Last year, despite not making the playoffs, the New York Giants had a very good season. Overall they finished 10-6, which in most years is good enough to qualify for the playoffs. The Giants also were ahead the majority of the season, but after a few bad losses down the stretch, and a very bad punt, the Giants found themselves out of the playoffs.
In this draft preview, you can find where the Giants need players, who the Giants should take in the first round, and who are some late sleepers.
Right away when you look at the Giants team, you think they are fine. They have a somewhat young quarterback in Eli Manning, a balanced running game, and a young group of wide receivers led by Hakeem Nicks. On defense you have a solid front four led by Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck, and also have a good secondary with Corey Webster and Antrel Rolle.
So what positions were not named?
That would be the offensive line, the tight end, the linebacker core, and the special teams.
The Giants have a very experienced offensive line, and a good line too, having racked up numerous pro bowls. The problem with the offensive line though is that they are old! The youngest player on the line is Chris Snee who is still 29. The rest of the line is over thirty and although they are still good, they are aging.
As for the tight end, the Giants found a late round steal in Kevin Boss a few years ago. Boss has showed some signs of improvement, bit in a draft with some great tight ends including Kyle Rudolph, the Giants can look into upgrading that position.
The Giants have a very bad offensive line, and i would think they draft multiple linebackers in this draft. The current linebackers in the 4-3 defense are Jonathan Goff, Keith Bullock, and Michael Boley. As many Giants fans painfully watched, wide receivers, running backs, and quarterbacks like Michael Vick on a Monday Night Game, burned the Giants linebackers all season. Bullock is aging and with Mathias Kiwanuka as a free agent, the Giants should look to resigning Mathias and even drafting a linebacker.
Now by far the worst part of the giants lineup: the special teams.
Oh where to start.
The punter, or should i say, the season ender, Matt Dodge, has to go. One name i keep hearing pop up, is former Florida Punter, and Ray Guy winner Chas Henry. I would love for the Giants to snag Henry in the late rounds.
The kicker, Lawrence Tynes, has been on the Giants for a few years now, and I don't know why we keep bringing him back. I do not know how many times i have heard how bad and unclutch Tynes is. The Kicking class is also a good one, but I don't think the Giants should draft a kicker and punter. Just one would be fine, but the Giants definitely need to make changes.
One thing I have always said about the Giants is how they have never had a spark plug or speed demon to return kicks or punts. This year we had Darius Reynaud and DJ Ware returning kicks and punts. It wouldn't matter if the Giants even sent Matt Dodge out there to return, because either way the return game was terrible. A big reason why the Giants didn't make the playoffs was because of field position. The Giants never had big returns to propel them on important drives. The Giants definitely should bring in a guy who can both return kicks and punts, but also play offense or defense.
Right now the Giants have the 19th pick in the draft.
If Florida offensive linemen Mike Pouncey is still available at this pick, it should be a no brainer. His brother had an immediate impact on the Steelers, and helped lead them to the Super Bowl. Wouldn't be too shabby if brother Mike can do that for the Giants.
Realistically though, other linemen the Giants should consider getting are Anthony Costanzo out of Boston Collge or Gabe Carimi, who to me looks like Joe Thomas Jr. It could just be the fact that both went to Wisconsin, but Carimi definitely has the skill and work load to have a successful NFL career.
On the defensive side, the Giants should definitely look into Mark Herzlich out of Boston College. Herzlich hasn't had that big of an impact the last few years, but that is because he had cancer, and fortunately survived. Herzlich is a great player, leader, and effort to definitely be a good NFL player.
If Akeem Ayers or Derek Sherrod, or Nate Soldier, slip into the second round, the Giants should definitely consider drafting them. All three had great senior years, at UCLA, Mississippi State, and Colorado respectively.
As for the later rounds, the Giants should look to draft a tight end, more help to the offensive line and linebackers, and to work on the special teams.
Looking into next season (yes the lockout was lifted today), the Giants will definitely be in good shape to possibly win the division. Like most years, it will be a coin flip between them Dallas and Philadelphia for the title.
The New York Football Giants
I started dating my husband one month before I graduated from college. Right after graduation I moved and we spent six long months falling in love long distance. Sick of being apart he threw away nearly everything he owned, jumped on an airplane and moved into my 350 square foot "junior one bedroom" apartment. Luckily it had skylights or we would have turned into over sized trolls maneuvering around a hamster cage. That first Superbowl came shortly after he moved and he had no local friends. So I bought chips and dip and Bud Light in the cube and we had our own Superbowl party. It took me a good three years to realize football was so much more than the Superbowl (I was raised by basketball fanatics). And another two to fully accept "football season" as a period of reverence in our home.
