Big Blue Huddle

Overview:
No

Overview:
Average year. There isn

Apparently this preview is long. I tried to go back in and amend the original version so it was all on one page but it exceeded the 20k character limit so wouldn't save!

Anyways, where was I?

Quality prospects limited to the slot (so I have NO in interest in any of them)
Brandin Cooks, Oregon State (5

Quote from: Webster29 on April 29, 2014, 12:23:15 AM
Ceri:   do you have any opinion on Branden Oliver out of Buffalo??   12th Man and I have been touting him as a possible late round or undrafted fa prospect the Giants may want to consider.   They did have a scout at the UB Pro Day perhaps to take a closer look at Mack just in case he drops that far but I wonder if he may have had some interest in checking Oliver out.   12th Man has favorably compared Oliver to Joe Morris.  Any thoughts on him??

http://www.ubbullrun.com/2014/3/3/5464780/buffalo-bulls-pro-day-branden-oliver

Compared favouraby to Joe Morris?  Oh man my sides are hurting with that one. In games against teams with good athletes he averaged under 4 yards per carry in all of them over the course of his career. Has some nice cutting ability and he actually is pretty decent as a pass blocker but he can't break any tackles, lacks power and doesn't really have any special traits. He's a UDFA.

Quote from: MP21WAYS2PAY on April 28, 2014, 03:58:34 PM

Quote from: UKGiantsFan on April 27, 2014, 11:56:58 AM
He

Quote from: Chris on April 28, 2014, 12:16:21 PM
Ceri, I hope all is well with you.

I've seen Andre Williams linked to us in the later rounds. Most likely because of the strong BC connection. 

Any thoughts on him as a possible fit?

I'm not sure what to think about Williams. On the one hand he has good vision, can find a crease and is gone plus is physically impressive & blocks very well in pass protection,. On the other hand he has so many plays where he looks slow to the line of scrimmage and was really poor at converting 3rd & short situations (just 50%) that you wonder how quick he is out of the gate and how many of those big plays were due to the massive holes he ran through. More disconcerting to me is that he got injured every single year and has absolute bricks for hands in the passing game!! Having seen a revolving door at the RB position due to injury I'd sooner not bring in someone who could never make it through a season unscathed in college!

Quote from: DesG89 on April 27, 2014, 06:21:49 PM
Lache Seastrunk and Ka'deem Carey are conspicuous in their absence from your preview. I take you don't like what either bring to the table or you believe they don't fit what you think the new offense will be

Carey was reportedly given a 2nd round grade by the NFL's Draft Advisory Board and whilst he has great feet, vision and unexpected power for his size he's not a threat to break a big play, isnt much of a blocker or receiver and his workload the past two years is way too high for a smaller back. He's also had multiple OTF issues and his Combine workout was so poor I can't help but think his evaluation grade was made on the expectation that he'd at least prove to be average athletically! He might fit what we want but even dropping to day three (which is where I think he'll go) I'd steer well clear.

Seastrunk was reportedly given a 3rd round grade by the NFL's Draft Advisory Board but there are lots of things I didn't like when I looked into him further i.e. injury history, an offensive scheme that saw him run a high % of the time against nickel defenses not 7 or 8 man fronts,  failure to do anything of note against good defenses and fact it looks like he's an outside type runner with bad vision, etc and you'll understand why I have concerns.

Quote from: Jaime on April 27, 2014, 10:51:39 PM
Ceri, I have Charles Sims in Rd. 4 #113 overall in my mock. Thinking he'll be a good rotational RB for us. I was not aware that he had a problem with blocking. Some of his fumbles were attributable to second effort. Both of those areas should be correctable with coaching and practice.

I remember lots of people making the same positive noises about David Wilson. Two years on he still can't block worth a damn and can't hold onto the ball either. It isn't as pronounced an issue with Sims but even with coaching you can't make his hands any bigger and that more so than any tardiness in his ball carrying technique appears to be a bigger reason why second effort leads to fumbles. 

Quote from: MightyGiants on April 27, 2014, 12:56:07 PM
What are you thoughts on STORM JOHNSON Ceri?

