I want to switch gears away from free agency a little bit and talk about the draft.
Giants President and CEO John Mara has already challenged new GM Jerry Reese, saying the team needs to get more useful players out of its seven selections, rather than have 3-4 picks either cut, inactive or on the practice squad.
With that edict in mind, I thought I would look back over the last several drafts and see how many useful players the Giants got out of each.
I will use 2000 as the cutoff. I think it is reasonable to assume that at least a few of the players drafted that year should still be in the league.
Without really having studied it, I have always felt like the Giants have done nothing exceptional in the draft in recent years. I think that what we will look at over the next few days confirms that.
OK, let's get to it.
2000 Draft Selections
1 Ron Dayne
2 Cornelius Griffin
3 Ron Dixon
4 Brandon Short
5 Ralph Brown
6 Dhani Jones
7 Jeremiah Parker
Six of the seven players in this draft at least had NFL careers. Parker's career was derailed when he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the death of an ex-girlfriend's 4-year-old son.
Dayne, of course, never lived up to his Heisman Trophy billing and is still bouncing around the league hoping for another chance. Griffin showed flashes, but has moved on to Washington and is an average player.
Dixon was Tim Carter before Tim Carter. A guy with a lot of speed and ability who never put it together. Ralph Brown was a backup corner for a couple of years who had no impact. Jones and Short are, of course, journeymen linebackers who are still around.
All in all, this was an average draft. Six of the seven made the team, but the Giants needed Dayne and Griffin to be stars, and that never happened.
Grade: C
Tomorrow: 2001