Monthly Archives: April 2009
GM Jerry Reese told WFAN’s Mike Francesa that he may not be done molding the Giants’ roster for the 2009 season. In an interview Monday afternoon, Reese intimated that a trade for a veteran WR could still happen if the right deal presents itself.
Like I have been saying – and so have many others such as Yahoo’s Jason Cole – is just because a trade was not made by the draft, it does not mean that the concept is dead.
The Cardinals are going to have to pay Anquan Boldin a fortune. The reworked deal he is seeking would cost the Cardinals about the same as they paid Larry Fitzgerald (4 years, $40 million). They may not be able to absorb that. They may opt to trade him instead.
Cleveland may have been too busy maneuvering with the Jets and others at the draft to be bothered with any Braylon Edwards deal. Edwards is a free agent after this season and it is almost a given that he is going to walk.
The Browns drafted 2 wide receivers in the 2nd round this weekend (Ohio State’s Brian Robiskie and Georgia’s Mohamed Massaquoi) and that could make Edwards available now.
What would the Giants have to give up to get one of these players? My guess is a player and a high 2010 draft pick for starters. Stay tuned.
Tagged Jerry Reese |
This past Sunday, Giants QB Eli Manning and his brother QB Peyton Manning served as honorary coaches for rival High School football teams.
The game, sponsored by Gatorade, featured the 1993 Philipsburg High School team taking on their arch rivals, the Easton Red Rovers at Lafayette College, PA in a resumption of a 7-7 game.
The meeting was the 104th in this rivalry and sold more than 10,000 tickets in less than 90 minutes. Both teams prepared by practicing and training with Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid and RB Brian Westbrook.
When it was over, Eli’s team came out ahead 27-12.
Photos and video can be found here.
The NFL has done a great job embracing new media, as the commissioner was tweeting throughout the Draft this weekend and many outlets such as ours used twitter to disseminate up to the second news.
Brian McCarthy who tweets at NFLprguy reports that a record 39 million viewers tuned into the 2009 draft. Total Draft viewership has increased 66 percent from 2001-2009 (from 23.5 million to 39 million).
Some of the MVPs of twitter this past weekend include our own Brian Bassett of theJetsBlog.com who got a hat tip from Brian for logging so many hours during the draft on twitter.
We provided a live twitter stream in our NFL War Room that would keep our readers posted anytime certain key words were posted on twitter, such as “Anquan Boldin“, “Braylon Edwards” or “New York Giants” so you wouldn’t miss any buzz floating through the twittersphere.
It’s a brave new world of media out there and the NFL and Giants Football Blog are on the leading edge of it.
Keep up to date with our twitter feed at twitter.com/giantsblog.
ESPN.com has combined draft grades from 9 sources to create a Consensus NFL Draft Report Card. With a GPA of 3.22 (out of 4), Jerry Reese and the Giants rank 5th in their class; more than respectable, although it seems as if Reese will not be graduating Cum Laude.
So far, the initial consensus is that Jerry Reese ran another successful draft, filling current and future needs and never reaching too far. ESPN’s Todd McShay picked the Giants as his “draft winners” and NBC/ rotoworld gave the Giants their only A+ of the draft (see Anthony’s post below for more on that).
According to ESPN’s consensus report card, the Eagles had the best draft (3.37) and the Raiders had the worst (0.78). Looks like Al Davis will not be graduating on time.
ESPN’s Report Card has links to all nine of the sources used. If you are like me and you have an insatiable hunger for all of this excessive draft coverage, I recommend clicking on the above link and reading the pages of analysis. Of course, even the most knowledgeable draft expert only gets it right a fraction of the time…
Gregg Rosenthal and Evan Silva of Rotoworld gave the Giants their highest rating for their selections in the 2009 NFL Draft, an A+ rating. Here is what they had to say about the Giants picks:
GM Jerry Reese stuck to his value board throughout. LB Clint Sintim would’ve fit better in a 3-4 scheme, but Reese could afford the luxury pick because his roster is so loaded. Failing to land Braylon Edwards was a bit disappointing, but Hakeem Nicks comes from a pro-style offense, offers terrific hands and route running, and may be the draft’s most NFL-ready wideout.
OT William Beatty was a projected first-round pick and robbery at No. 60. Small-school receiver Ramses Barden is a long-term project, but has a Plaxico Burress-like body. TE Travis Beckum is a poor man’s Kellen Winslow. Late-round DBs Stoney Woodson and DeAngelo Wright are long shots for roster spots, but RB Andre Brown and QB Rhett Bomar will add healthy competition at skill positions.
