A little more about those rookies

by Ed Valentine on May 8, 2009 9:00 AM EDT in New York Giants News

Nice piece this morning from Ralph Vacchiano in the New York Daily News detaling the expectations the Giants have for their recent draft choices.

Here's the stuff from Ralph dealing with Hakeem Nicks and Ramses Barden, the two wide receivers whom the Giants are pinning their hopes on.

The Giants have some hopes that first-rounder Hakeem Nicks, who has drawn comparisons to Hall of Famer Michael Irvin, can make a push for a starting job this year. And though third-rounder Ramses Barden, out of Division I-AA Cal Poly, will likely begin a little further behind, Reese said he expects the 6-6 receiver to "contribute right away as a threat down in the red zone."

It's hard to undersell the importance of the two receivers, given the departures of last year's starters, Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer, and the Giants' inability to land (Braylon) Edwards or Anquan Boldin in a trade. The Giants' prospects for the 2009 season certainly would've been a lot clearer if they had been able to get one of those Pro Bowlers.

Beginning today, they'll get their first up-close look at what they got instead.

"I'm excited about getting them in here," Tom Coughlin said. "They've got to come in and practice and get themselves in a position where we think they can compete against these great players that they're going to face. That's why we drafted them. We drafted these players with a specific purpose and need in mind."

Let's just hope both of these guys avoide the Giants' Curse of the Rookie Receiver Quad Injury, and give themselves a chance to be productive players in 2009.

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Welcome to town gentlemen

by TittleTown on May 8, 2009 9:47 AM EDT reply actions

5:00 am phone call - "Gotta wake up Micah..."

It’s time to rise and SHINE!!!!!

by NY17NE14 on May 8, 2009 10:02 AM EDT reply actions

We should be very worried about next year. Our offense became stagnant without plax and we did nothing to fix that. Unless we somehow rolled the dice right hakeem wont be doing it this year.
This decade there have been 53 first round wide receivers out of those. One has had a thousand yard season his rookie year Michael Clayton tampa bay-now a bust.
Only two others have even come close, Andre Johnson and Dwayne Bowe. Most of the studs took 2-3 years and had less than 500 yards receiving there rookie season.

by Giantsfan77 on May 8, 2009 11:03 AM EDT reply actions

If you are worried about the rookies being the #1 guys

you are missing the point.

Hixon and Smith may not have been elite guys last year, but take into accout they BOTH are not even 26 yet.

They are both entering their 3rd years as NFL guys (Hixon spent a year doing God knows what for 1 year…).

WR break out in their 3rd years. The Rooks will be just that. They don’t have to be counted on to be Marques Colston reincarnate.

3rd year WR need chances to shine. Hixon and Smith have that. Not certaint they will shine, but given that they have shown they are more than capable at times last year, I would NOT be surprised if the Giants passing O is MUCH better than a lot of people are giving it a chance to be.

by FreeBradshaw on May 8, 2009 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions

+1

by blue gonz on May 8, 2009 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions

there is a big difference

Between losing a key player in the last couple of weeks of a playoff run, and planning for the players absence from the beginning of the season.

Every player brings strengths and weaknesses – good coaches develop schemes that get maximum leverage from their strengths and hide or mitigate the weaknesses. But doing that takes time.

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by NYERinSF on May 8, 2009 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions

What Happened To???

Otis Wiley (Mich.St.) S
Darius Hill (Ball St.) TE

that were on the original list of UDFA??? On NJ.com they were not listed as attending the mini camp.

by LT56 on May 8, 2009 11:05 AM EDT reply actions

Hill signed with Cincinnati

by SBakerTheTouchdownMaker on May 8, 2009 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions

nice

like coughlin i am very excited about these new recievers too. their preformance and how the mesh with eli will go a long way in determining how our offense does. a #1 reciever woul dbe preferable but it is not necessary. if our line can protech and jacobs stays healthy we still should have the weopons to keep the defense guessing.

so yeah, really looking forward to camp to finally see how these two guys do.

HELLO HELLO MR WILPON. WE WANT THE MANSION NOT THE CONDO.

by kendynamo on May 8, 2009 11:13 AM EDT reply actions

Guys... Here's a quote from MG over at Twitter

Starting to see what they mean by saying WR Hakeem Nicks is “polished.” Very smooth so far. —MG

Here’s the link if you’re interested http://twitter.com/nj_giants

by NY17NE14 on May 8, 2009 11:18 AM EDT reply actions

Very encouraging.

I don’t know if i said it before, but when Nicks became available at 29, I think the Giants snapped him up as an unexpected treasure that had fallen into their laps. He could very well be a starter from day one. The competition among WRs will be fierce

by blue gonz on May 8, 2009 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm sure they know full well how "Polished" he is and that meant alot to JR & Co.

Sorry if any of you went over to the Twitter link and we’re disappointed. I was, but understand that MG was busy taking it all in and not spending his time looking into a blackberry.

I hope Nicks continues to look as good when faced with real NFL DBs. He should definitely will put up some yards for us this coming season.

by NY17NE14 on May 9, 2009 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Hey Giantsfan77

What do you mean there have been no recievers close to 1,000 yds other than Johnson and Bowe???

Did you by chance watch DeSean Jackson for the Eagles last year(912 yds) or

Eddie Royal for the Broncos(980 yds) broke just about every rookie record for them or

Santonio Holmes for the Steelers (824 his 1st year and 942 his 2nd yr.) or

Calvin Johnson for Detroit (756 yds 1st yr. and 1331 yds 2nd yr.) or

Brandon Marshall for Denver(He didn’t start and barley played his 1st year but his 2nd he had(1325 and 3rd he had 1265) I’ll take that with any of our recievers new or old

and of course DWayne Bowe as you mentioned so there is 6 in the past year or two that have had good years so calm down…. The Giants will be fine…

by LT56 on May 8, 2009 11:27 AM EDT reply actions

Agreed - plus Hixon will start the year as #1

and I think getting playing time will help improve his numbers. I understand Giantfan77 concern because even if we do classify Hixon as a number 1, he does not demand the double teams or extra attention of a Plax or a true #1, at least not yet. But quite frankly I think he may as the year begins and Nicks may in fact win a starting spot keeping Smith in the slot. We might have a lot more 2 tight end sets and we might see Manningham or Moss live up to some of their promise. Plus the surprise for everyone might be Derek Hagen who if he figures out how to hold onto the ball, could be our deep threat. Oh, and Tyree is back – not enough room so someone will go.

by dtowner on May 8, 2009 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Not technically a rookie

But I’m really interested to see what Mario Manningham does this year. He was a victim of one of those quad injuries.

by John W on May 8, 2009 11:53 AM EDT reply actions

Me too...

I’ve been talking him up on here all off-season. I think he’ll have a big year. I watched most of his college games, maybe missed 2 or 3, and Mario makes the big play. He didn’t have the 40 speed at his combine, but he plays really fast and is incredibly strong for his size (21 reps). Mario will have a solid year if he can stay healthy.

by one-bar on May 8, 2009 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions