Big Blue Huddle

Scoring is not our problem.  Stopping the other team is.

If we draft anyone among these three groups on day 1, I will likely drop dead given our needs elsewhere and the fact aside from maybe 1 player, none of these guys interest me as a Giant.

Jaime - The 22 mile Napali hike (to/from) is generally considered one of the top 10 hikes in the world.  Kudos to you.  It's an incredible experience.  I can definitely see why'd you think you were with dinosaurs.  I live about 3 miles off the main road on the North Shore.  1 mile in from the highway, it rains 30 inches per year.  By the time you get to my house it rains about 100 inches per year.  Lots of microclimates along the way.  Actually very cool.  We own a 110 pound Newfoundland who loves to swim.  They're bred to rescue people who are drowning.  I'm teaching her to rescue.   She loves to swim.  When I take her to the beach to swim, it is "game on" as soon as my head goes underwater.  She comes charging out to swim to me regardless of whether or not I need to be saved.  If I go for a swim, she just follows me whereever I swim and sometimes, I go pretty far offshore.  She's like my "other" wife according to most people who see her following me out there.  I can't surf with her because she cries and follows me out into the water.  Got to leave her home.  Great life here.

If I trust my eyes (and I usually do), I'd love to have Barrett Jones in the 3rd round for us.  I think he is a very cerebral player which I believe is very important at the center position.  The concern I've read is that he got protected a lot by Warmack lined up next to me, however he won awards playing OT as well so it speaks more about his overall talent.  I think his versatility would make him a hot prospect for the Giants.

Been raining out here in Kauai today Jaime.  My dog is bugging me to take her to the ocean to swim.

It'd be one thing to be a starter on a crappy team in a conference after only two years of playing but to start at Florida State and produce what he did with only two years experience speaks volumes to me.  If we could get him in round 2, great, but I don't think he leaves the first round.

I used to love Barrett Jones as a pick and thought he was a very complete player based on the games I saw, but I keep reading how there is this concern of him getting blown apart by NFL level caliber.

Watson, an OL who has considerable time boxing and playing basketball, has two things that NFL coaches kill themselves trying to teach to players - footwork and balance.  Players spend their careers trying to attain both and this kid already has it.  It seems to me that the most difficult stuff he already has in spades and with those skills, I'd think he'd project to OLT as well.  Plus, he learned the position so quickly then played in a very competitive conference and performed?  These are exactly the types of players destined to do great things.  Sign me up.  If we could move back a bit, acquire another pick in the 2nd or 3rd round and still get him, that'd be solid.

Ceri, what do you think of Tyrann Mathieu overall and potentially as a slot corner?

I completely agree with you Ceri that we have the Under Tackle position set but can use a run stuffing nose tackle.  I'd be thrilled if we got either Jesse Williams or John Jenkins in say the 2nd round, but I doubt either will be there when we pick.  Maybe.  If we did that in round 2 and were lucky to have a top flight DE, CB or LB to fall to us in round 1, I'd be thrilled with that as a round 1-2 combo.  Think we need help on D, but also feel that OL is a great need.  IF we went OL in round 1 and got one of those DTs in round 2, I'd also be happy as well. 

Not sure I'd assume Warmack, Fluker and Jones play in the NFL to the same degree of proficiency.  The NFL will sort that out within a  few years.  I'd love to see us land a Steve Hutchinson type player regardless of whether it's a first round or second round selection.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Dave Meggett.  Unlike Brandon Jacobs who ran hard one Sunday and got tackled by 175 lb CBs on other Sundays for loss, Dave Meggett always seemed to convert third downs for the Giants, both as a runner and pass catcher.  I know he doesn't have the yards that merit his name on your list, but damn, he was the real deal to me.

Ceri - I am getting the same feeling about Stephen Hill that you are in terms of availability and Giants interest.  With his height and speed and what looks like good character, I can see them agonizing over whether to take him if he's there.  As long as Eli is QB, I think the Giants will always look to provide him with weapons.  My only concern with him is that by playing in a triple option, he may be far behind other players in terms of NFL WR football knowledge.  Since it takes WRs a long time to develop in the NFL, I wonder if it will take him even longer.  When I think of him, I think of Thomas Lewis out of Indiana.  Why we took a WR out of Indiana is beyond me?

I agree that it seems ridiculous to reach for a DT if you took one last season and you don't have any more data to suggest Austin can't play.  Must give him a chance.  Seem solid with Canty/Joseph.

I'm making this number up, but if there are 10 things a college QB needs to transition to a successful NFL QB, it seems to me that if they already have as many as possible, their chances of success go way up.  If playing in the spread or playing with himself is something that becomes another thing for an NFL team to have to coach out of the player and correct, then it just seems like one more thing that can go wrong and thus make it harder to succeed.

To me, the guy who can just go back and sling the ball without having to think about proper footwork, where he's holding the football, his arm angle, whether he's made his progressions correctly, what the WILL is going to do, is going to be the one who succeeds.  The more clutter in their brain, the more they will not play fast and loose.  JMHO.

There's also another factor.  The folks debating Cam are at the top of the board so that gamble has probably a $50+ million risk associated with it whereas JPP was less.  Also, risk on QB is that it is much, much more about mental decisionmaking which is much harder to assess.  For a DE, it is generally about motor and physical skills, much easier to figure out and predict.

Now NYSPORTS, imagine him saying that a while back and now having say $50 million in guaranteed money sitting in his account.  After that, he may think he needs a show on the E Channel.  You've got to find the guys who don't lose themselves when they either find money or success.  Not sure how you analyze for that, but it is key.

Mike - it seems like the NFL talent evaluators have done a good job of finding out the physical talents of players, but the two areas in which they seem to fail miserably, especially for QB talent is in determining a) how smart they are with respect to understanding the complexities of the game and b) whether or not handing over $25 - $50 million in guaranteed money will change the player and make him stop working hard and constantly to improve himself.

It always seems like they fall in love with the physicals, then the QB fails in the NFL and they say, "oh, he had a terrible work ethic" or "he wasn't very smart."  When are they going to realize that this is what makes a QB, not the arm.  Chad Pennington has the arm of a 5 year old, yet he has succeeded in the NFL because he's smart and works hard.  If he had 50% of the physicals of Cam Newton, he'd likely have been a top 10 QB.