The New York Giants aren’t drafting Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliot. Probably. Maybe.
Those who follow ESPN closely enough have probably heard that NFL Draft analyst and respected reporter Todd McShay has the New York Giants taking Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliot with pick No. 10 of the 2016 National Football League Draft.
McShay may have forgotten more about NFL Draft classes than I’ll ever know, but I have to disagree with this pick.
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Let’s begin with the fact that a significant amount of NFL general managers out there would think twice about using such a high pick on a running back. All future NFL RBs can thank Trent Richardson for that. Elliot is a different type of player and hopefully a different person than Richardson, but Richardson alone is not the only explanation for this type of thinking. It is widely perceived in NFL circles that talented running backs can be found later in draft classes.
The Giants landed Ahmad Bradshaw with a seventh-round selection.
All would do well to remember that Giants general manager Jerry Reese has a history of seeking for and selecting the best player available. The question, then, has to be asked: Will Elliot really be the best player available ten picks into the 2016 NFL Draft? If Elliot is, in fact, such a special talent, logic would suggest that he will probably be off the board before the Giants were first called to make a pick.
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Walter Cherepinsky of Walter Football shares that opinion. As of March 3, he has Elliot being taken by the Miami Dolphins two picks before the Giants in the draft order. The New York roster is one that is filled with holes, so the Giants trading to move up ahead of Miami in order to grab Elliot is out of the question; or at least it better be if Reese, new New York head coach Ben McAdoo and everybody within the coaching staffs and front office of the Giants wants to keep their jobs.
The importance, or lack thereof, of having an elite running back who may be inducted into the Hall of Fame two decades from now is not the only reason the Giants drafting Elliot makes little sense. ESPN Staff Writer Dan Graziano explained in a piece earlier posted earlier this week.
"It’s important to understand what the Giants believe and don’t believe about the draft. First, they believe there are only a few positions worthy of high first-round picks. Those include quarterback, pass-rusher, No. 1 wide receiver, cornerback and left tackle. They do not include linebacker (a position they haven’t addressed in the first round since Carl Banks in 1984) or running back. This is not about organizational stubbornness. It’s about the necessity, in the salary-cap era, of identifying key positions worthy of your high-end resources (meaning early-round draft picks and big free-agent money) and not wasting those resources on positions that can be addressed more cheaply."
Graziano, at this point of the process, sees the Giants going defense with the team’s first pick. Big Blue choosing to think offense with another first-round pick should not only be an option. It may, all things considered, be the smartest thing to do if the Giants believe that a game-changing wide receiver is there for the taking in the top ten.
New York quarterback Eli Manning isn’t getting any younger. Manning turned 35-years-old this past January, and it is only a matter of time before some part of his game begins to fade away. Perhaps the injury bug will finally strike a player who has eluded it for the majority of his great career. Even if that doesn’t happen, Manning will eventually notice that the zip on his fastball isn’t what it was in the past.
Dark days are coming, maybe sooner than later if calamity strikes the Giants.
The window for the Giants to win a Super Bowl win Manning under center is closing. It will almost certainly be closed for good by the time the 2020 NFL Combine arrives. Giving Manning multiple reliable weapons to work with would ease any burden he may feel to try to do too much during games.
As things stand today, Manning has Odell Beckham Jr. and (insert the name of a player signed via free agency or drafted here).
WR Victor Cruz is working on making a full return from the gruesome knee injury he suffered in the fall of 2014 and from the calf surgery that he underwent late last year. Ignore, for the time being, the salary cap ramifications that come with Cruz being with the Giants later this year, and focus instead on the reality that Cruz has not really been a NFL player for well over a year. The injury that downed Cruz in 2014 could have easily ended his career.
Cruz’s career could, in fact, be over, and we just don’t know it yet.
Remember, also, that the Giants are not hurting in the backfield. There is no indication that either Rashad Jennings or Shane Vereen will run out of gas in 2016. In fact, one could argue that the Giants need to feed Jennings more during the upcoming season. It would be nice if the Giants would get more out of to-be third-year pro Andre Williams, but that is a task for McAdoo and his staff to tackle.
The current state of the Giants and Elliot’s talents aside, the Giants not taking the Ohio State product will likely be a case of Reese going with what took the team to the dance in the first place. Defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka, cornerback Aaron Ross, safety Kenny Phillips, pass-rusher Jason Pierre-Paul and cornerback Prince Amukamara were all first-round picks.
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“Defense wins championships” is not just an adage in the NFL. It’s a way of life, as was proven by the Denver Broncos at Super Bowl 50, when the Giants beat the then-undefeated New England Patriots at Super Bowl XLII and so many other times in history.
The Giants have holes on offense and on defense. Elliot would be a good get, but he would not immediately fill any of those obvious gaps.