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| Kenny Britt |
It is Draft Week, and we will do whatever we can here at Big Blue View to keep you on the goings on around our New York Giants this week.
- Let's start with a story in Sunday's New York Daily News about Rutgers' Kenny Britt, whom many think would be a great replacement for Plaxico Burress. According to the story, there are "some red flags" about Britt's personality. Here is some of the story.
He readily admits he barely follows football. When he arrived at a speed training facility in Arizona early this year and met Darrius Heyward-Bey - the Maryland receiver expected to be a first-round pick - he had never heard of him.
But what he does have is a firm grasp of the NFL's salary structure.
"It doesn't matter, first-round money, second-round," he says, a glint in his eye. "The money's in the second contract."
If you loved Plaxico Burress' antics, get ready to fall in love all over again.
Britt is 6-3, 218 pounds. He has great speed for his size, having run the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds at Rutgers' Pro Day. And it's that tantalizing marriage of size and speed - one that's earned comparisons to top NFL wideouts like Terrell Owens and Broncos star Brandon Marshall - that is forcing scouts to look past his inflated personality.
"There are some red flags," says NFL.com scouting analyst Mike Mayock, who has likened Britt's physique to the well-sculpted Owens. "But I haven't sensed any downward movement (in the draft)."
Quite the contrary, Britt's stock has skyrocketed over the past few weeks after a junior year in which he caught 87 passes for 1,371 yards and seven touchdowns. With fantastic workout after fantastic workout, the enigmatic wideout with the electric personality may go from second-round anonymity to middle-of-the-first-round fame.
The Giants and Jets, two teams in need of help at receiver, have worked him out, as have a dozen other teams.
But squads haven't just evaluated Britt's skills; they've also studied his mental makeup. With Burress' star-crossed exit from New York in mind, teams are asking themselves if Britt's on-field T.O. impersonation is worth the off-field T.O.-like headaches or those of Marshall who has been suspended once and is facing another possible suspension to start this season.
"Character is so important in this league," says longtime draft guru Gil Brandt, a former vice president of player personnel with the Dallas Cowboys. "Especially after Plaxico."
I don't know what to make of this guy. We did a 'prospecting' piece on him a while back. Would you be willing to gamble an early pick on him, or does the over-sized personality scare you?
- Paul Schwartz of the New York Post has a list of draft do's and don'ts for the Giants. I'm wondering if he crawled inside my head before he made the list. I can't find anything I really disagree with.