If I'd put two targets up for the 5th round he would have been the other one but I'm not sure of his 'fit' to our offense. The other guys I mentioned as targets have all been successful running the ball between the tackles whereas he is mainly an outside runner who can catch the ball and make decent yardage with it. Neither Snee or Schwartz are suited to the ZBS system he ran behind. I'm also a bit concerned at how high he runs and how loosely he holds the ball (coughed it up 5 times last year, losing 3).

The talent available
Not a great year for RB

Quote from: MightyGiants on April 26, 2014, 07:47:23 AM

Quote from: UKGiantsFan on April 26, 2014, 07:42:02 AM

Quote from: MightyGiants on April 26, 2014, 07:34:25 AM
It would surprise me to see the Giants pick up Demarcus Lawrence in the second round.  They have interviewed him and he seems to be an ideal fit for the Giants Joker position.

More often than not the Giants bring in guys they have questions about more so than those they like. Lawrence's three suspensions and John Mara's statement about not taking chances high in the draft seem like a clash to me. Obviously they will have done some digging and know exactly what those suspensions are for but he doesn't sound like a TC guy to me. Attacochu not only appears to be a TC guy but also very much the type of prospect that Reese and Ross like

Ceri,

Seems to me there are two things that make a player a gamble, character and injury.   Attacochu seems to be the latter.

I agree with the premise but Attaochu had a relatively minor injury and is healthy now. Ford is the one with the injury history.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Quote from: MightyGiants on April 26, 2014, 07:34:25 AM
It would surprise me to see the Giants pick up Demarcus Lawrence in the second round.  They have interviewed him and he seems to be an ideal fit for the Giants Joker position.

More often than not the Giants bring in guys they have questions about more so than those they like. Lawrence's three suspensions and John Mara's statement about not taking chances high in the draft seem like a clash to me. Obviously they will have done some digging and know exactly what those suspensions are for but he doesn't sound like a TC guy to me. Attacochu not only appears to be a TC guy but also very much the type of prospect that Reese and Ross like

The Talent Available
There is some marquee talent at this position with one player ranking in my top 5 overall, another in my top 15, one in my top 40, two in my top 50, one in my top 75 and two in my top 100. That said, few fit the profile of the type of player I believe the Giants will be searching for so don't get too excited!

What do I think the Giants should do?
The Giants invented the NASCAR package to get more speed up front on passing downs without giving away in terms of size. It worked then and with the right athletes it would do again but right now we

Quote from: President Rick on April 24, 2014, 12:42:08 PM
impressive yahoo-sports write-up on Oregon State's Brandin Cooks.  Where do you see him, Ceri?  Others? 

I think his size limits him to being a slot receiver. He's a very good one though. I think he'll be the 4th WR off the board, probably just outside the top 20. We could be seeing a lot of him - the Eagles are amongst those known to be interested

There are so many receivers I am bored watching them so rather than delay this any further I'm going to publish those that I believe are potential fits for the Giants in the first two rounds and then come back to look at slot receivers and others that may fit the Giants from the third round onwards after taking a break to do the preview for LB's and edge rushers.


The talent available
This is by far the deepest and most talented position in the draft with as many as eleven players likely to be taken in the firs two 50 rounds on merit and a smorgasbord of talent available who project to either the X,Z or slot positions. I have two players in my top 5 overall, another in my top 15, three more in my top 32, one in my top 4, two in my top 50 and two in my top 64. Were that not enough I have another two in my top 75 and three in my top 100. As WR hungry teams feast on the talent there will either be one or two who drop to much later than expected.

What do I think the Giants should do?
In Victor Cruz the Giants have the perfect

Quote from: XNYrnLA on April 21, 2014, 01:27:42 AM
Thank you Ceri for spending so much time to post these great write-ups and analysis.

I personally prefer a blocking TE in the 4th with OK hands, than spending a high pick on a big receiver who is not really a very good one.
I would be very happy with either Gilmore or LYNCH there. You left out Arthur Lynch... Do you not consider him a good enough prospect?

Not a big fan of Lynch. Drops too many balls for my liking and I find it laughable that some reviews I've read of him gush about his blocking when it's plain to see he can't move anyone off the line of scrimmage and is built more like an H-Back. I would consider him to be no more than a 5th/6th rounder. Frankly I prefer Richard Rodgers (California) if we are going to go for a one dimensional pass catcher. He'll be on my day three target list if we don't draft a TE on days one and two