Take The Wonderlic Test
...posted by Anthony De Rosa...
The famous Wonderlic test, used to judge a player’s intelligence and ability to make quick decisions, has been a point of controversy for many players. Mario Manningham scored a 6, Eli Manning scored a 39. The average score, out of 50, is 21. Players have 12 minutes to complete it.
Take the test and see how you would score, and compare to other potential draft picks.
Here are some other scores for reference: Drew Bledsoe - 37, Steve Young - 33, John Elway - 30, Dan Marino - 16, Deltha O’Neal - 15, Donovan McNabb - 14
Hat tip to Ralph Vacchiano’s Daily News blog for the link.
Giants Add Robinson To UDFA Class
...posted by Anthony De Rosa...
It appears that the Giants have added DT Nate Robinson out of Akron (6-4, 322lbs, 5.11)
Robinson transferred to Akron from Rutgers after he was released from the team for an undisclosed team violation. He started 6-of-10 games at nose tackle in 2007, finishing the year with 26 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss, and 2 sacks.
Big Blue Interactive provides the following scouting report : Robinson missed time due to ankle and shoulder injuries. Robinson is well built and powerful. He is stout and can hold his ground in run defense. Not overly quick or explosive. His work ethic, competitiveness, commitment to the game, and intensity have been questioned. Robinson has been labeled an underachiever. He had offers from the Chiefs and Dolphins after the draft as well.
Woodson Pick Getting High Praise
...posted by Anthony De Rosa...
The Giants are getting high praise from draft analysts for snagging Kentucky Wildcats QB Andre Woodson with their 198th pick.
Woodson fell because some teams were scared off by a hitch in his throw at the NFL Combine. However Thomas George of NFL.com thinks that the Giants picked up the best quarterback of the draft in Woodson.
“I am not saying that Woodson is Brady. I am saying that Woodson was certainly not deserving of being the 12th quarterback taken in this draft. He deserved much more. And I believe he will become the best quarterback in this draft.”
Woodson broke out in 2006, leading the Wildcats to a 7-5 regular season, and their first bowl win in 22 years, in the Music City Bowl. He led the SEC in passing yards with 3,515, and became only the second Kentucky quarterback to throw 30 or more touchdowns in a single season.
On September 22, 2007, Andre Woodson broke Trent Dilfer’s all-time record of 271 consecutive pass attempts without an interception against the Arkansas Razorbacks. The streak ended, however, when Andre Woodson threw his first interception in 325 attempts on September 29, 2007 against Florida Atlantic University.
Check out a highlight video of Woodson here.
I love this pick, though it appears the beloved Hefty Lefty could be the odd man out here with Woodson in the mix.
Loading …Giants Take Wide Reciever Manningham
...posted by Anthony De Rosa...
The Giants took a WR with their 3rd Round pick (95th overall), the 6′0 182lb Mario Manningham of Michigan.
Mario Manningham fell because of a drug test and slower than expected combine time, but he’s a tremendous talent and I see this as a high risk, high reward type pick at a position the Giants may look to upgrade in the next few years with Toomer (who incidentally is a Michigan alum as well) in the twilight of his career.
Mario ran a 4.6 at the Combine but improved with a 4.38 at the Pro Day. He lied about the fact he failed a drug test (marijuana) which made some teams question his character.
…added by Jared Blank…
Mario Manningham’s NFL.com Draft info:
Positives: “Excellent burst off the line. … Can accelerate past the corner down the sideline. … Uses nice body control and leaping ability to get up to catch the ball at its highest point, even in traffic. … Adjusts to back-shoulder ball. … Sells the head fake. … Uses his hands to create separation. … Returned from mid-2006 surgery to repair torn meniscus/MCL in less than a month. … Good bloodlines. One of his cousins is former Wolverine and NFL starting offensive lineman Bubba Paris.”
Negatives: “Only average size and build. … Really needs to work on his run blocking, whiffs when cutting and doesn’t sustain well. … Does lose concentration when trying to run before the catch or hearing footsteps. … Needs to show he can run all of the routes and be tough over the middle at his size. … Even coach Lloyd Carr called him out on his inconsistent play earlier in 2007.”
New England On The Clock, Giants On Deck
...posted by Anthony De Rosa...
The Patriots are set to make the 94th pick of the draft and then we will find out who the Giants choose with the 95th overall.
I would predict the Giants look at add a linebacker, after already addressing the corner and safety positions.
UPDATE 11:34 ET : Patriots choose SDSU QB Kevin O’Connell.
Interesting choice, and a back up for Brady.
Lets see where the Giants go here. Stay tuned.
Jerry Reese Comments On Draft Day One
...posted by Anthony De Rosa...
Giants general manager Jerry Reese spoke to the media regarding the events of the draft after the Saints made their second round pick. Here is the full transcript.
