Welcome to Mock Draft Season. For those looking for a mantra for this year's Giants draft, please allow me to submit mine, as inspired by Springfield Autoland’s catchy commercial jingle:
Offensive line! Offensive Line! Give us, please, offensive line!
That’s the battle cry of many Giants fans, who after being told to have faith in last year’s offensive line, are hoping that the upcoming draft, in which the Giants have the fifth and seventh overall picks, brings at least one stud offensive lineman.
The Giants already have a core piece in left tackle Andrew Thomas. If interior offensive lineman Nick Gates is healthy, he'd be a second piece of the puzzle, but beyond those two, the Giants' cupboard is bare.
Despite that glaring need, NFL Draft Bible’s Zack Patraw, in his latest mock draft, however, has other ideas for the Giants in the first round.
Patraw has the Giants going with Notre Dame Free Safety Kyle Hamilton at No. 5, of whom he writes:
Kyle Hamilton has both in a 6040, 220-pound frame. The Notre Dame product exhibits excellent short-area burst, long speed, change of direction, and clean transitions. The oversized safety also has excellent play strength. The Fighting Irish’s defensive chess piece has experience in the slot, in the box, in two-high, in single-high and more.
Then at No. 7, which is the Bears’ first-round pick owed to the Giants, Patraw mocks Michigan defensive end David Ojabo to New York, of whom he writes:
Explosive two-point stance rusher with very good length. Ojabo possesses a great get-off and burst to consistently threaten and win the outside shoulder of tackles from wide alignments. His speed causes tackles to be off-balance, allowing him to extend and knock them off balance at the top of the rush.
To be fair, the Giants need a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, including pass rushers, where they could certainly add to a promising group that includes Azeez Ojulari, Quincy Roche, and Elerson Smith.
I’m not so sure if they’ll be able to afford unrestricted free agent Lorenzo Carter unless it’s on a one-year “prove it” deal. And I think it’s probably safe to say that if the current coaching staff returns, Oshane Ximines won’t be a part of the 2022 team, thus making adding another pass rusher a solid idea.
As for safety, Xavier McKinney is an intriguing do-it-all type of player, and I think he, along with Logan Ryan and Julian Love, should be just fine as the primary players at that position.
I do not think the Giants will be able to afford to bring unrestricted free agent safety Jabrill Peppers back, by the way, so while I think adding a safety makes sense, I would probably do it later in the draft.
The Giants defense wasn’t so much the problem in 2021 as the offense was. According to Pro Football Focus, the Giants offensive line finished with an 83.5 pass-blocking efficiency rating, 24th in the NFL. Their 191 total pressures ranked seventh in the league, and they were tied with the Steelers in having surrendered the 16th most sacks (38).
Yes, adding to the defense would be great, and I don’t think I’d hate it if they added a pass rusher with one of their first two picks. But after literally ignoring the offensive line last year, I would question the wisdom in not addressing the unit in the first round in favor of taking a safety.
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