Once my boyfriend was my husband of many years I finally understood it was not so much about football as it was about a particular team, the New York Giants. I believe my slow realization was lengthened by the team's lagging performance in the first decade of the new millennium. Starting with losing the Superbowl in 2000 I proceeded to watch my husband meltdown like clockwork every time they lost a game. I started to hate the Giants. They were making my life very complicated. A perfectly good Sunday would be ruined in a matter of minutes as the score flipped and the Giants seemed to forget they were playing football and started playing track and field. After gracing the playoffs with one game in 2002, 2005 and 2006, they went on to break one team's very impressive record breaking record and bring home the grand poobah in 2007. Since then they have been mounting and building, making the playoffs for one game in 2008 and just won our first playoff game for the 2011 season yesterday.
Through all this loss and success my husband remained an ever faithful fan. There were years where people laughed at him and told him to get a new team. But that is not how that man works. Once they started winning the greatness of each victory was oh so much sweeter because he had remained true, rode out the rough years and was now seeing something near and dear to his heart find success. At some point during the last thirteen years we have been together I stopped getting annoyed and started watching. I will admit it, the players can be easy on the eyes. But being the competitive lass that I am I started wanting to know what was going on. And learning the rules. I now watch the game with honest enthusiasm. I have gotten to know a little bit about those boys in red, white and blue. How they can cream a team in the first two quarters only to come back after halftime and lose miserably. How their favorite position seems to be the last two minutes of the 4th quarter down by 8, and they will pull out a victory. You can't get too uppity as a Giants fan. They seem to relish the role of the underdog, it is when they do their best, play the hardest. And achieve the most. There are a lot of ups and downs and quite frankly they are extremely unpredictable. But when they are on it is glorious. Amazing. Spectacular! As I watched an impressive game yesterday I noticed the parallel between the endless grit and strength my husband and I have tirelessly exercised to be successful in our lives is reflected in our team. No we have not always achieved the winning title, but we have not failed either. We keep showing up, day after day, season after season, year after year, and trying with all our might to get it right. One of these days we will...
In this draft preview, you can find where the Giants need players, who the Giants should take in the first round, and who are some late sleepers.
Right away when you look at the Giants team, you think they are fine. They have a somewhat young quarterback in Eli Manning, a balanced running game, and a young group of wide receivers led by Hakeem Nicks. On defense you have a solid front four led by Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck, and also have a good secondary with Corey Webster and Antrel Rolle.
So what positions were not named?
That would be the offensive line, the tight end, the linebacker core, and the special teams.
The Giants have a very experienced offensive line, and a good line too, having racked up numerous pro bowls. The problem with the offensive line though is that they are old! The youngest player on the line is Chris Snee who is still 29. The rest of the line is over thirty and although they are still good, they are aging.
As for the tight end, the Giants found a late round steal in Kevin Boss a few years ago. Boss has showed some signs of improvement, bit in a draft with some great tight ends including Kyle Rudolph, the Giants can look into upgrading that position.
The Giants have a very bad offensive line, and i would think they draft multiple linebackers in this draft. The current linebackers in the 4-3 defense are Jonathan Goff, Keith Bullock, and Michael Boley. As many Giants fans painfully watched, wide receivers, running backs, and quarterbacks like Michael Vick on a Monday Night Game, burned the Giants linebackers all season. Bullock is aging and with Mathias Kiwanuka as a free agent, the Giants should look to resigning Mathias and even drafting a linebacker.
Now by far the worst part of the giants lineup: the special teams.
Oh where to start.
The punter, or should i say, the season ender, Matt Dodge, has to go. One name i keep hearing pop up, is former Florida Punter, and Ray Guy winner Chas Henry. I would love for the Giants to snag Henry in the late rounds.
The kicker, Lawrence Tynes, has been on the Giants for a few years now, and I don't know why we keep bringing him back. I do not know how many times i have heard how bad and unclutch Tynes is. The Kicking class is also a good one, but I don't think the Giants should draft a kicker and punter. Just one would be fine, but the Giants definitely need to make changes.
