Big Blue Huddle

He was my vote for best value pick by the Giants this year. And what's on that video shows why they took him. Bob

Quote from: Ed Vette on April 27, 2024, 02:07:46 PMAt least it's a bunch of C+ guys instead of the D- to C- group they had the bring in. I did want a Guard in the Second Round but I guess they wanted to upgrade the McKless Unit.

Ed: I wanted a guard too (in round three/four). Maybe they got "aced out" by a team slightly ahead of them... or maybe they have reason to believe Evan Neal will be much improved this year (I don't have such reason). That is the key, because Eluemunor is a very solid guard (but he can't be if he must play right tackle)... or maybe they view the situation at defensive backfield as more "dire" now that they signed two decent free-agent linemen. Bob

Andru Phillips is a quiet talent in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Kentucky Cornerback is not a common name on mock drafts and likely won't hear his name called until Day 2 or Day 3 but when I saw him move at the combine I knew I needed to investigate the tape. The CB has impressive movement skills instincts and technical savvy. I think this kid has good odds of being a pro for a long time. In this video we watch up with Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers and grade his performance against the Georgia Bulldogs offense! #nfl #nfldraft #nfldraft

Quote from: Ed Vette on Today at 06:58:34 AMThe elephant in the room is John Mara.

Ed: Reluctantly I agree. But I don't think it's as bad as you do. It's clear Mara believed it was necessary (at the risk of continuing to stink) to treat Jones fairly. The comment on which both of us hang our hats is when he said [paraphrasing] "We did everything possible to screw this kid up." Remember, the rest of the league (especially the players) are always watching in the modern NFL (where it's now commonplace for players to play for multiple teams) and it's a "good thing" to have a reputation of being a place where workers like to work and are treated fairly. I happen to agree 100 percent with Mara (not with the interference, but with his words). Bob

I'm as frustrated with the o line over the last decade as anybody, but I feel like they did do their best to address this in free agency. I was hoping for an IOL at some point and we could have grabbed Beebe instead of Nubin. We'll see how that turns out 2 times a year since the Cowboys got Beebe. I'm tired too of trying to feel hopeful about an o line that continually blows, but there's a long list of mistakes made over the past decade that got us here. At some point, we simply have to hit on the o line coach and the pieces we've brought in. No injuries would be nice too.

Quote from: MightyGiants on Today at 07:38:08 AMI have been thinking.  Perhaps all the public QB shopping and the heavily leaked interest in Maye and QBs in general and the trade with the Pats were all just a smoke screen.  In Schoen's first year all the insiders had reported Thibs was off the NYG's board over character concerns.

The Giants may have really coveted Nabers.  There were reports that Nabers was the number one WR for many teams and that WR, not QB, topped the talent for this year's draft.  So here was Schoen sitting way down at 6 hoping to land the best player of the draft at a position of need.  What better way to pull that off than to make everyone believe the Giants were heavily pursuing a QB, even going so far as to leak it to Rich Eissen, who isn't even an insider?

Rich,

Let's say for the moment that the Giants' supposed heavy interest in Maye was in fact no more than a smoke screen, and they always wanted Nabers and didn't want any QB. How would putting that smoke screen out there increase their chances of getting Nabers exactly? It was never reported they were particularly interested in McCarthy. It was all about Maye. Once the Pats took Maye, I'm not sure why any smoke screen would have mattered or why the Giants' chances of landing Nabers were augmented.

If they were hell-bent on specifically getting Nabers at all costs, the smoke screens that would have made sense would have been feigning heavy interest in Odunze and/or pretending to be turned off by Nabers (as they allegedly did with Thibodeaux). I don't follow why feigning interest in Maye augments their chances of getting Nabers.

I believe the interest in Maye was genuine. I also think their inaction around restructuring Jones' contract in this offseason speaks volumes about where they stand on him long term at this point, so it makes sense that they would have potentially had interest in one or more of the QBs available. McCarthy just wasn't one of them.

Injuries aside, it depends who is shown to have been correct. Two issues:

(A) Did we need a better QB than Jones? - If the "we need a new QB" people are correct, the Giants will continue to stink. If the "we need an elite weapon" people are correct, the Giants will make enough progress to get maybe nine wins. The schedule this year will be a bit easier and the offense will be able to either to keep the ball away from the opponent or attempt to outscore them (depending on which team we're playing).

(B) Is running back really a lot less important than it has been historically? - If the "yes" people are correct then the Giants have a good-enough answer to the absence of Saquon and we'll be ok because the offensive line has clearly been upgraded.  If the "no" people are correct, we will miss Saquon and teams won't have to game-plan to stop him, leaving them free to game-plan to stop either the upgraded receiving corps or spy Jones and keep him from running the ball.

Bob

PS. Defense will be about the same as last year, but don't forget we must have (a) someone step up as a viable replacement for Leonard Williams (IMO he was an unsung hero on defense and a good running partner for Dexter); and (b) we need a young veteran to become a "star" (maybe number five, maybe Burns, maybe Okereke) plus no 2nd-year player fall into a sophomore-year slump.  That may seem to be a lot to hope for, but IMO it's not only do-able.

I'd imagine this poll will be in the negative but as usual post-draft I'm enthused (though I've tempered it slightly and guessed 9-10 wins).

Key thing is actually having a competitive training camp. Last years was powder puff. Looked after the players and it got the xxxx kicked out of us in the initial joint scrimmage with Detroit as our level of intensity and preparedness was much lower than those of quality opponents getting ready for the season, not for a siesta. That turned out to be a harbinger of what happened v Dallas in the home opener...

If we do scrimmage with Detroit again,  we'll be able to gauge progress.  They will always be well prepared under Campbell and now they have a really good roster.  If we can compete with them, we'll be just fine. We see the same again, it could be another long ass season!

An effort made to get Maye. Clearly they did not have a high enough opinion on McCarthy or other options such as Nix, Penix. Given that, you get yourself what appears to be an incredibly talented WR who can turn routine plays into big gains. Sets us up for when we are able to address QB and gives Jones another no-excuses season.

Quote from: sjones71 on Today at 07:46:46 AMThey played the board the best they could and seem to have gone with need/value. The Devito wins put us in a spot where getting a franchise-changing QB wasn't possible. Given that, they seem to have grabbed the best players available who also met a need. Truth is that there is need at just about every spot even if just for depth. A solid draft with no overthinking. Calmly took what was there and it at least feels like the scouting, pre draft process is run by grownups.

That's a fair point; there were more needs than picks.   Adding talent is the highest priority in a draft, and it seems the Giants did that