With the NFL draft approaching (April 23rd and 24th) this would be an opportune time to review
the Giants off-season, and what they should be looking for the upcoming draft. Also,
let’s compare last year’s Pybus Report draft experiment to the Giants’ actual picks.
The Off-Season
Big Blue has had a pretty successful off-season. Two signings that look
like real gems are wide receiver Plaxico Burress, 6’5”, 226 lbs, (a young man who will be only 28 years old in
August), and MLB Antonio Pierce, 6’1”, 240 lbs, (he’ll be 27 years old in October). Both should have an immediate and noticeable impact right from day 1, and both should be around for more
than a few good years. But if you’re dazzled by the brilliance of these
two stars, you might miss the bright glow of Kareem McKenzie, a 6’6”, 327 lb offensive tackle from the Jets. McKenzie will do as much to boost last year’s disappointing offense as will
Burress. Here’s why: he can give Manning a half second longer to find a
receiver, and an ounce more confidence in the offensive line. That will make
it much easier for Manning to find Burress, Shockey, Toomer, or Barber; and, if the passing game gets better, the running
game will benefit.
The Giants also picked up place kicker Jay Feeley from the Falcons to handle the kick-offs and field goals. It’s not that Steve Christie did a bad job, but Feeley can consistently kick it higher and deeper
on kickoffs, aiding the coverage and giving the defense a little better starting position.
Rounding out their free agency singings, the Giants added defensive tackle Kendrick Clancy from the Steelers after
releasing DT Norman Hand, and backup QB Jim Miller from the Patriots to fill Kurt Warner’s role as tutor to Eli Manning.
Gone are Terry Cousin, Ron Dayne, Norman Hand, Ike Hilliard, Lance Legree Omar Stoutmire, Kurt Warner, and Keith Washington.
The Pybus Report is really impressed with Plaxico Burress. He is quiet
and unassuming. He is not satisfied with just playing and collecting a check,
he really wants to win. In a Sports Exchange article on the web, Burress is quoted
saying, “I think that’s one of the reasons I like Tom Coughlin, He’s the same. He doesn’t have much to say and he’s pretty much directed at winning.” Burress went on to say, “I just want to play and win, I am really excited about this team.” He’s not just saying the right thing either; he’s sincere. You may recall that Burress fired his agent after his first round of negotiations with the Giants fell
through. A week after the firing Burress accepted what was essentially the Giants
original offer. Burress’s uniform number (80) was not available, so he
asked punter Jeff Feagles for his # 17. Why 17?
“Because”, Burress said, “17 is the day I signed with the Giants, March 17.” It sounds to the Pybus Report that this guy is dedicated to his new team.
Burress also demonstrated some class when asked about his former team, the Pittsburgh
Steelers, “It was time for me to move on, I had five years there and it was just time.” The truth is that Burress was not happy in Pittsburgh, he thought his talents were under utilized, and he could have said a lot more. He could easily have displayed some bitterness; but he didn’t.
He showed class.
Burress wants to get highly involved with the Giants offense, creating what he calls, “a very strong and dangerous
offense.” He is excited about the Giants passing game and playing with
Eli Manning. “I think he’s going to be a special one, and I want
to be to be part of it”, he said.
The Giants resigned two players whose desire to stay a part of the team is inspiring and an encouraging sign for fans. Fullback Jim Finn said “I don’t think there was any big secret about my
desire to stay with the Giants.” “I couldn’t think about playing
anywhere else…” Finn believes that much better times are ahead for
the Giants. “There’s definitely an upside to this organization. Hopefully, we can get it going now. You
want to be part of a winning program, and there’s something extra when you’re part of building that. We struggled and now hopefully we will continue to improve. It’s
good to be a part of that.”
Another quality veteran who made sacrifices to stay on the team is Shaun Williams.
Williams accepted a restructured contract that pays him substantially less but helps the Giants’ salary cap position. “I knew that going into the situation where I was injured last year and the
year before and I had a high cap number and it needed to be restructured so we restructured.
