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Alright, quick thoughts on the Giants draft now that everything is in the books:
Round 1: Ereck Flowers, OT, Miami: Made most of my thoughts clear on Thursday but I love the pick. O-line was a far more pressing need than D-line. Should slot right in at RT, allowing Pugh to move to RG. Huge dude, 6'6" 330 lb and could be groomed as Beatty's eventual successor at LT. The footage I've seen suggests he's especially good in run blocking, which is huge as the Giants had a largely shit run game last year due to bad blocking.
Round 2: Landon Collins, S, Alabama: Safety was the biggest need going in but #9 would have been way too high for Collins. He wouldn't have been left at pick #40 so I'm glad they traded up. Reese is usually pretty gun-shy about making trades during the draft so I like them going the extra mile to get a guy they really wanted. Hard-hitting, physical play and Another guy who should slot right in to a starting role. I've seen some forecast him as someone with very real bust potential but I'm pretty sure people say that about every Bama defensive player no matter what.
Round 3, Owamagbe Odighizuwa, DE, UCLA: I don't need to see any more than his name to know I like him. Oh-diggy-zoo-wah. Badass. Anyway he was a force at stopping the run, which was another big Giants weakness last year. He's had some issues rushing the passer but he's going to a defensive scheme that will teach him up on that fairly quickly as they are known to throw 3 or 4 DEs on the field on passing downs. Thinking about it, Spags will now have JPP, Ayers, Selvie, Moore, and O-Squared to work with at the DE position. Can't wait to see what he comes up with.
Round 5, Mykkele Thompson, S, Texas: During these late rounds I try to flip the draft on when the Giants are about to pick because the networks are good at showing highlight tape for most guys. Neither network showed one second on this guy. Evidently he was universally ranked as someone who was going to go undrafted and the Giants were the only team to bring him in for a pre-draft visit. I know it's the 5th round but it sounds like they could have gotten better value at this spot and signed him right after the draft. From what I've read he sounds like he has good speed and is a versatile guy who can play any DB spot, so at least he fills a need.
Round 6, Geremy Davis, WR, UConn: As a UConn fan I'm happy to see him get picked. He was a team captain, has great hands, and had a really nice collegiate career for himself considering the jobbers he had throwing to him. He's pretty slow though, and WR is a pretty busy spot for the Giants as is. I wonder if maybe they want Davis to bulk up in preseason and potentially be converted to TE. That could work, especially with Donnell having the drops at times last year.
Round 7, Bobby Hart, OT, Florida State: Don't know a whole lot about this guy but you could have a worse dice-roll than a guy who was a starting lineman on a National Title-winning team. Giants usually keep 9 or 10 OL on the roster so whatever, never hurts to have an extra body competing for a job in preseason.
Pretty tough to judge a draft until at least 3 years have passed but as far as first impressions I like this class. 2 starters out of the gate and an intriguing DE prospect in the first 3 rounds. Anything they get out of the last 3 guys is probably gravy.
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