Plenty of reading material today

by Ed Valentine on Apr 8, 2008 8:09 AM EDT in New York Giants News

No real news, but there is a decent amount of Giants-related reading material available today. Here's a link dump so you can have a look at it.

Draft Preview: Big Blue Interactive, the granddaddy of all Giants communities, has posted its Giants Draft Preview.

Here's a snippet.

The Giants approach the 2008 NFL Draft being in the fortunate position of having most of their starting roster for the upcoming season already set. In fact, the Giants will not be pressured to find an immediate starter from their 2008 draft class. This will enable the team to not force or reach for a player with lesser ability. The Giants have the luxury of being able to select the best player available.

That said, this does not mean the Giants can afford to have a bad draft. A bad draft or two can quickly turn a good team into a mediocre one. Moreover, with the Giants not being terribly active in free agency in 2007 and 2008, drafting well becomes even more important.

Coughlin Still Riding High: Vic Carucci of NFL.com has a look at how times have changed for Giants' coach Tom Coughlin since his team won the Super Bowl.

For me, one of the interesting things is how much credit Coughlin gives to his family for the changes he made, and the fact that he recognized he would likely have been fired if the season had gone badly.

"I don't know if that can be accomplished (in the world of a football coach)," Coughlin admitted. "But one of the things that came along with that was, 'Let the players see that you do you care about them.' I'd always cared about the players, but had never really thought about how I was going to demonstrate that.

"You walk a fine line with everything you do, but one thing I did say was, 'If this is the last year that I'm going to coach, I'm going to have fun with it. I'm going to enjoy it, I'm going to enjoy the players, I'm going to extend to them in a way that I think that they can understand that I do have great appreciation for what their jobs are, what their roles are.' "

Pats Can See Ring, Can't Touch It: The New York Post reports that the Giants' Super Bowl ring is being produced by an Attleboro, Mass., company -- right in the New England Patriots' backyard.

SBN Mock Draft: The SBN Mock Draft is rolling along. After today it should be through 24 picks, which means my chance to make the Giants' selection is approaching.

Check out who has been taken, who is left on the board and feel free to drop me some suggestions on who I should take. Right now, Miami safety Kenny Phillips is still on the board, and I'm hoping he stays there.

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Comments

Starters

I think Big Blue Interactive is great, but I have to disagree that the Giants don't need any starters. As in SAFETY!! If we're stuck with Butler as a starter another year I'm going to lose my lunch.

by potroast on Apr 8, 2008 9:08 AM EDT reply actions

I really like

the interactive mock draft they're doing over at Mocking the Draft. Much better to have people who are really familiar with their particular team involved than one "expert" selecting for everyone. It leads to more realism, as some people decide to make reach picks that the Kipers of the world wouldn't make. Ed, have you given any thought to who you might take if Phillips is off the board? I wouldn't mind Connor either, but he'll probably be gone in the next 5 picks.

On an unrelated note, did anyone watch the NCAA Championship last night? When was the last time that both the Super Bowl & the NCAA Championship were such great games in the same year? Hopefully we'll get some 7 game series in the NBA, NHL, and MLB this year to boot.

by cjmulrain on Apr 8, 2008 9:56 AM EDT reply actions

Giants pick in mock draft

Hard to say right now. Phillips is the target guy, but you have to see what is on the board.

by Ed Valentine on Apr 8, 2008 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions

I haven't checked yet,

but is Jerod Mayo still up there? I thought there was some talk about him earlier this week or maybe a couple weeks ago, but I haven't seen him mentioned lately. I know that we don't have any extreme need at linebacker, but I watched this guy play against my Golden Bears in person and then on tape, and I think he's pretty impressive.

Of course, if Phillips is still there, take him by all means. I think we need a strong safety--Butler always makes me nervous, esp. after the Super Bowl (I think it was him that missed his assignment and left Pierce on Watson for that pass interference).

by NYinCalifornia on Apr 8, 2008 6:57 PM EDT up reply actions

And by strong safety, I meant

a good safety. Whoops.

by NYinCalifornia on Apr 8, 2008 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow

I just read that piece on Big Blue Interactive, and this kinda blew me away:

"Also keep in mind that the Giants don't seem to put a high value on linebackers. The last time the Giants drafted a linebacker in the first round was 24 years ago (Carl Banks in 1984). Since 1992, the Giants have only drafted three linebackers in the first three rounds (Marcus Buckley in the 3rd in 1993, Ryan Phillips in the 3rd in 1997, and Wilkinson in the 3rd in 2006)."

...considering the run of success we had with linebackers back then, it seems strange that we haven't taken any 1st round and have barely taken any 1st day linebackers since the days of LT, Banks, and Carson.

by cjmulrain on Apr 8, 2008 11:29 PM EDT reply actions