Arguably, the intriguing undrafted rookie signed by the Giants is DE Maurice Evans. At this time last year, Evans was being considered as a a potential top 15 pick at this year’s draft after a dominating sophomore campaign in 2007 when he had 12.5 sacks, 9 other tackles for loss, broke up 3 other passes and forced 5 fumbles. Evans, though, was suspended for the first three games of the past season after he was arrested when marijuana was found in his apartment. By the time he got back in uniform, Evans had been supplanted in the PSU starting line-up by an up-and-coming Aaron Maybin, who ultimately was an early pick this April, going 11th overall to Buffalo. Once re-instated, Evans got limited playing time and finished the 2008 season with just 3 sacks. As such, it was a major surprise that Evans declared for the draft even though he had a year of eligibility left. And his stock literally fall off the charts when he had a horrible combine workout at which he barely broke the 5.00 second mark for the 40.
Evans, though, ran much better at the PSU pro day where he reportedly clocked in the 4.75 range for the 40, a much more respectable time for a tweener type DE, but the damage had been done. Go back to the 2007 tapes, though, and one sees a tough pass-rushing warrior with an explosive first step off the snap who was relentless in pursuit. Evans was also more than adequate defending the run as he did a nice job getting off blocks, finding the ball, and moving laterally to make the tackle.
Evans was reportedly the best of the Giants’ undrafted rookies at last weekend’s mini-camp as he was simply too quick for the young OTs to handle. It is still a long-shot for Evans to make the Giants roster, which already has as many as 8 solid veteran defensive linemen. Evans certainly should challenge Dave Tollefson for a possible back-up DE spot, although at this time, Tollefson also looks like a long-shot to make the roster himself. Meanwhile, Evans’ chances also aren’t going to be helped by the fact that rookie LB Clint Sintim, the team’s second round pick this past April, will also be in the DL mix as a 3rd down pass-rush specialist when camp opens in July. The Giants, though, have been known to aways be willing to try and find a spot for a guy who can rush the passer.
Evans was one of two players signed by the Giants on our very unofficial ranking of the top undrafted players in the 2009 draft class. To be specific, Evans was #61 on that list. In fact, the highest rated - at least on our list - undrafted player signed by the Giants was former Miami CB Bruce Johnson who we actually had as the 15th best undrafted player this year. (Of note, the Giants actually had two other top rated undrafted free agents - safeties Derek Pegues of Mississippi State and North Carolina’s Trimane Goddard - in for tryouts at last weekend’s minicamp, but signed neither. The fact that Pegues, who we had rated as the 7th best undrafted player this year, wasn’t signed by the Giants - or anybody for that matter - was a particular surprise, although he was a tweener DB who isn’t real big or fast.)
At this time last year, Miami’s Johnson had been considered to be a solid mid-round prospect. At barely 5-9, 170, Johnson isn’t very big, but he is quick and fluid and with 4.45 speed covers a lot of ground. Indeed, Johnson is probably better suited to man coverage than either Deandre Wright or Stoney Woodson, the Giants’ 6th and 7th round picks this year, whom he reportedly outplayed in this weekend‘s minicamp. And while the top 4 CB slots on the roster already appear to be locked up, there are openings for a 5th and very likely a 6th CB, and Johnson would appear to have a decent shot of sticking when the season opens. What may hurt Johnson, though, is the fact that he is never going to be much in run support and may lack the versatility to play in more than sub-packages.
Meanwhile, the Giants were also able to sign one of this year’s drafts top sleepers when they inked CB Vince Anderson from tiny Webber International, which is not to be confused with D1AA Weber State. While he played largely at the NAIA level - Anderson actually played at D1AA Nicholls State early in his career, but ended up at Webber after getting caught up in some academic shenanigans at Nicholls - and is very unpolished, Anderson, in fact, is a terrific athlete who was a state high jump champion as a prepster in Florida. Anderson also has nice size at 6-2, 205 and is versatile having played both corner and safety in college. Indeed, the Giants have already indicated that Anderson will get some looks at safety at camp this summer.
It appears, again on the basis of the very early going, that former Central Florida safety Rashad Sha’reff could also very much be in the mix to make one of the final spots on the roster in the secondary after he had a solid showing at last weekend‘s minicamp. Sha’reff is a somewhat smallish (6-0, 190) SS, but he is very physical nonetheless and led the Knights with 103 tackles in 2007 and added another 72 last fall. Sha‘reff is a good tackler who does a nice job avoiding the traffic near the line of scrimmage and finding the ball, although he is not known as a particularly instinctive blitzer. He also has good speed for a safety with a 40 time of under 4.6 seconds and can run with most backs and TEs, but lacks the agility to man-up with WRs coming over the middle. Sha‘reff, though, does read the play well in zone coverage, breaks well on the ball and has good ball skills posting 9 interceptions over the past couple of seasons. Sha’reff is also a very smart player who is already in graduate school so figure he has the smarts to pick up the defense quickly and ultimately develop into a leader in the secondary.
