In this edition of ‘get to know your undrafted NY Giants’, we take a look at Austin Mack and evaluate his chances of sticking with the team.
After already recently taking a look at the other two of what I’m dubbing the ‘NY Giants Big 3 of undrafted wide receivers’, it only made sense to break down the third member of that group next, Austin Mack.
What’s scary about that ‘Big 3’, is how much they hold in common which I think clearly points to Dave Gettleman having a plan when it comes to filling out one of his last WR spots on the 55-man roster with a high-upside undrafted player.
Like Binjimen Victor and Derrick Dillon (some of his main competition for a roster spot on the 55 or the practice squad), Mack was a big-time high school recruit who went on to not live up to his lofty status at a monster college football program.
At Ohio State, Austin Mack may not have realized he signed up for Ryan Day’s super widespread, wideout by committee approach, as he never compiled more than 400 yards in a season despite being on one of the best offenses in the nation.
Michael Thomas has been the only recent Buckeye in the Meyer/Day era to bust through that and become a solid draft prospect (second-round pick) and then turn into one of the best wideouts in the NFL.
While I don’t see anything close to that coming out of Austin Mack’s career, there are enough reasons to be encouraged that he could be a contributing member of a wide receiving core.
Even though he never surpassed 400 receiving yards, Mack was remarkably consistent, putting up between 24-27 catches and 331-360 yards in the three seasons he was getting playing time.
He averaged a respectable 13.3 yard-per-reception average, although he was only able to total six touchdowns.
He might not be a Binjimen Victor (fellow Buckeye and now NY Giants teammate), but his size at 6’2 would be a major upgrade over most of the NY Giants starting wideout core with Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate both checking in at 5’10.
Mack enrolled at Ohio State after a remarkable high school career that saw him end up being ranked as the ninth-best wideout in the country according to 24/7 spots. I always think that looking back at where undrafted players that didn’t play much or live up to their status in college (all of these ‘Big 3’ did) matters, as it shows the potential they have that could still be untapped.
The talented wideout was on the NFL Draft radar heading into his senior season according to Walterfootball.com, and even up until the actual draft as he was the draft website’s WR19 before the 2019 season and slid all the way down to WR35 (usually possible late-round pick) by the end of his disappointing 2019 season, as scouts saw enough on his limited film to at least make them think he could play at the next level.
He did that by making the most of his 79 career receptions and occasionally showing why he was such a highly-touted prospect at one time.
https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1245372852527706112
As you can see in the video above, Mack is a true technician when it comes to route-running and he also had the speed and size to compete at the next level.
What are his chances of sticking with the NY Giants
What does separate Mack from the other two NY Giants undrafted wideouts is that it appears the team wanted him more, as they paid him the second-most of any UDFA with an 87K salary. If you read into that, Mack should be the leader in the clubhouse to make the team out of the bunch at the moment, with a long way to go before the regular season.
He’ll also have to compete with former first-round pick, Corey Coleman, and promising 2019 UDFA David Sills, but if he can put together a solid showing in training camp and the preseason, he’s an absolute lock for the practice squad and could really challenge for one of the (likely) six wideout spots on the 55-man roster.
If he beat out Victor and Sills, he’d be the tallest member of the NY Giants wideout crew that actually play the position (I’m not counting special teamer Cody Core who had 3 catches last year and is clearly only here to be a gunner).
That should give him a leg up on some of his competition and make him attractive to the NY Giants coaching staff, as he’s probably the most well-rounded out of all the youngsters vying for one or two of those last spots on the actual roster.
Chances he makes the 55-man roster: 50%
Chances he makes the practice squad: 90%