New York Giants Draft: 5 more middle-round targets, including Derick Hall

DL Curtis Brooks, Cincinnati:

With both Danny Shelton and Austin Johnson’s contracts expiring this off-season, the New York Giants will likely look towards the draft to find their replacements, I believe a good candidate for their replacement is Curtis Brooks out of Cincinnati.

Coming in at 6-foot-2 and 285 pounds, Brooks had himself a breakout year this season, tallying 50 combined tackles, 9 sacks, 6 QB hits, 12 tackles for loss, 28 QB hurries, and one forced fumble.

Something that makes Brooks a good candidate for the New York Giants to draft, alongside his talent, is that similar to the Giants, Cincinnati runs a 3-4 defense, making it so Brooks will likely already be somewhat familiar with the NY Giants defensive stunts.

Brooks has the ability to succeed in both pass rushing and run-stopping scenarios, lining up in the A or B gap the majority of his snaps, Brooks possesses great hand usage, which is his primary tool to get off of opposing blockers.

The only real problem with Brooks is that he sometimes lacks an array of pass-rushing moves, choosing to rely on his strength and hands as opposed to more legit moves, this causes him to become less consistent while rushing the quarterback.

However, Brooks’ ability to be a swiss army knife type of player is something that the New York Giants could use on their defensive line. Brooks potential to play all around the defensive line while being a tremendous pass rusher/run stopper is not something that is very common.