One thing I have always said about the Giants is how they have never had a spark plug or speed demon to return kicks or punts. This year we had Darius Reynaud and DJ Ware returning kicks and punts. It wouldn't matter if the Giants even sent Matt Dodge out there to return, because either way the return game was terrible. A big reason why the Giants didn't make the playoffs was because of field position. The Giants never had big returns to propel them on important drives. The Giants definitely should bring in a guy who can both return kicks and punts, but also play offense or defense.
Right now the Giants have the 19th pick in the draft.
If Florida offensive linemen Mike Pouncey is still available at this pick, it should be a no brainer. His brother had an immediate impact on the Steelers, and helped lead them to the Super Bowl. Wouldn't be too shabby if brother Mike can do that for the Giants.
Realistically though, other linemen the Giants should consider getting are Anthony Costanzo out of Boston Collge or Gabe Carimi, who to me looks like Joe Thomas Jr. It could just be the fact that both went to Wisconsin, but Carimi definitely has the skill and work load to have a successful NFL career.
On the defensive side, the Giants should definitely look into Mark Herzlich out of Boston College. Herzlich hasn't had that big of an impact the last few years, but that is because he had cancer, and fortunately survived. Herzlich is a great player, leader, and effort to definitely be a good NFL player.
If Akeem Ayers or Derek Sherrod, or Nate Soldier, slip into the second round, the Giants should definitely consider drafting them. All three had great senior years, at UCLA, Mississippi State, and Colorado respectively.
As for the later rounds, the Giants should look to draft a tight end, more help to the offensive line and linebackers, and to work on the special teams.
Looking into next season (yes the lockout was lifted today), the Giants will definitely be in good shape to possibly win the division. Like most years, it will be a coin flip between them Dallas and Philadelphia for the title.
The New York Football Giants
I started dating my husband one month before I graduated from college. Right after graduation I moved and we spent six long months falling in love long distance. Sick of being apart he threw away nearly everything he owned, jumped on an airplane and moved into my 350 square foot "junior one bedroom" apartment. Luckily it had skylights or we would have turned into over sized trolls maneuvering around a hamster cage. That first Superbowl came shortly after he moved and he had no local friends. So I bought chips and dip and Bud Light in the cube and we had our own Superbowl party. It took me a good three years to realize football was so much more than the Superbowl (I was raised by basketball fanatics). And another two to fully accept "football season" as a period of reverence in our home.
Once my boyfriend was my husband of many years I finally understood it was not so much about football as it was about a particular team, the New York Giants. I believe my slow realization was lengthened by the team's lagging performance in the first decade of the new millennium. Starting with losing the Superbowl in 2000 I proceeded to watch my husband meltdown like clockwork every time they lost a game. I started to hate the Giants. They were making my life very complicated. A perfectly good Sunday would be ruined in a matter of minutes as the score flipped and the Giants seemed to forget they were playing football and started playing track and field. After gracing the playoffs with one game in 2002, 2005 and 2006, they went on to break one team's very impressive record breaking record and bring home the grand poobah in 2007. Since then they have been mounting and building, making the playoffs for one game in 2008 and just won our first playoff game for the 2011 season yesterday.
Through all this loss and success my husband remained an ever faithful fan. There were years where people laughed at him and told him to get a new team. But that is not how that man works. Once they started winning the greatness of each victory was oh so much sweeter because he had remained true, rode out the rough years and was now seeing something near and dear to his heart find success. At some point during the last thirteen years we have been together I stopped getting annoyed and started watching. I will admit it, the players can be easy on the eyes. But being the competitive lass that I am I started wanting to know what was going on. And learning the rules. I now watch the game with honest enthusiasm. I have gotten to know a little bit about those boys in red, white and blue. How they can cream a team in the first two quarters only to come back after halftime and lose miserably. How their favorite position seems to be the last two minutes of the 4th quarter down by 8, and they will pull out a victory. You can't get too uppity as a Giants fan. They seem to relish the role of the underdog, it is when they do their best, play the hardest. And achieve the most. There are a lot of ups and downs and quite frankly they are extremely unpredictable. But when they are on it is glorious. Amazing. Spectacular! As I watched an impressive game yesterday I noticed the parallel between the endless grit and strength my husband and I have tirelessly exercised to be successful in our lives is reflected in our team. No we have not always achieved the winning title, but we have not failed either. We keep showing up, day after day, season after season, year after year, and trying with all our might to get it right. One of these days we will...
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