Sometimes you have to think logically instead of thinking with your ego. You
understand that this is a business.” When was the last time you heard a
professional athlete say that? Like Finn, Williams wants to be a Giant. “I’m happy to be a New York Giant.
I didn’t want to go anywhere. I feel like I have lot of unfinished
business here. ... It’s been
a long time. It feels good to be a part of this team again.”
By Williams own estimates he’s about 80% of what he wants to be physically, but he expects to be 100% by the
time mini-camp starts.
Imagine a healthy Shaun Williams and Gibril Wilson in the Giants’ defensive backfield. There will be more Maker’s Mark Moments than the Pybus Report staff can handle.
The Draft
The NFL Draft takes place on Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24. Don’t
be surprised if the Giants try to make a deal to move into the first round of the draft, a position they traded to San Diego last year to get Eli Manning.
If Rich Seubert and Jason Whittle are still around, Luke, “Holding, number 77”, a.k.a. “False Start”
Petitgout may become expendable, and could be used as trade bait to get a first round draft pick. Or, depending on the Giants success in signing another free agent or two, Will Allen could be traded. What will Big Blue be looking for? One
NFL Draft expert thinks the Giants will try to add some depth and quality to the defensive secondary or defensive line. A few rounds into the draft don’t be surprised if the Giants try to pick up
a running back. One report on the web says that Giant’s general manager
Ernie Accorsi is “intrigued” with running back Maurice Clarett. The
Pybus Report thinks that Maurice Clarett is instant death to the organization that drafts him.
He was nothing but trouble at Ohio State. He
will eat away at a team’s heart from the inside. His NFL Combine times
were very disappointing, although he did improve in a second workout.
The Pybus Report Draft Experiment – One Year Later.
It’s said that a monkey throwing darts at the stock listings could pick better investments that any “expert”. The Pybus Report tested that theory by having our version of a monkey (The Giant Nazi,
Al Hut) throw darts at the list of draft eligible college players last year. The
summary and comparison appears below.
|
Rnd # |
Giants Picks |
Pybus Report Picks |
|
1 |
Eli Manning |
Jake Grove |
|
2 |
Chris Snee |
Andrew Battle |
|
3 |
(no pick, traded away last year) |
Keyaron Fox |
|
4 |
Reggie Torbor |
Moshe Rabinowicz |
|
5 |
Gibril Wilson |
Maggie the Pug |
|
6 |
Jamaar Taylor |
Julius Jones and Kevin Jones |
|
7 |
Drew Strojny and Issac Hilton |
Jorge Posada |
Round by Round Comparison
Round 1
Giants: The Giants picked Eli Manning in the first round,
sort of. Technically, they picked Phil Rivers, or Doc Rivers…or was it Mickey Rivers? It doesn’t
matter because they traded him for Eli Manning. Not a bad trade, except that
we lost our first round pick in this year’s draft. Eli started 7 games
for Big Blue, and lost 6 of them, but he demonstrated some skills and showed a lot of promise.
Pybus Report: The Pybus Report’s first dart hit NostraPybus
in the derrière, right in the Fruit of the Loom tag on his shorts. We interpreted
this to mean some type of fruit tree grove, and ended up deciding our first pick was Jake Grove, a 6’3” Center
from Va Tech. Grove was drafted by the Oakland Raiders. Jake started 8 games for the Raiders and is currently listed as the starting right guard. So our first round pick started more games than the Giants first round pick, and didn’t cost anyone
a future first round pick. Score one for the Giant Nazi and the Pybus Report. Score: Giants 0, PR 1
Second Round
Giants: Chris Snee played in,
and started 11 games for the Giants in 2004. He is the starting right guard for
New York this year.
