The New York Giants didn't actually get the chance to draft Jeremiyah Love, but he was the wild card that ultimately flipped their draft on its head. Leading up to April, consensus around the league was that the Notre Dame superstar was the best running back prospect the league had seen since Saquon Barkley.
New head coach John Harbaugh was in the early stages of building his smash-mouth brand of football, meaning Love was a very real option No. 5 despite the team already having Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy Jr. on the roster.
The strategy was simple: take the best player available and figure everything else out later. That choice went poof when Arizona selected the second coming of Barkley at No. 3, forcing New York to pivot to Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese with the fifth pick.
Fans -- and just about everyone else -- immediately questioned the pick, since Reese was used mainly as a pass-rusher in college and the Giants already had Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, and Kayvon Thibodeaux headlining the pass-rushing unit.
But recently, Cardinals offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett has put the draft-night pivot into perspective. When asked about Love's early progress in training camp, Hackett dropped a blunt, four-word reality check:
"He's definitely a rookie."Nate Hackett on Love
Four words never used to describe Reese. And while the Cards work through the predictable learning curve of a rookie running back, the G-Men have every reason to feel better and better about how their draft-night switch-up is unfolding.
Arizona might've accidentally given the Giants exactly what they needed
While Arizona pumps the brakes, Reese is already making a lot of that draft-night panic look premature. The noise about taking another pass-rusher with a top-five pick died the second he stepped onto the practice field.
He'll have to prove he can dominate in pads as much as he did in shorts -- you always have to take those highlights with a pinch of salt -- but the talent is clearly there.
The 20-year-old has done nothing but impress everyone since arriving for rookie minicamp and OTAs. At 6-foot-4 and 243 pounds, Reese's rare size/speed combo gives New York exactly what they've been missing in the middle of their defense for years.
He's already earned praise from his teammates and coaching staff, with Carter saying he has "special qualities," and Burns calling the duo of him and Tremaine Edmunds "scary."
Arizona is learning the hard way that even elite running back prospects face a steep learning curve. Big Blue skipped that waiting period, grabbing a plug-and-play defensive demon who fits the exact style Harbs has prioritized his entire career.
Just look at Harby's history in Baltimore. His defenses were always built around rockstars in the middle -- think Ray Lewis, C.J. Mosley, Patrick Queen, and Roquan Smith. Maybe Reese is next in line.
Love not hitting the ground running (pun intended) is nothing to worry about. It’s early, and he has plenty of time to grow into the player everyone expects him to become. It also just happens to be a huge sigh of relief for Giants fans because could you imagine the reaction if New York had spent the fifth overall pick on a running back who immediately struggled? Absolute anarchy.
If Love was sitting there at No. 5, there’s a really good chance he’d be wearing blue right now. Arizona took that decision out of the Giants’ hands, and it might end up being exactly what the Giants needed. While the Cards are giving their rookie time to settle in, New York already has a defender who looks built for exactly what Harby wants this defense to become.
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