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Predicting The Giants’ First Round Pick

by Rich Resch on March 10th, 2009 at 9:35 am

NFL Draft“With the 29th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the New York Giants select wide receiver Hakeem Nicks… or maybe Kenny Britt or Percy Harvin…”

With the Combine completed and the initial flurry of free agents signings behind us, it is time to set our sights on the NFL Draft. Most of the big name free agents are off the market, making it easier to predict each team’s draft strategy (although we’ll still be wrong most of the time).

To get a sense of who the Giants may select with the 29th pick on Saturday, April 25, I have compiled data from 45 recently updated mock drafts created by both fans and “experts” alike (when it comes to the draft, experts are no more accurate than 1950s weathermen).

Overall, the mock drafting public was in agreement that the Giants will fill one of their two major holes with their first pick. 51% of the drafts have the Giants taking a wide receiver, while 24% have them selecting a linebacker.  The other 25% believe the Giants will take the best player available, even if it is not at a position of need.

Out of the 45 mock drafts, here’s how many times the Giants selected each player.

Individual player breakdown:

6 times- WR Hakeem Nicks

5 times- WR Kenny Britt, WR Percy Harvin

4 times- LB James Laurinaitis, WR Darrius Heyward-Bey, LB Larry English

3 times- WR Brian Robiskie

2 times- TE Brandon Pettigrew, LB Clint Sintim, DT Evander Hood, RB Knowshon Moreno, S William Moore

1 time- LB Clay Matthews, CB Darrius Butler, OT Eben Britton, DE Tyson Jackson,

Positional breakdown:

WR-23 (51.1%)

LB- 11 (24.4%)

TE- 2 (4.4%)

RB- 2 (4.4%)

S- 2 (4.4%)

DT- 2 (4.4%)

OT- 1 (2.2%)

CB- 1 (2.2%)

DE- 1 (2.2%)

*Please note that this does not take into account the possibility of the Giants trading up in the draft, a strong possibility given the amount of picks they have.

This is intended more for fun and not to accurately predict who the Giants will actually select. GiantsFootballBlog is not responsible for your losses if you take these odds to Vegas and bet your house and/or spouse.

The complete list of mock drafts I used can be found below. If you know of any competent mock drafts that were not included, feel free to suggest them for any possible updated versions.

DraftTek.com- Darrius Heyward-Bey

WalterFootball.com- Knowshon Moreno

NEPatriotsDraft.com- Hakeem Nicks

FantasyNewsWire.com- Larry English

PatsDraft.com- Darrius Heyward-Bey

InsideTheEagles.com- Brandon Pettigrew

Todd McShay- James Laurinaitis

Mel Kiper Jr- James Laurinaitis

Pat Kirwan- Kenny Britt

Jamie Dukes- Tyson Jackson

Charles Davis- Darrius Heyward-Bey

Ben Standig- Percy Harvin

Joel Welser- Hakeem Nicks

Paul Raymond- Hakeem Nicks

Matt Horkman- Larry English

James Alder- Eben Britton

OurLads.com- Brian Robiskie

Rob Rang- Clay Matthews

Matt McGuire- Brandon Pettigrew

FantasyFootballXtreme.com- Larry English

Draftkid.com- Kenny Britt

BradleyMock- William Moore

TheHazean.com- Hakeem Nicks

Andrew Lovell- Percy Harvin

Sparty’sMockDraft-Evander Hood

JunkYardJake- Evander Hood

Matt Bitonti- Percy Harvin

Lance Zierlein- Darrius Butler

Paul Hickey- James Laurinaitis

NFLNR.com- Hakeem Nicks

Adam Allen- Clint Sintim

Ryan McCrystal- Brian Robiskie

Chris Steuber- James Laurinaitis

ScoutingTheSports.com- Kenny Britt

Squidoo.com- Knowshon Moreno

BleacherReport.com- Percy Harvin

NFLMockDraftAces.com- Kenny Britt

SidelineScouting.com- William Moore

SportsFantasyGuide.com- Larry English

DraftEmpire.com- Percy Harvin

CDSDraft.com- Brian Robiskie

NFLDraftDog.com- Darrius Heyward-Bey

NewSportDraft.com- Clint Sintim

QISports.com- Hakeem Nicks

TheFootballHub.com- Kenny Britt

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About Rich Resch

Rich is a graduate of University of Maryland and is currently the senior editor of Giants Football Blog and a panelist on Pro Football New York's internet radio show. He is a former contributor to Hot Foot Blog, and a former featured columnist on Bleacher Report. View all posts by Rich Resch →
  • SoDev

    Great job Rich!

