Today we're going to use our 2013 NFL Draft prospect profile to look at a local player who should come off the board sometime before the end of the second round. As a bonus he also plays the position of one of the Giants' biggest need: linebacker.
Khaseem Greene of Rutgers, like another highly-touted linebacker prospect, Alec Ogletree started his college career at safety and played there for a couple of years before moving full time to linebacker.ete 2013 NFL Draft coverage, including a Big Board, a growing list of prospect profiles, interviews with draft hopefuls and much more.
[Complete SB Nation Draft Coverage]
Pros
Highly productive player (averaged 138.5 tackles for the last two seasons) who plays sideline to sideline. Greene has the athleticism and instincts to be a good coverage linebacker in the NFL. Greene does a good job of going, for and making, the strip. He excels at stripping the football in fact. He has good hands for a linebacker (but not the kind of hands Ogletree has). He times his blitzes well.
[Big Blue View 2013 NFL Draft Big Board]
Cons
He lacks ideal size, he is a little short and he doesn't appear to have a frame that can add much more weight effectively. Even though he makes a ton of tackles, people have questioned his motor, citing that he will give up on plays that go for the opposite sideline. He doesn't do a good job of shedding blockers, and even though he makes a lot of tackles is not a great tackler. Very aggressive player, which leads to some big plays, but can also cause him to over-pursue or give up a big play. He is already 24 years old and has had a couple of significant injuries at the college level. Should be a 4-3 weak-side linebacker only.
Player comparison: Geno Hayes (NFL.com), LaVonte David (mockingthedraft.com), Ernie Sims (CBS draft scout)
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Does He Fit With The Giants?
The Giants could use all of the help they could get at the linebacker position. Greene is also a former safety and has plus coverage skills, he could be useful as a player in the Buffalo Nickel as a guy who plays the safety/linebacker hybrid role the Giants.
Prospect Video
Big Board Rankings
CBS Sports-59th
National Football Post-231st
Sports Illustrated-Outside top 40
Big Blue View Board-46th
Final Thought
A productive, athletic linebacker who should excel as a WILL and nickel linebacker. Greene has similar strengths and weaknesses to two other top linebacker prospects in this draft class in Arthur Brown and Alec Ogletree, I just think he's not quite at that level. I think Ogletree has more length and is even more of a fluid athlete while Brown has similar size, but plays more physical. Still, this linebacker class has some very intriguing linebacker prospects who could come in and help the Giants against the RG3 read-option and Chip Kelly-run Eagles offenses they'll face every year.
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