I have to be honest with you, Giants fans: I hate this pick. I've been following the Giants since 1990, and I don't remember ever being this disappointed in a first round pick. I should mention that I loved the Ron Dayne pick, so what do I know? But this pick seems stunningly bad to me on early reflection.
-- cjmulrain, writing about the New York Giants selection of Jason Pierre-Paul in the first round of the NFL draft the day after the choice was made
I broke my $150 harmony remote ... and i feel reese just sat down on the" hot seat"……..
--TroyO
The biggest issue to me with this pick is the issue of need. We need another defensive lineman MORE than anything else? I mean, if it was Suh, that would be one thing. But a player with one year of big time experience (and that in the Big East), who is project at a position of non-need, is really inexcusable.
-- prov2002
I will be super happy to be proven wrong, but right now I feel this was a huge error in judgment as there are a lot more signs of bust than signs of boom.
-- brisulph
I have been rootin for the Giants for over 30 years. This pick is a WTF for me. I dont understand the logic here. A huge project at #15 again WTF. This kid will ride the pine for at least a year if not more agin WTF. I am hungover and sick to my stomach. I thought i would wake up this morning and realize it was all a bad dream but alas it is not.
-- costanza
This might be the highest we might pick in a couple of years and we flopped.
-- Nfpdawg
Those were just some of the mortified reactions when the Giants chose defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul in the first round of the NFL Draft last April. If you want to re-read any of those threads, which seemed to include a high volume of inebriation and guys looking for bridges to jump off, they are here, here and here.
As the Giants approach their eighth game of the season, and Pierre-Paul's importance to the Giants defense begins to grow I have to ask the question: How do you feel about JPP now?
With Mathias Kiwanuka shelved for the season, Pierre-Paul played a season-high 31 snaps in the Giants last game against the Dallas Cowboys. Mike Garafolo looked at the increasing role being played by the exceptionally athletic rookie from South Florida.
Justin Tuck had a conversation with Pierre-Paul after Kiwanuka was placed on IR. It was a brief, unspectacular chat, but the message was clear: It’s time to get serious.
"No question. He knew that, and he’s one of the guys who makes an improvement every week and we try and continue it," Tuck said. "You don’t want to put too much on him and stunt his growth, so I think the coaches have done a great job trying to throw little things at him and asking him to do little things each week. He’s growing, so we’re going to continue with that approach."
But there’s certainly a difference between playing five snaps and playing nearly 30 snaps, which is what Pierre-Paul got against Dallas. Even he admitted, "Now that Kiwi’s out, that’s more pressure on me" to go from a situational, developmental contributor to a key cog.
Pierre-Paul had a pressure of Cowboys quarterback Jon Kitna to set up a sack by Deon Grant. He later made a nice move to get close to Kitna on an incomplete pass in the end zone.
"He’s getting better all the time. He made some good progress last week," coach Tom Coughlin said. "He did rush the passer and you saw the big arms in his attempt to get to the quarterback.
"Although the last game was not his best special-teams game, it was probably one of his better games at defensive end."
And linebacker. And defensive tackle. The Giants haven’t been shy about moving Pierre-Paul around and even use him to stunt, slant and tie up blockers so blitzing players, such as Grant, have room to come through. In other words, they’re not just pointing Pierre-Paul at the quarterback and saying, "Use your athleticism to get to the passer."
No, Pierre-Paul is being forced to use his brain. And though he admitted his head is "spinning with plays," the team doesn’t plan on backing down his special-teams responsibilities.
Look at Pierre-Paul's numbers, below, and they don't show much productivity in the five games he has played.
Remember last Friday, though, when Inside Football's Pat Traina answered my question about which Giant reserve -- JPP, Shawn Andrews, Travis Beckum or Ramses Barden -- would have the greatest second-half impact. With no hesitation, Pat chose Pierre-Paul.
Pierre-Paul, hands down. The kid has a bunch of raw talent that Fewell and company are just starting to tap into, and I wouldn't be shocked if we see Pierre-Paul lining up in even more defensive sets as the season grinds on. Fewell did say on Wednesday that he didn't want to put too much on the kid's plate considering the rookie is having a blast playing special teams as well, but I suspect that Pierre-Paul would be up for the challenge of getting as much responsibility as he could.
Let's hope Pat is right. It sure sounds like Pierre-Paul is going to be given a full plate of responsibilities the rest of the way. The Giants will need him to be able to digest it all.
Still think this was a mistake, Giants fans?