NY Giants draft targets: WR Justin Jefferson edition

With the NY Giants direly lacking a big-bodied outside receiving threat, LSU’s Justin Jefferson should be on their shortlist of draft targets.

For some unknown reason, former LSU wide receiver Justin Jefferson has not gotten the love he’s deserved in terms of NFL draft hype. The NY Giants would be wise to take advantage of this, and seriously consider taking the electric playmaker with their second-round draft pick should he still be there.

Before yesterday – when he ripped up the NFL combine – consensus had Jefferson anywhere from the 35 to 50 range. He’s also been ranked outside the top five wideouts for the entire draft process despite possessing elite athleticism and having some of the best tape out of any receiver.

Many have opined that no one helped themself more at yesterday’s combine than the 2020 NCAA National Champion. Jefferson ran a 4.43 40 and was measured at 6’1 and a half and 202 pounds. Having just turned 21-years-old last month, Jefferson can and will fill out that frame and likely approach 215-220 pounds by the time he’s in his mid 20’s.

While the measurements and 40 times are nice, Jefferson really made his mark in the receiving drills as he stood out as one of – if not the – smoothest receiver on the field.

Here’s a look at Jefferson running the gauntlet drill.

Via Twitter:

https://twitter.com/FTBeard1/status/1233185379630505984

It’s not as if Jefferson is just a combine warrior, either. The wideout put up staggering numbers during his junior season at LSU this past year, racking up 111 catches (led country) for 1540 yards and 18 touchdowns (second in the country). With those numbers, it was already a wonder why he wasn’t considered one of the top handful of wide receivers available, and after the combine it’s likely he will finally be.

Similar to Georgia offensive tackle Andrew Thomas in a way, Jefferson is the victim of NFL Draft analysts getting too cute and looking to make splashes. There’s no other reasonable answer to explain why he’s been pegged where he has been for so long.

Jefferson also possesses an extremely polished and refined route tree as he’s able to lull defenders to sleep with his footwork before turning on the burners. He seems like a perfect fit as an ‘X’ receiver in Big Blue’s offense, and he and Daniel Jones would likely put up video game numbers.

So while many will argue that the NY Giants have bigger needs – which is fair – Jefferson needs to be in the team’s draft plans. There’s the distinct possibility of Big Blue trading back which could open up all types of options, or the team could hope he falls to #36.