According to Ralph Vacchiano of the Daily News QB Andre Woodson who the Giants took in the sixth round of ths years NFL Draft thought he would be a much higher pick. Wodson said:

“It was kind of tough to swallow as the draft was going on… “As it went past the third round, fourth round, I still couldn’t believe I hadn’t been taken off the board yet. You know, those types of things happen. Unfortunately it happened to me. But I’m just going to be very positive about it and try to be a better quarterback so maybe possibly down the road I’ll get an opportunity to get back on the field.”

Tom Rock of Newsday’s Inside the Giants has a list of the non drafted free agents the Giants signed including their bios.

Mike Garafolo of the Star Ledger tells us about the relationship fellow Miami Hurricanes and now Giants S Kenny Phillips has with Ravens S Ed Reed and Patriots S Brandon Meriweather. They all come out of a program that seems to specialize in producing top Safeties.

When the Giants selected Kenny Phillips with the 31st overall pick last month, Phillips became the fourth Hurricanes safety to be drafted in the first round since Reed was picked 24th overall by the Ravens in 2002. He joined Meriweather (also 24th overall by the Patriots last year) and the late Sean Taylor (the fifth pick by the Redskins in 2004).

Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is trying to down play expectations for the rookie because some are comparing Phillips to Brian Dawkins:

“Brian Dawkins is a special guy. You are talking about a guy coming out of college,” Spagnuolo said. “I mean, we’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves.”

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Giants third-round wide receiver Mario Manningham and sixth-round quarterback Andre Woodson were both sidelined by injuries during Saturday’s minicamp for rookies and undrafted free agents.

Manningham suffered a hip flexor on his left side running a pull-up pattern early in the morning workout while Woodson pulled a quad muscle in his left leg not long after. Woodson’s injury took place while scrambling to the left during an 11-on-11 drill.

Manningham did state that it wasn’t a serious injury.

The Giants seem to have some bad luck with those second and third round receivers when it comes to injuries. 2006 second-round pick Sinorice Moss has been injury plagued throughout his brief career, while last year’s second-round pick Steve Smith was bothered by shoulder and hamstring injuries throughout his rookie season.

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Speaking with WFAN’s Mike and the Mad Dog today, Giants General Manager Jerry Reese discussed the outcome of the team’s draft class this weekend.

Reese stated that he’s very happy with the picks he made and was pleased to have seen Miami safety Kenny Phillips fall to them at No. 31. The team had him pegged as the top safety in the draft and didn’t expect him to fall all the way to their pick.

Regarding second-round pick Terrell Thomas out of USC, he thinks he will fit well in the Giants press coverage style defense.

Third-round pick wide receiver Mario Manningham had been discussed as a possibility at No. 63 in the second-round, but the team thought there was a chance he’d fall to them in the third-round. There have been reports regarding Manningham’s past use of marijuana, failing drug tests, lying to NFL teams and recording a 6 out of 50 on his Wonderlic Test. Despite all of that, the Giants believe he can be managed well by the team.

Andre Woodson had just too much value to pass on when the Giants were picking with their sixth-round draft choice. A good reason the team liked him was his calm demeanor and how things don’t bother him too much, which Reese stated was very similar to Eli Manning. While he was projected a first-round pick back in November, his stock dropped all the way to the sixth-round due to the fact that he didn’t have a lot of talent around him at Kentucky and his performance at the Senior Bowl was not that great. Supposedly, Mike Martz, coaching Woodson at the Senior Bowl tried to tinker with his delivery and that may have caused him to have a down performance.

All the rumors about the front office disliking Jeremy Shockey are false. Everyone in the organization loves him. The doctors have told them that he will be 100% to start the season. They did not come close to trading Shockey this weekend, despite all the reports. Reese avoided answering whether or not Shockey asked for a trade.

Here’s a couple of tidbits:
- Reese hasn’t taken the time to go over what the NFC East has done during the draft yet.

- The team has signed around 12 undrafted free agents so far.

- They will take four quarterbacks to camp, though five are currently on the roster.

- QB David Carr’s contract is not guaranteed and will have to compete to earn a roster spot with the other two quarterbacks the team will bring to camp.

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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.

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Speaking with the media, Giants general manager Jerry Reese stated that he doubts the team will head into training camp with five quarterbacks on the roster.

One of Anthony Wright or Jared Lorenzen will likely be the odd man out.

He also stated that the team believes linebacker Jonathan Goff will be used on the inside, while Bryan Kehl is capable of playing either strongside linebacker or weakside linebacker. Kehl will contribute on special teams right away.

Finally, Reese stated that the team may not have to sign that many undrafted free agents.

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The Giants will next select at No. 198 and No. 199, back to back near the end of the sixth-round.

Update 4:35 p.m. EST - The Giants took QB Andre Woodson out of Kentucky with their first selection and DE Robert Henderson out of Southern Mississippi with their second selection.

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