Q: Any thoughts on trading Jeremy Shockey?
A: Can we talk about our draft pick?
Q: I figured I would get to the big stuff right off the bat.
A: Let’s talk about Kenny Phillips, okay? Jeremy Shockey is our starting tight end. And I’m going to leave it at that. Let’s talk about the draft pick. There is really nothing to talk about. Jeremy Shockey is our starting tight end, and really that is the end of the story. Anybody want to talk about the draft pick?
Q: What do you like about him?
A: Who? Kenny Phillips? There are a lot of things we like about Kenny Phillips. We like his size; we like his speed. He is multi-dimensional. We like those kinds of players - guys that have played corner before. We think he can do down and play on your third receiver if he has to. He is smart and he is a good person. We like all of that stuff about him. He was clean. He has been a three-year starter at a high level of competition. And he is young kid that is going to only get better; nothing but upside for this guy.
Q: He said he had not really had a lot of contact with you guys since the Combine…
A: Some guys are clean and you really don’t have to do a lot of extra work on. So we had him targeted and he was clean. You don’t spend a lot of extra time with clean guys. You spend a lot of extra time with guys you may have some issues with and you need to clear some things up about. So we didn’t have a lot to clear up about him. We like Kenny; we like him a lot.
Q: Player of need?
A: Absolutely. We got nice value and we got a need position as well. So that is what we like to do in the draft. We talk about it all of the time. We don’t want to reach for guys. We got what we wanted. We got the need and we got value with the player; with this pick.
Q: Some picks are ‘easy’ for you?
A: Yeah, I think it was a pretty good pick. You never know what you are going to get with these guys. But it was a pretty good pick for us. We felt good about him; we felt great about him, as a matter of fact - that the guy fell down to us. We felt like he was a really good player in the first row.
Q: Was there much discussion of other guys?
A: There were several other guys. We always discuss enough guys in your window to have enough to pick when it is your time to pick. So if your number one guy goes, you have several other guys to pick from. So we had several discussions about several other people; players we had in the first row.
Q: Does the Miami safety pedigree play into this at all
A: Not for us. Obviously they have had good safeties to come out of there. We just left like he was a good player; not that he played in Miami. We just felt like he was a really good football player that was only going to continue get better and have a lot of upside.
Q: Is he more of a free or strong safety?
A: I think he can play both. He is a free safety. He can invert and do anything you want him to do back there. So we love those kind of guys; versatile guys; versatile guys. I talked to one of his coaches. He said, “This guy is a really good athlete. He can play corner.” At Miami they think he can play corner. So that is what kind of athlete we have with him. So it is exciting to get a good, young player like that.
Q: Were you sure he would slide to 31?
A: Absolutely not. I didn’t think he would make it that long.
Q: How hard was it to judge him due to fact that his team did not do well?
A: That didn’t play into anything for us. We look at the player. We really don’t look at the record and what is going on. Just like Kawika Mitchell. People probably said that about him. He didn’t play on a good defense. But we look at the player. We really don’t care if the defense is not very good. We are looking at what the player is doing. So that is how I try to evaluate players.
Q: Will he get on the field as a rookie?
A: Well obviously he is going to come in and play on special teams anyway, if nothing else, until he learns what to do. And we feel like in time he should challenge for some playing time back there and eventually become a starter for us I think.
Phillips spoke about becoming the newest member of the New York Giants
“A lot of guys want to go as high as they possibly can, but they don’t fall into a situation like I did. I’m going to the reigning Super Bowl champs with a great defense, so I’m going to come in, I’m going to learn and I’m going to make a statement. They want me to come in and be that playmaker. They want me to come in and make big tackles, make big plays and just be that difference maker.”
Fallout From Shockey Saint Dance?
...posted by Anthony De Rosa...
It appears that Jeremy Shockey will remain a Giant after all, but will the whole affair have an effect on an already fractured relationship between the outspoken tight end and the reigning Super Bowl champs.
At the end of the day, the Saints’ offer of their second-round pick (40th overall) and either a sixth-round pick this year or fifth-round pick next year fell short of what the Giants wanted in return for Shockey.
Ralph Vacchiano on his blog for the New York Daily News points out that for the last six years, the Giants coach or general manager has come to the press room for a press conference as soon as they’ve made their first-round selection. Tonight, neither Jerry Reese nor Tom Coughlin appeared until after the Saints made their second-round pick.
When Reese did arrive, he was in no mood to entertain questions about Shockey.
“Jeremy Shockey is our starting tight end, guys” he said. “I’m going to leave it at that. Let’s talk about our draft pick. There’s really nothing to talk about. Jeremy Shockey is our starting tight end and really that’s the end of the story.”
Vacchiano wonders if Shockey may now hold out and either skip the mandatory veteran mini-camp in June or the start of training camp in July - or both.
