2015 Draft Recap

The 2015 NFL Draft is over. All of the mock drafts, all of the the educated guesses, frankly all of the boring television is behind us. But when you thought you were out, the draft analysis and grades have arrived just in time to pull you back in. These draft grades won’t mean anything until a few seasons have passed, but that won’t stop the great sages of NFL coverage from pelting you with their two cents. But why should those big shots have all the fun? I might as well act like people care what I think, and pelt you with my two cents, too. 

But I’m not going to use the typical A through F grades, those are for squares. Instead I’ll use a much more effective scale for grading. Since Star Wars Day passed recently, I’ll use Star Wars movie grading method. It’s a pretty simple idea. The better the movie, the higher the grade, and for the most part, we can all agree of the rankings of the Star Wars canon.

Here’s the breakdown from best to worst:
Episode V: Empire Strikes Back
Episode IV:A New Hope
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

So with this in mind, let’s review Big Blue’s draft...

Round 1: Ereck Flowers - OT - Miami

Good luck, getting past this guy.

We were all expecting the Giants to go offensive line with their first pick, and they did just that with Flowers. Brandon Scherff was taken a few picks earlier by the Redskins, but I honestly think if both of them were available, the Giants would still select Flowers. Jerry Reese feels that Flowers can become a franchise left tackle.
The good thing about drafting Flowers is that he immediately makes two positions on the offensive line better. He’ll line up as right tackle and move Justin Pugh to either right or left guard. Given the struggles Pugh had last year at tackle, we can expect him to have a much better year.
This twenty-one year old kid is also a monster. He’s 6’6” and weighs 330 pounds. Not only that, he’s a mauler. He’s pretty much Bane. The cool comic book Bane that almost killed Batman, not the Tom Hardy gas mask Bane that talks like Sean Connery.
He still needs to work on his pass protection, but once he does, he’ll get moved to left tackle.
Grade: A New Hope

Round 2: Landon Collins - S - Alabama
In the second round, the Giants got real aggressive. They traded their second, fourth, and seventh round picks to move up to the first pick of the second round. With that pick they landed Landon Collins. This was a steal for the Giants, and the pick completely justified the trade. He was projected to get drafted in the first round, but for some reason he fell to the second.
This guy will be ready to play in September. After spending his college years under Nick Saban and his pro style defense, he is more than ready to take the next step to playing on Sundays.
This guy is exactly what the Giants have been missing on defense for the past few years, an enforcer. Someone that makes the opposing offense shake in their jockstraps.  Someone so badass that his opponents run away just because they heard he was coming. In short, the Giants needed an Omar, and they got an Omar.

"Omar's comin'!"

Now, he isn’t a ball hawk, and he won’t play centerfield, but he could really help out in run defense, and he’ll punish any receiver that he comes across. Plus with getting passed up by every team in the first round, you can bet he’s motivated to prove to the other thirty-one teams that they made a mistake to not pick him.
Grade: Empire Strikes Back

Round 3: Owamagbe Odighizuwa - DE - UCLA
Pronounced Oh-wah-MAH-bay Oh-DIGGI-zoo-wah, this defensive could have been drafted earlier than the third round, but surgery on both of his hips scared teams enough to have him drop to the Giants.
Diggy (I’m calling him Diggy) is going to be a great fit for the G-Men. He has a tireless motor on him. He gives the team everything he’s got from the snap to the whistle. He was a team captain, plus he was happy to the point of tears to be a part of the Giants.
He’ll serve as a nice compliment to JPP, who just got franchised tagged. Diggy better suited to be a run stopper, so he might be placed all over the defensive line to plug up the running lanes until he develops fully as a pass rusher.
Diggy’s got a lot of raw talent, and with his crazy work ethic, he could easily develop into a great defensive end.
Grade: A New Hope

Round 5: Mykkele Thompson - S - Texas
This pick is the biggest head scratcher of all of the picks. This was a guy that wasn’t on a lot of people’s draft boards. He seemed to be a guy you can get as an undrafted free agent, but it’s never a guarantee that you’ll get him. But picking him in the fifth round is a reach too big even for Mr. Fantastic.
There are reasons why the Giants like this guy, however. He played every defensive back position in college. That’ll come in handy especially if they get thin at cornerback. Coach Coughlin thinks he’ll play well with Landon Collins, he would be more of the centerfield safety while Collins brings the pain. But what Thompson lacks in thumping receivers, he more than makes up for in sound fundamental tackling. He won’t make highlight reels, but he won’t let guys get away from him.
I still don’t know if I like this pick. He could be good for the Giants, but they really overpaid for him.
Grade: Attack of the Clones

This pick was bad, but it was not Jar Jar Binks bad.

Round 6: Geremy Davis - WR - UConn
This guy is a beast of a wide receiver. With being 6’2” and weighing 216 pounds, he’s a hard nosed, physical receiver. He was tied for the most combine reps of 225 lbs amongst wide receivers with twenty three. No doubt he’ll be used on special teams until he get’s acclimated in the passing game. However, I don’t think that will take too long. He is a great route runner, and has really reliable hands. I’m sure that gives him a big boost in the eyes of Eli and the new offense he’s running. He’s basically the bizarro Rueben Randle.
There is a lot of clutter at the bottom of the wide receiver pile. If Davis can climb out of there like Bruce Wayne leaving that weird desert prison, he has a good shot of being a move-the-chains kind of possession receiver.
Grade: Return of the Jedi

Round 7: Bobby Hart - OT - Florida State
This pick will come in handy as depth for the offensive line. He blocked for the Heisman Trophy winning, and crab leg enthusiast, quarterback, Jameis Winston. Also, FSU uses a pro-style offense that will make the transition from college to the pros a little bit easier.
Now he’ll most likely be used a guard instead of a tackle when September rolls around, but he is a rugged mountainous man that could help Eli keep his jersey clean.
It’s the seventh round pick, so I don’t Hart will be inducted into the Giants’ Ring Of Honor, but a little o-line depth never hurt anybody.
Grade: Revenge of the Sith

After seeing the draft play out for Big Blue, it was obvious what one of their main objectives was. That objective was to get their balls back, and make to make teams cringe when they see the New York Giants on their schedule. They certainly took massive strides to achieve that goal that with most of their draft picks this year. They still have work to do to make them better, but even when they lose games, the Giants will still give out ass kickings like they are Oprah's favorite things.

"YOU get an ass kicking! YOU get an ass kicking! EVERYBODY GETS AN ASS KICKING!"

So What Have I Learned?

It’s so early, there’s really no point of speculating, but it seems that Jerry Reese has finally found his Draft Day groove.

This draft made me more optimistic about the upcoming season. Now, I know to not get ahead of myself. Everyone gets optimistic about their team after the draft. But the NFC East is impossible to predict, any team can win it.