Review of 2008 Giants’ Draft

Once again, I came out of the draft feeling good about what the Giants did. They got very good value based on the spots they picked at, and filled needs. The Giants followed my recipe for going heavy on defense, with some nice surprise picks on offense.

There’s little question that the secondary needed to be built up a bit more and that’s exactly where the Giants looked first. Kenny Phillips’ stock was said to be falling, but that proved to be a good thing as he fell all the way to the Giants. Arguably the best safety in the draft, Phillips at number 31 is good value and fills a need. Originally projected to go mid-first round, the Giants will gladly take him. Look for him to see the field a lot in his rookie year. 

Second round choice corner Terrell Thomas is a name I didn’t really recognize. But the book on him sounds perfect for the Giants: big, long arms, physical. The negative on Thomas appears to be speed, but that may be deceiving due to his size. While he may project to safety, the Giants will certainly give him reps at corner in the beginning. He comes from a passing conference, a big time school (USC), and played in big games. All things I like to hear. 

The third rounder, WR Mario Manningham, is easily the most intriguing pick, and could turn out to be the steal of the draft. First, unbelievable value in the third round, since he was projected to be a possible first rounder. I predicted a wideout would only be taken if it was the best available player at the time, and that certainly qualifies here. We all know Manningham’s problems, but his upside was too great to pass up at this spot. Physically, there seems to be some disagreement on his speed and ability to separate. Honestly, I don’t watch a lot of college football so I don’t know, but all I have heard is “deep threat”, “polished route runner”, “ability to leap” as adjectives for Manningham. The Giants didn’t let a bad Combine workout dissuade them. Let fellow alum Amani Toomer take this guy under his wing this summer and the dividends could be huge. A great pick. 

The Giants made me proud in rounds four and five going for linebackers. If both these guys can play, the Giants will now possess a very deep corp. Current Giant LBs Tank Daniels and Rory Johnson are marginal NFL players. Both these draft picks are an attempt to upgrade and replace those guys. Fourth rounder Bryan Kehl is described as a coach’s dream in the writeups. The highlights I saw of him displayed an ability to drop into passing lanes and catch the ball. The Giants traded up seven spots to get him, telling us they wanted to take no chances of someone else pouncing. Fifth rounder Jonathan Goff was projected as a third rounder, so the Giants again got value. Goff could be the eventual replacement to Antonio Pierce down the road, but that’s getting way ahead of ourselves. Both figure to be special team contributors immediately. Could these picks signal a potential switch back to DE for Kiwi in the near future? Right now the Giants are saying no, but that probably hinges on Strahan coming back and how these two picks develop in camp.

In the sixth, the Giants made a choice simply by taking the best player available on the board, and it turned out to be a quarterback. Rod Woodson’s cousin, Andre Woodson, was expected to be a high pick before having a rough Senior Bowl week. The Giants simply could not let this player slide. He’ll battle Jared Lorenzen for the third spot this season, getting a lot of playing time in exhibition games. Again, this is a great low risk/high reward pick. You’re getting a projected higher round pick at the very end of the sixth round, and at a premium position. His value is two-fold. Woodson could develop into a very good backup QB, and/or possibly become a valuable trade commodity. Keep your fingers crossed.

The seventh, and last selection, secured my prediction that the Giants would take a DE. Cleary, though, Robert Henderson is a project so we’ll see what happens. He has a quick first step but needs to bulk up. The practice squad seems a likely destination for the first year. It looks to me that the Giants protected themselves by drafting linebackers, rather than a DE, in case Strahan retires. That would allow Kiwi to move to DE and give the staff more choices at LB as a replacement.

Jerry Reese followed up last season’s terrific draft with one that appears to have lots of promise. I will be interesting to see how these guys perform in their rookie mini camp scheduled for May 9th and 10th. Oh, and the Giants didn’t trade Shockey. Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.