Pybus Report: Our next dart landed in an article about the fighting
in Iraq, precisely piercing the word “battle”. We looked it up, and sure enough there is a player named Andrew Battle. He’s a 6’2” 236 lb line backer from a small Pennsylvania school. He was not
drafted by anyone. He signed with Detroit, but was cut and didn’t play last year. That’s one for the Giants. Score: Giants 1, PR 1
Third Round
Giants: The Giants traded away
their third round pick
Pybus Report: Our third dart missed the wall and landed in an
old video tape of Disney’s classic, “The Fox and the Hound”, right between the F and the o of Fox. Once again we lucked out and found a player named Keyaron Fox, a 6’2”,
227 lb linebacker from Georgia Tech. He was drafted in the third round by Kansas City. Keyaron
saw action in 12 games for KC last year, and made 12 tackles and 0 sacks. Score:
Giants 1, PR 2,
Fourth Round
Giants: The Giants picked Reggie
Torbor, a defensive end from Auburn. Reggie was a backup linebacker who played in all 16 games last year. He had 23 solo tackles and 3 sacks.
Pybus Report: We weren’t so lucky with our fourth dart. The Giant Nazi hit the newspaper this time, but he found the obituaries rather than
the NFL draft listings. Our fourth pick was Moshe Rabinowicz, a 5’5”,
147 lb account from Levittown, NY. Moshe was 87 years
old when he passed away in the nursing home. Moshe has been inactive since we
drafted him. He is reported to be nothing but skin and bones now. There were reports that he was spinning in his grave when
the Giants lost 8 in a row. Score Giants 2, PR 2
Fifth Round
Giants: Gibril Wilson.
Easily the surprise pick of the 2004. Gibril played in only 8 games due
to injury, but he still was able to make 56 tackles, 3 sacks and 3 interceptions.
Pybus Report: Our 5th pick was just as disastrous
as the 4th. This time the dart found Maggie, the Giant Nazi’s pet pug. Maggie immediately attacked NostraPybus’s ass, the only thing close enough to
the floor for her to reach. As you might expect, there were no football players
named “Maggie” in last year’s draft, but our pug had some interesting statistics in 2004. Maggie is learning the Hutwagner System, she responds to "Come Here!"
(only sometimes, but she is ahead of Jeremy Shocky in this category) She
was 7-9 with her "pooper-picks" last year. As valuable and lovable as Maggie
is, this round easily goes to the Giants and Gibril Wilson. Score: Giants 3,
PR 2
Sixth Round
Giants: The Giants picked Jamaar Taylor, a wide receiver
in the 6th round. Taylor had a promising year until he was hurt.
In 8 games Jamaar caught 6 passes for 146 yards.
Pybus Report: Our sixth
dart hit pay dirt. The dart landed exactly between Julius Jones and Kevin Jones. We decided we were entitled to pick them both.
We thought we deserved it because we stopped our experiment long enough to take Maggie to the Vet. It was kind of like trading a good deed for an extra pick. Both
Julius and Kevin Jones are running backs. Julius started 7 games for Dallas. He carried the ball
197 times for 819 yards and 7 touchdowns. Kevin started 15 games for Detroit and carried 241 times for 1133 yards and 5 TDs. This round clearly goes to the Pybus Report. Score: Giants
3, PR 3
Seventh Round
Giants: The Giants had two picks in the seventh round. They chose Drew Strojny, an offensive lineman from Duke, and Issac Hilton, a defensive
end from Hampton. Neither
made the team last year and neither was signed by another club. A lineman from
Duke, what did they expect?
Pybus Report: Our 7th round pick, based on the name
on which the dart landed, was Jorge Posada. Posada finished his season with the
Yankees by being swept four games in a row by the Boston Red Sox, after taking a 3 games to none lead in the ALCS. Posada is credited with three tackles and 5 blocks during the series with the Red Sox. The Red Sox (if you haven’t heard) went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series;
breaking an 86 year curse. Posada hit .272 for the season, with 21 home runs
and 81 RBI. Posada proved he is as tough as any football player when he broke
his nose early in the season and missed only one game. This round is no contest,
and goes to the Pybus Report. Final Score: Giants 3, Pybus Report 4. Proving once again that a monkey (or a Giant Nazi) with darts is not only dangerous but can make better
draft picks than the experts who do nothing else but sit around and evaluate college talent.
The Pybus Report will try the NFL draft experiment again this year. Look
for our draft report to come out sometime around April 27th or 28th.