The weeks leading up to the draft, all the talk regarding trading for Braylon Edwards or Anquan Boldin was just that, talk. In the end the Giants decided it was in their best interest to keep their money, their players and their draft picks and select Hakeem Nicks with the 29th overall pick in the draft.
Nicks has been compared to Anquan Boldin and Michael Irving because he’s not particularly tall, but he’s shifty and has the ability to create seperation between himself and defenders. Tom Rock at Newsday spoke to Nicks’ coach at North Carolina, Butch Davis, who had nothing but praise for the young wideout.
“(Nicks) is a big, physical kid with the ability to run routes and the ability to catch the ball with bodies all over him,” Davis said. “In the NFL defenders will press you, jam you, and he has the ability to catch balls with people draped on him as well as the ability to push off. I’ve seen Michael do that for many years, just use a little elbow to get some separation and make the catch.”
Davis remarks how Nicks has the ability to rise to the occassion and turn up his intensity level in big games. He also praised Nicks for his tremendous hands, which are apparent in his highlight reel which features one particularly outstanding catch that he practically caught behind his back and nearly under his legs while still moving.
Peter King of SI isn’t convinced that the Giants will be able to replace Plaxico’s production with Smith, Manningham, Nicks and Barden.
Sorry. I still can’t figure why, with five picks in the top three rounds, they didn’t go get Anquan Boldin or Braylon Edwards. Giants fans have every right to have the attitude “In Jerry We Trust” about GM Jerry Reese, and they’ll just have to trust that Hakeem Nicks or the tall drink of water from Cal Poly, Ramses Barden, is going to be a go-to guy for Eli Manning by October. How many times does that happen in the NFL with rookie receivers? Not many.
ESPN‘s Mel Kiper’s concern is that Nicks will be too weak to handle the punishing tackles in the NFL.
The selection of first-round wide receiver Hakeem Nicks could be a good one, but he really needs to keep his weight up to make an impact in the NFL.
Only time will tell, as the track record for rookie wide recievers taken in the first round is not particularly good. Nicks will have to be a special player to end a long line of early round busts at the wideout position.
Ralph Vacchiano is holding a post draft live chat today at noon, head over this his blog for the Daily News and check it out.
While you’re waiting for that to start, head over to theJetsBlog.com for a video I shot of Brian Bassett just after the Jets drafted Mark Sanchez. His reaction is priceless.
Defensive end Alex Field of Virginia has signed a 3-year deal with the Giants as well as safety Kenny Ingram of Florida State.
The Giants are in the processes of negotiating a deal with Maurice Evans of Penn State according to the Allentown Morning Call.
As we reported this morning via our buddy Adam Caplan at Scout.com, the Giants have signed cornerback Vince Anderson.
NEPatriotsDraft.com reports that the Giants have signed safety Otis Wiley of Michigan State.
The Dothan Eagle reports that defensive end Kenny Mainor, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the team’s third game, was invited by the Giants for a tryout on May 7. The team wants to see how his knee holds up, but Mainor participated in all Pro Day drills for scouts.
UCFSports.com reports that safety Sha’reff Rashad, a first team All-Conference USA selection this past season, joins former Knights Darcy Johnson and Leger Douzable on the Giants.
Keep an eye on Big Blue Interactive and NEPatriotsDraft.com for undrafted free agent signings as they roll in.
The Giants picked up a controversial quarterback in the 5th round, Rhett Bomar. Bomar went from leading the Oklahoma Sooners, a top college football program, to trying out for Sam Houston State Bearkats. He lost his high profile job at Oklahoma by receiving money for a job he stopped showing up for at a local car dealership.
Why did the Giants draft another quarterback when they’ve already got Andre Woodson, who they drafted just last year? Giants general manager Jerry Reese felt Bomar was a unique talent that the Giants couldn’t pass up.
“The scouts had very good grades on Bomar,” Coughlin said. “There were a lot of people in the room who, when Bomar was picked, stood up and talked about the value of that individual at that time.”
Bomar was the #1 quarterback recruit in the country coming out of high school when he signed with Oklahoma in 2004. He set the Sooners record for passing yards by a freshman and was named the MVP of the Holiday Bowl. He became the all-time passing leader in Sam Houston history and threw for more than 300 yards nine times during his Bearkat career.
The Giants seem to see Bomar as a project, who lost a huge opportunity over poor judgement. Bomar has a shot at redemption and now finds himself with a new opportunity to prove he has the skills to be an NFL quarterback.
For more on Bomar, check out the video below.
← Older postsNewer posts →
