times
• Vertical jump pf 38.5 inches
• Broad jump of 124 inches
• 7.25 3-cone drill
• 4.66 20-yard shuttle

Even if Perry is still there when the Giants are scheduled to go to the podium it’s no guarantee that they’ll be looking at D-Line but you never know who’ll still be available. If a potential top-15 pick slides to the bottom of the first round he might very well be a Giant based on the organization’s strategy of drafting the best overall player available, regardless of need.

Feb 1, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Christian Barrett poses in front of a mock NFL draft set during Play 60 Kids Day at the NFL Experience at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

While deep down inside we knew that there was no way the NFL would cancel the season or miss games the longer the lockout dragged on the more uncertainty it created. That didn’t stop sportswriters from talking about mock drafts and making predictions though and that didn’t stop me from talking about those talking about the mock drafts.

Eventually the lockout ended and we had ourselves a new labor agreement and football was officially back in our lives! The mock drafts that I covered for GMEN HQ at the beginning of the season were all about me preaching how it’s hard to predict what player a team will draft when a season hasn’t even started yet and we don’t know what the team will look like heading into off-season or where we would be drafting in the first round.

Well, now that the season is over we have some questions answered that can help up properly mock the upcoming 2012 NFL Draft. First off, thanks to the Giants winning Super Bowl XLVI, we now know where the Giants will be picking in the draft and, barring trade, the Giants are slated to pick 32^nd and last overall in the first round of the draft.

I’m sure GM Jerry Reese will gladly take the last pick of the draft anytime if it comes along with a Lombardi Trophy attached to it. With the NFL in off-season mode we know which players are free agents and we can speculate as to which players teams will attempt to re-sign, let go or go after in free agency. That helps us mock draft prognosticators or those mocking the mock draft prognosticators pinpoint areas of needs or target positions in the draft for each of the 32 teams.

As of right now, thanks in part to the major injuries suffered to the tight end position in the Super Bowl and the lack of depth at the position, tight end has become the trendy mock draft position pick for the Giants. And that’s exactly the case with today’s installment of ‘This Week In Mock Drafts’ brought to you by the good folks over at The National Football Post.

The third and most recent version of their mock draft has the Giants taking tight end Coby Fleener out of Stanford. Out of the 15 previous TWIMD articles that I wrote for GMEN HQ not a single one of them predicted the Giants would draft a tight end but I have a feeling that will change and we will see the tight end position mentioned a lot more frequently headed towards draft day.

Jan 2, 2012; Glendale, AZ, USA; Stanford Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck (12) throws to tight end Coby Fleener (82) during the second half against the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the 2012 Fiesta Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Oklahoma State Cowboys beat the Stanford Cardinal 41-38 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

According to the latest scouting report on Fleener from NFP they say that he’s, “An impressive pass catcher who can win both down the field and underneath vs. man coverage. Has the frame and flexibility to develop into a solid blocker as well and looks like a future starting caliber NFL TE.” That sounds like some pretty lofty praise for Fleener and it also makes it seem like he would be just the type of guy to fit right in on the Giants.

The tight end position has helped revolutionize the way the passing game is now played and while we’re not always going to see a Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez or Jimmy Graham type of player come into the league and light it up right away like they recently did there’s no denying that tight ends can come into the league and make an impact immediately. If the Giants can draft a tight end that starts out as a rookie and makes a difference from Week 1 it would only add to the arsenal of players Manning has at his dispersal.

The Giants have always been a team known for drafting the best available player, no matter the need or the position. It’s worked out well for them in the past and if they were to go that route this year and that best player available did in fact turn out to be a tight end the Giants would be pretty smart to do so since not too many other teams view tight end as a position of need, which would leave the Giants picking whatever tight end they rank the best at the position.

In addition to the 6-6 Fleener, other names to watch out for at the tight end position include Georgia’s Orson Charles, Clemson’s Dwayne Allen, Chase Ford out of Miami and Michael Egnew from Missouri.

Of course, we can’t forget that it’s only February 20 and the draft doesn’t take place until April 26. That’s plenty of time for the Giants to sign a free agent tight end such as Jeremy Shockey, Visanthe Shiancoe or John Carlson as a one year stop gap to fill in for the injured Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum or permanently take over their spots.

All I know is that mock draft season is in full swing and GMEN HQ is happy to be a part of it and that TWIMD should once again become a Mock Monday regular here on the blog.

All the way back on July 18 of this year Chris posted a three round 2012 NFL mock draft where he had the Giants selecting 30^th overall and taking Kelechi Osemele, the left guard from Iowa State, in the first round.

This time he’s posted a two round mock at NFL Mocks and the order of the first round is based on his NFL Mocks 2011 NFL season preview, which you can read right here.

In his latest mock, dated August 8^th, Ransom has the Giants picking 25^th overall, which is good enough for second place in the NFC East, behind the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles. Oh, that’s right, the season hasn’t been played yet. I’ll give Chris credit for not picking the Eagles to win the Super Bowl as a lot of people have already done.

He actually has them at 27^th overall, not even making it to the NFC Conference Finals. His Super Bowl, based on his draft order, would see the Atlanta Falcons defeating the Houston Texans. Man, if that were to happen, Chris would have to be the second coming of Nostradamus.

Back to the mock draft, at 25^th overall, Chris has the Giants selecting a very familiar face to those of you who are devoted hardcore fans of ‘This Week In Mock Drafts.’

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It was most definitely a busy week. I guess I should mention there was also some NFL related happenings too. Mainly that the lockout came to an end! Finally.

That’s considered big news around these parts, right? Now that that’s out of the way let’s talk about some NFL mock drafting…

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Today’s installment of the most popular 2012 NFL mock draft feature based on the zero negative feedback I’ve received up to now is taking the ridiculousness of covering 2012 NFL mock drafts to a new high as I cover a 2012 NFL mock draft that was mocked up before the 2011 NFL Draft even took place.

Crazy, right? Crazy, indeed! The name of the site I’ll be featuring says it all: Football Mockery. If you’re going to be mocking the 2012 NFL Draft you might as well start early and there’s nothing earlier than getting ahead of the game and mocking which players will be taken in 2012 before the ones in 2011 were taken.

Okay, so, if you’re still with me and understood everything typed up in those previous paragraphs let’s get a move on to the this week’s installment of ‘This Week In Mock Drafts.’

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