Giants Draft Notes: Giants Love Tyron Smith
By author
If you’ve followed anything about the Giants in the draft in the past few season this will come as absolutely no surprise, but according to draftinsider.net
Where will Tyron Smith/OT/USC end up in the draft? It looks more and more like he won’t get out of the top twenty picks. Sources have told us the Minnesota Vikings are seriously considering the athletic tackle with the 12th selection if they can’t come away with a quarterback. The other team that ranks Smith high on their board are the New York Giants
The Giants have shown a penchant for drafting high-upside players, they also like drafting players from big time programs early in the draft, and players with big long arms among linemen (especially defensive linemen). Jason Pierre Paul is one example , but Ramses barden (3rd round, not big time program), Darrius Heyward Bey (showed heavy interest in draft before Oakland selected him at 7th overall), Travis Beckum, Linval Joseph are just a few examples of the players that have good measurables and are considered high upside prospects that the Giants have drafted or shown interest in.
quickly too what I meant by big time programs is since 2007 early in the draft the Giants spend a lot of picks on players from major B.C.S schools or schools with former N.F.L. Coaches in the early rounds.
Aaron Ross Texas, Steve Smith USC, Terrel Thomas USC, Nicks: North Carolina, Kenny Phillips the U, Pierre Paul South Florida (not a traditional school power house though) etc. Of course there are exceptions: Joseph is one..
Anyway, It should be no surprise Tyron Smith is high on their board, as I’ve assumed he was for awhile. I also would not be surprised to ” learn” that Akeem Ayers, Martez Wilson, and Jimmy Smith were high on their boards, which may happen sometime between now and the draft.
Smith played RT at USC and weight 307 pounds, but has tremendous athletic ability, huge long arms, and is absolutely ripped.
The reason I think that Giants have become more comfortable grabbing high upside players is because I think they have the utmost faith in Tom Coughlin and his staff’s ability to develop young talent, even if Coughlin eases players into roles, the Giants have had few trust busts since Coughlin took over (less than other teams).
In other NY Giants news: the National Football Post has an article on the Giants Draft Trends:
The Giants don’t select OL or RB early, which is something I think could change this year. The last time they spent a first round pick on an OL was in 1999.
one note that is interesting is that the Giants have only selected three running backs in the draft since 2001 and have never done so prior to the start of the fourth round. The earliest New York landed a running back in the last ten years came in 2005 when they drafted Brandon Jacobs (Southern Illinois) with the 110th overall pick (fourth round).
But that’s misleading because since 2007 when Reese became G.M. He’s drafted two in four years. Bradshaw and Andre Brown. The Giants were (reportedly) very interested in C.J. Spiller last year.
I think Mark Ingram will interest them too, but perhaps I’m wrong. I haven’t heard anything about that yet. He just seems like a Tom Coughlin back: all around back, who doesn’t fumble, and has a good pedigree. But I think it’s less likely if they keep both Bradshaw and Jacobs.
The Giants have also drafted 10 LB since 2001, but just one in the first two rounds.
So based on the trends: The Giants won’t draft a RB (Ingram/LeShoure), OL (Castanzo, Smith), or LB (ayers, Wilson) in the first round.
I think this year will break some trends and right now if I had to handicap the Giants first pick it would be between: Castanzo, Smith(any one of the three: Aldon, Tyron, or Jimmy, but Tyron specifically), Solder, Ayers, Wilson, Ingram, Mike Pouncey, or Corey Liuget (I’ve always thought of him as a meh first round pick and great 2nd round pick, but he seems to be climbing boards fast. Fewell was at the Illinois Pro-Day and one scout was quotes as saying something like “Liuget’s had one of the best pro-days I’ve ever seen. He’s working out and tiring the coaches, not the other way around”)
A personal favorite of mine is Brandon Harris and I wish they would consider him, but my gut says they won”t.
What do you guys think?
But then again it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they went with Corey Liuget, Aldon Smith/Justin Houston/Other DE in the first round (how could you be surprised if they do?).
Working on scouting reports for these players: Casey Matthews (requested), Justin Houston (official visit), Mike pouncey (visit at combine).
Any other requests?
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