The NFL has made professional football a year-round experience for it’s fanbase.  The season begins in August and lasts through The Super Bowl in February.  The end of February brings the NFL Combine, giving front offices around the league an opportunity to evaluate potential draftees for April’s NFL Draft.

The NFL Draft is an extravaganza of sorts, a three-day celebration that typically brings thousands of fans to an NFL city where multiple national television networks broadcast the 7 rounds of the NFL’s Collegiate Player Selection Meeting to millions of NFL fans glued to their televisions at home.  Hope springs eternal, as the draft marks the beginning of the next NFL season that may result in the hoisting of The Lombardi Trophy.

2020’s NFL Draft feels different.  COVID-19 has canceled Organized Team Activities, closed NFL facilities, delayed physicals associated with free agency, and brought the NFL Draft into question. We’re not certain what the 2020 NFL season will look like, much less the draft. While it will almost certainly occur between Thursday, April 23 and Saturday, April 25th(shoutout to my parents, who will be celebrating their 39thwedding anniversary) the aforementioned extravaganza will have a much different feel to it.

Changing The Draft Plan.

Live festivities in Las Vegas have been scrapped. Draft prospects who would have been in the live green room waiting to hear their name called will teleconference from their homes to share their live draft reaction.  The only person hugging Roger Goodell?  His wife, if he gets lucky, post draft.

Since NFL facilities have been closed, teams will each have their own teleconference with owners, General Managers, coaches, and scouts calling in from their homes.  Once a pick is made, it will be shared via a separate teleconference with the league.  The league will publicize picks to media outlets that still intend on televising results.  

Teams are consumed by fear.  Fear that they will make mistakes in this draft.  Pro days have been non-existent.  Live interviews with potential draftees have not occurred since the NFL Combine.  All scouting post combine has occurred by watching game film.  A few teams have expressed concern that other teams may be able to infiltrate their conference calls and steal their draft picks.  (New England Patriots, anyone? Belichick…Belichick???)  Teams’ IT Departments have expressed concern about going to personnel’s homes to set up their teleconference technology amidst Coronavirus concerns. What this draft will be as a result?  No one is sure.  With that said, the NFL fans are ravenous for this draft because Coronavirus has eliminated all sports.  We yearn for sports content in a way we haven’t in generations.  

For The New York Giants.

We all wish that the live, three-day, Las Vegas extravaganza was still on the schedule. Regardless, the intrigue will still be there. For our New York Giants questions are plentiful. Will we infuse our defense with elite talent in the form of Isaiah Simmons, Jeff Okudah, or Chase Young? Will we invest in Daniel Jones and draft his blindside protector in Jedrick Wills, Tristan Wirfs, Mekhi Becton, or Andrew Thomas?

Will The Giants trade back in the first round, landing more picks to fill a roster in need of a talent upgrade? Will Yannick Ngakoue successfully force his way out of Jacksonville to his preferred destination with the New York Football Giants? All these questions, and many more will be answered in less than two short weeks via a draft format no one is certain of. Despite the fear of the unknown, there’s a strange irony wrapped in comfort that comes when you realize that the NFL will be drafting actual players the same way we all draft our fantasy football teams each year. Let’s be here for it, be grateful for it, and pray ESPN.com’s draft servers don’t go down.

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Which one will GM Dave Gettleman fill first?

Quarterback is the biggest need

Eli Manning turned 38 last week and he wasn’t good when he was 37. Manning finished the 2018 season with a 92.4 passer rating, which was 21^st in the league and below all of Ryan Tannehill, Derek Carr, and Mitchell Trubisky.

Concerningly, his 2018 performance was actually a huge improvement over his 2017 season (80.4 passer rating).

There are few left in Big Blue Nation that don’t consider QB the biggest area of need this offseason; there’s no reason that an offense with Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr, Evan Engram, and Sterling Shepard should be 16^th in PPG.

The orchestra needs a new maestro and Gettleman knows it.

Problem is, the young maestros available in the 2019 draft don’t know how to handle their batons very well. Justin Herbert’s decision to return to Oregon took away the best QB prospect from a thin crop.

There is one light shining in this dank, dark quarterback tunnel, however.

When Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins declared for the draft, he immediately became the best QB prospect available – and he’s the only pivot with an outside shot at being the #1 overall pick according to SportsBettingDime.com.

But that brings us to problem #2; the Giants are picking behind the Raiders and Buccaneers, two teams that may be in the market for a new QB. When you factor in the frequency with which teams trade-up for quarterbacks, and then realize that the Jaguars (no. 7), Broncos (no. 10), and Dolphins (no. 13) wouldn’t have to move up very far to leapfrog the Giants, the potential for Haskins to be gone before the Giants are on the clock is pretty high.

If Haskins is available at no. 6, or if the Giants move up themselves, there’s a good chance Gettleman makes him the QB of the future. If Haskins is gone, it’s more likely that Gettleman waits on a QB, because the secondary QB prospects are not worth anything close to the 6^th-overall pick.

If the Giants Pass on a QB, Expect an Edge Rusher

The team finished 20^th in pass rushing according to Pro Football Focus and wound-up second-last in the NFL in sacks last year with just 30. No one on the team had more than Olivier Vernon’s 7.0, meaning no one on the team ranked in the top 30 in the league for sacks.

Making matters worse, Vernon is set to earn over $15 million next year, significantly more than the Vikings’ Danielle Hunter ($9.4M, 14.5 sacks), the Saints’ Cameron Jordan ($8M, 12.0 sacks), and even the Jaguars’ Calais Campbell ($12M, 10.5 sacks) who led the league in sacks in 2017.

Vernon’s salary far outweighs his impact on the field (he’s never had more than 8.5 sacks with New York) and the Giants may cut him, eating $8 million in dead cap.

Either way, they need to get more pressure on opposing QBs, and this draft is stacked with edge rushers.

Some will argue that offensive line is a bigger need, but the reality is that both are huge concerns and the edge rushers available at no. 6 will likely be better than the offensive linemen. That’s especially true if Jonah Williams (OT, Alabama) goes in the top five. No other offensive lineman is a sure-fire first-rounder.

At edge rusher, on the other hand, Nick Bosa (Ohio State), Josh Allen (Kentucky), Clelin Ferrell (Clemson), and Rashan Gary (Michigan) all have top-ten talent.

Nick Bosa will be gone in the top-three, barring an injury between now and the draft, and there’s little chance Allen drops to no. 6. But Ferrell and Gary could both potentially be available and would be immediate improvements to the NYG front-seven.

How do you think the Giants should use the 6^th-overall pick? Let us know in the comment section, below.

The post Who Will the Giants Draft in Round 1? first appeared on Bleedbigblue.com.

Flowers, the ninth overall pick, is a 6-6, 329-pounder from the University of Miami is known for stout run blocking and aggressive play. The selection could provide the Giants much needed flexibility as Flowers can play multiple positions on the line. Moving Justin Pugh to guard has already come up.

“I see myself anywhere on the line,” said Flowers, who noted he played some guard in practice. “I’m ready to come in anywhere on the line to make a contribution. Whatever helps the team win.

“I have a lot of confidence in myself and whatever I do or I wouldn’t be playing this sport at all or doing any of the stuff I do. It’s really just the confidence in myself and what I see in myself. I can’t really sit here and persuade you, but I’m confident in myself and what I do.”

Head coach Tom Coughlin never likes to show his hand, leaving all possibilities open.

“I am not going to comment on that until I have the opportunity to talk to our coaches about exactly how we are going to go about starting this,” Coughlin said. “He can be either side. He [was] a left tackle last year, but he has the size and so on and so forth to play a lot of spots if you so desire. We think he is a tackle.”

The pick may not be the most sexiest selection made, but the saying is “the game is won in the trenches”.  Flowers will bring size, (lots of size) aggressive play and is able to play multiple positions. Giants GM Jerry Reese feels the pick is both need and value.

“We always talk about we’re going to take the best player, but we’re always cognizant of what our need is as well,” general manager Jerry Reese said. “And we think this is a good need and a value pick for us. We think this can help solidify the offensive line, so hopefully this will settle the offensive line down and we don’t have to keep talking about the offensive line as much.”

Giants Nation what do you think about this pick? Please leave a comment below and share this article!

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