The 2020 NFL Draft is in the books. With the final pick – No. 225 overall – the Giants selected Georgia linebacker Tae Crowder to wrap up the weekend.
Crowder – a 6’3″, 245 pound athlete – came to campus as a running back in 2015 and switched to linebacker midway through his redshirt freshman season. As time wore on, he got more and more burn with the Bulldogs. Last year, he set a new single-game career high with 12 stops against South Carolina and also managed a 60-yard fumble return against Tennessee.
All told last season he had 62 tackles, four for a loss, and four passes defended. As this year’s Mr. Irrelevant, Crowder will have his name down as a footnote regardless of how his pro career turns out.
Here’s the complete rundown of the Giants’ draft, courtesy of PFR’s draft results tracker:
1-4: Andrew Thomas, T (Georgia)
2-36: Xavier McKinney, S (Alabama)
3-99: Matt Peart, OT (Connecticut)
4-110: Darnay Holmes, CB (UCLA)
5-150: Shane Lemieux, G (Oregon)
6-183: Cameron Brown, LB (Penn State)
7-218: Carter Coughlin, LB (Minnesota)
7-238: T.J. Brunson LB (South Carolina)
7-247: Chris Williamson, CB (Minnesota)
7-255: Tae Crowder, LB (Georgia)
Looks like GMen did okay. Thought Gettleman could have traded down and still gotten Thomas in the first round. But he did pass on Haskins last yr so have to trust him.
I would have preferred them to trade down as well since they had no legit 3rd round pick (thanks to the Leonard Williams trade), or been nice to have an additional 2nd. So much talent came off the board between 36 and 99. But I’m not sure if they had any serious takers to trade with. With that said I would still like to know where the pass rush is coming from. A big weakness for them the last few years.
Can you be specific on who they could have traded down with? What offer(s) did the Giants turn down? Please be specific
I don’t know what offers they had, I’m not on the inside. I’m sure they had some discussions with some teams. I’m just saying because of their holes that would have been my preference. Especially for a rebuilding team that’s won 12 games in 3 years. They did not have enough draft picks in the first 100. No need trade a valuable 3rd for Williams, or why they couldn’t trade Jenkins in Oct when they had the chance.
I doubt they had any offers for 4. If Detroit didn’t have a single offer at 3, why would anyone (specifically Miami, who would’ve been the team worried about getting jumped) think going to 4 was a better move?
We don’t know, and we don’t know if Detroit really did or didn’t either. And maybe they had offers at 36.
4 linebackers?
The best Giants team ever was built on linebackers. Good LB’s plus a good secondary will help you get a pass rush. And giving Daniel Jones an offensive line to protect him will be a huge help. Trade down for more mediocre picks makes no sense. I like this draft class. Gettleman did a good job.
You’re arguing that drafting linebackers is a good thing without mentioning that all four LBs are 6th and 7th round picks. They’ll be lucky if even one of them contributes anything meaningful. 7th round picks are essentially meaningless as almost none of them pan out and 6th rounders are almost as bad.
I honestly don’t understand why the Giants are allergic to drafting LBs. Last time they drafted in a linebacker in each round:
4th – 2016 (ie, it’s been six years; before that was 2010)
3rd – 2006 (14 years)
2nd – 2009 (11 years)
1st – 1984 (26 years)
It’s just mind-boggling that they ignore this position every draft.
No, I don’t overlook where they drafted linebackers at all. But the first 5 picks were spent on OL which was a much bigger need than LB. This draft class was very deep with quality OL prospects. Beyond Isaiah Simmons, who I will grant looks like a stud, there wasn’t much there at the LB position. Andrew Thomas is the kind of tackle that can be there for 10 years. They also grabbed McKinney at safety who looks awesome. They signed some excellent free agent LB’sthis year, particularly Blake Martinez. Ryan Connelly should be back as well and he was an impact defender before he got hurt. The defense is a lot faster, and the offense should stay on the field longer. They are a much better team now than they were a year ago.
Great point no rush at all. Maybe they sign golden back?
Matty
How could we know specific offers, lots of teams traded back. We have the least wins in nfl over last 3 yrs, think we could have used an extra pick.
My point is, there was nobody to trade down with. As stated by DG and backed up by Schefter. No one in the top 10 traded back so by saying that lots of teams did, that’s inaccurate. The Giants drafted the number one rated offense of tackle and the number one rated safety in the draft in the first two rounds. What more do you want that? Both Paul Alexander and Gil Brandt both loved the first round pick. If you don’t know who Paul Alexander is, you should look him up.