    I’d love to snag Nicks, but then I was born in N.C., so I am a bit biased. Uslees nugget of the day… Lawrence Taylor was out of N.C. also.

    He’s has ball skills… he is a player, always fighting for yards. Check this ridiculous catch…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ikDsi-DJA

  • eighteenandno

    I’d absolutely love to grab Kenny Britt. He’s got the size, speed, and hands to be the total package in the NFL, and I think his skill set fits well with this team.

    I like a lot of the WRs in this draft, so hopefully we can take one that can help us, but one guy I would shy away from is Heyward-Bey. As a BC alum/fan, I saw a lot of him at Maryland, and the guy just doesnt produce as much as you think considering his size and speed. I think he’s a workout warrior.

    Nicks would be a good fit too I think. Between Britt and Nicks, I hope we get one of them. I really hope they dont try to fix the WR spot with later picks. We’ve tried that with Moss and Manningham and it hasnt worked out. We need to spend a 1st round pick to try and get an impact WR. One that can play right away.

  • SoDev

    ^ agreed! I like Britt a lot too… depending on the day I may choose him over Nicks.

  • http://Miami2010 Miami2010

    As much as the Giants need a WR, if Crabtree or Heyward-Bey aren’t there at 29 (which they won’t be), I think Jerry Reese waits until the second round to address that need. Brian Robiskie should still be there at 45, and I like him more than Nicks and Britt. Also, the possibility of drafting Clint Sintim, OLB, Virginia at 29 is too good to pass up. Sintim could start right away at SAM for the Giants and could slid into the middle when Pierce’s time runs out with the Giants (which seems to be coming sooner rather than later).

  • http://www.majorleaguesarcasm.com altru426

    this is great! great job!

    i like nicks, i hope we trade up for him
    he has such good moves after the catch and always fights for that extra yard

  • ih8olives

    I’d much rather see a trade for an established receiver then yet another early round reciever taken (moss, smith, manningham). And an immediate impact linebacker is’nt as much of a necessity as kiawanuka will move back to LB. I think secondary help makes more sense as its been the glaring weakness the past few years that the pass rush has masked.

    Not exactly first round but a late round pick I’d love to see is Shon Greene from Iowa, maybe 5th round or later, would be a great replacement for derrick ward, great speed but good power mixed in there, not the change of pace back bradshaw is, but more of a compliment to jacobs.

    • http://Miami2010 Miami2010

      ih8olives…that theory would be great IF Kiwi was moving back to LB, which the organization has already stated he is not. He’s staying at DE, get your facts straight.

  • hedgecockblocker

    Bobby Johnson, Phil McConkey, Solomon Miller, Stacy Robinson, Stephen Baker, Mark Ingram and Odessa Turner. There’s your wr’s from the ’86/’90 Superbowl champs.

    The common denominators between those rings and ’08 are a rock steady o-line and a pressuring defense. The latter is young and deep and I suspect getting better – kudos to Reese for his drafts and free agent acquisitions. Yet I hear surprisingly little talk from Big Blue fans about deepening the o-line and guaranteeing continuity toward the next few years.

    I can count a half dozen times last year when we held our collective breath as Seubert or O’hara limped toward the sideline. I hope Jerry surprises us this year with a well-scouted heifer for the trenches.

    • Rich Resch

      A strong offensive line is as important as any other aspect in the game, but that doesn’t mean that teams must always spend high draft picks on offensive linemen. Seubert and Ohara were both undrafted and Diehl was a 5th rounder. Not one member of our league best offensive line was taken in the first round.

      This is a win-now team and WR is the biggest weakness. I fully trust Reese as he has given us no reason not to believe in him. If he thinks that any of the available WRs can make an impact this year, he will take one. If not, he will look to strengthen the depth at other positions while making the future even brighter.

      On an unrelated note, Hedgecockblocker may be the best nickname I have ever seen.