Should We Change Our Draft Philosophy?

The Giants every year say they take the BPA. They don't look at their roster in their draft decisions. The best player will be a Giant or as they say. Yes, BPA means best player available but their BPA draft board is actually positional adjusted. What that means is that teams view some positions more valuable to others. Teams will go for the chance for a solid, franchise like say Sam Bradford rather than a polished, talented, once in a generation player like Suh. QB is much more important as your QB dictates the game in a way a DT can't. Now the Giants don’t have to worry about a QB but this positional adjustment still applies. The Giants do this all the time. They go BPA, yes but they trend towards one position that they think is most valuable and therefore better. A player has to be the clear cut BPA if they are outside of their preferred positions. But which are important in their philosophy?


Important Positions


Defensive Line: The Giants belief is that the defensive trench is backbone of your defense. They consistently scout and draft defensive lineman early. It’s the position the Giants always look for. If there’s a talented defensive lineman they’ll be there. They are a fan of athletic freaks and if they have the strong frame you’ll see a puddle of drool by Jerry Reese.


For this particular draft we shouldn’t pick any defensive lineman unless he’s the clear cut best player available without factoring for position. Linval is still growing and we have Austin. Or vets still have gas in the tank so we are set at DT. DE is a tough one. We have JPP and Tuck but Tuck has had nagging injuries and is getting older. Osi will be gone which will free JPP from DT though. I advocate a development type DE in the mid to late rounds though. But we have too many needs or too many positions that need the depth. If there's one thing that they can change in April is this. The defensive line prospects seem really weak and there's not a good chance one of them ends up being near the BPA.


Wide Receiver: Reese always drafts a WR whether it is a high or low pick. We got Nicks, Ham, Ramses, JJ12 all since 2009. There isn’t a type of receiver the Giants look for. Nicks is a possession, physical receiver with good height and huge, huge hands. He’s not a workout warrior either and isn’t particularly fast. His excellent build is the reason why the Giants took him. Great pick. Barden too is similar with his huge body. But they also aren’t shy of getting a small, slot guy like Jernigan. He’s a speedy guy running 4.30s on his pro days. Completely different from Barden but they were had in the same round. It shows that the Giants look for any type of receiver and I love this. If JJ12 plays to his potential he could be our dangerous playmaker like DeSean, but then we have a deep threat in Cruz and Nicks will be lurking with his aggressive skillset.


We should keep our strategy. Wide Receiver is a position of depth yet every year that depth fades. Nicks gets hurt frequently due to his style. It’s unfortunate but going forward it’s tough to project Nicks as a full season guy. He can play 12-13 games but I don’t see how, especially with scumbag DB’s that Nicks can survive a full season. The only other reliable receiver assuming Ham is gone is Victor Cruz. I love Salsa Cruz but if Nicks is down he’s our primary WR. Barden is still proving himself, and JJ12 is rarely playing. If they draft another high receiver we may seem loaded but look at today. We’re down to Nicks who’s getting killed, Cruz and an injured Ham. The Giants never have depth.


Secondary: They draft similarly with CB’s and safeties. They like drafting them early, seen in Ross, Prince Phillips and Chad Jones. Defensive backs get the most money so it comes to no surprise we draft a lot of them. They like their DB’s at 6 feet and all run in the low 4.40s. They also look for instincts in their secondary to go along with their talent. They can draft them their DB’s and they should keep doing whatever they’re doing in regards to the secondary.


Not So Important


LB- The Giants always draft linebackers, but they never do it above the 4th round. They don’t value the position at all. Coughlin, who loves veteran leadership more than anything has no problem starting a couple of rookies at the position. They can’t cover anyone and are rarely used in blitz packages. Our LB’s are young and inexperienced but they just weren’t all that great to begin with. Jacquian is decent but that’s it. Missing Goff and Boley hurts but there’s no guarantee we have both of them100 percent for next year. LB once again will be a need and in this year full of stacked prospects the Giants should dump their strategy if the right player like Zack Brown is available.


TE- The Giants use their TE’s to block. Anything you do with your hands is a bonus. So they won’t go after the top TE’s in the draft. Unless Gilbride wants to pull a Bellichick and gets creative (like that’ll ever happen) with 2 TE sets then they can keep TE’s late.


RB- Now they obviously see RB as an important position but they rarely see players fit to be a worth a first, second or even third round pick. With backs like Jacobs and Bradshaw no wonder why they prefer to wait. However to find a back that can stay on the team for years to come they should go in the early rounds. Jacobs had a decent run but he’s going to be gone soon. Bradshaw clearly can’t handle an entire season to himself. The Giants don’t over prioritize for speed and rightfully so, but it’s still an important skill we can use. Yeah we have Scott but he seems to be a project by our coaches. Since Gilbride needs to be nearly 50/50 with his game plan, drafting a RB early will help greatly.


OL- Again clearly the Giants see this as important. However they don’t think drafting an OL high is wise. OL is one of the safest picks to draft in so the Giants will take on talented but flawed prospects in the mid rounds. Hell our invincible line in 2007 and 2008’s highest player in the draft was McKenzie in the 3rd. They look for versatility in their lineman which is great but I think they have to do it earlier. Even if they don’t start, quality depth is still needed.


Okay Great…Now What?


Well after missing the playoffs for two straight years and staring right into another late collapse perhaps we should mix up our overall draft strategy. We can start by ignoring the positional adjustments if the right player comes along. Like say if Vontaze Burifict is in the second round we should gobble him up. They don’t have to reach but only drafting a couple of positions early ain’t gonna help either. I mean how many more times do we want to see inexperienced LBs or old OL kill us?

TL;DR Giants like some positions better and will go BPA from only them. Maybe we should include positions like TE or LB which aren't as valued. It's extending BPA to everyone,not just the 'epic' positions.