In fact, one of the themes of the Giants undrafted rookie class was ’go south young man’ as 5 of the 9 players signed were from schools in the state. Indeed, in addition to Miami’s Johnson, Sha’reff of Central Florida and Webber International’s Anderson, the Giants signed LB/DB Kenny Ingram from Florida State and Miami DT Dwayne Hendricks. Ingram, in particular, is another interesting pick who is long on physical potential, but short on experience. Ingram is a rangy 6-4.5, 232-pounder with 4.6 speed who was a safety most of his career before switching to OLB in 2008; in fact, Ingram likely still has the frame to add more weight. He’s also still just learning how to play LB, and lacks elite instincts and agility, but is a big hitter who can really run; Ingram, though, is already very good in coverage and has the potential to be a very good special teamer.
On the other hand, UM DT Dwayne Hendricks looks like a real longshot to make the roster. Hendricks has decent size at 6-3, 290 and actually has very good speed and quickness for an interior defensive lineman with a 40 time under 5.0 seconds, however, he’s not all that strong or instinctive and was never all that productive at Miami.
Meanwhile, if there is a potential surprise in this year‘s undrafted class it may be Virginia defensive lineman Alex Field. Field is a 6-7, 270-pound tweener who played as a 3-4 DE at Virginia - ironically as did recent Giants‘ signee Chris Canty - and has the potential to be a useful backup DE who can slide inside on 3rd downs to boost the pass rush. Field lacks Canty’s overall quickness and athleticism, however, he is a battler who goes all out on every play; needs to get stronger to better defend the run, but has the frame to add another 10-20 pounds.
If there was a second theme to this year’s Giants’ undrafted signing class it was ’rangy’ as a number of the players signed including Ingram and Field are long players with the frames to add bulk. Same story for 6-5.5 Colorado State DE Tommie Hill, a tweener with long arms and a long quick first step; still more of a bulked up linebacker at 255 pounds who lacks real pass rush strength and instincts; indeed, had just 3 sacks last fall. Meanwhile, former Temple C Alex Derenthal could end up taking some training camp snaps for the Giants as they currently don’t have a true back-up at the position, but looks like another real longshot to make the final roster. Derenthal, though, does have some initial quickness and plays hard, but isn’t particularly big (6-3, 301) or athletic.
So far, so good… Of course, one doesn’t want to read too much into what happens at rookie mini-camp; there’s no hitting at all as the action is all in shorts and shells, plus its just rooks against other inexperienced rooks. Still, the Giants had to be more than pleased with what they saw from their newcomers. In particular, WR Hakeem Nicks, the team’s #1 pick this year, had a very impressive weekend. Nicks caught just about everything that came his way and burned several overmatched corners with nifty moves; Nicks also showed some unexpected deep speed. Most importantly, though, Nicks reportedly really impressed the Giants with his ability to quickly pick up the offense, which in the end is the skill, or lack thereof, that more than anything keeps young receivers from producing early in their careers.
Meanwhile, neither of WR Ramses Barden nor TE Travis Beckum, the Giants two 3rd round picks, were quite as impressive as Nicks, although both did have their moments. Barden, for example, caught the ball well, but wasn’t as sharp funning routes, while Beckum, who is expected to shine as an H-back type player, worked almost exclusively inside at TE. It certainly didn’t help either player that both suffered hamstring strains that sidelined them for stretches this past weekend.
The Giants also reportedly really liked what they saw from LB Clint Sintim, the team’s second round pick. In particular, Sintim appeared to be both bigger and stronger than had been expected; he also showed really surprising agility running in space which was not thought to be a strength of his game. Meanwhile, 5th round QB Rhett Bomar has already reportedly taken a big lead over 2008 draftee Andre’ Woodson in the battle for the #3 QB job. Bomar is mechanically very much a work-in-progress, but he has good mobility and arm strength with a little bit of that intangible ’make-something-from-nothing’ skill. On the other hand, both Deandre Wright and Stoney Woodson struggled at times, especially on deep passes.
Second-time around… In addition to the eight undrafted free agents, the Giants signed four veteran free agents including RB Allen Patrick, WR Shaun Bodiford, TE George Wrighster, and LB Kelvin Smith. Patrick, a one-time back-up to star Minnesota RB Adrian Peterson at Oklahoma, was a 7th round pick by Baltimore at the 2008 draft, but was released prior to the start of the season; he was later signed by Cleveland and spent the year on Browns’ practice squad. Patrick isn’t all that big at 6-1, 200, but is very fast. Meanwhile, Bodiford was an undrafted free agent out of Portland State who has played with Detroit and Green Bay, but has one career reception; Bodiford did not play in 2008 because of a back injury. LB Kelvin Smith, a 7th round pick by Miami in 2007 also didn’t play in 2008 because of a knee injury, but did reportedly catch the eye of the coaching staff at last week’s mini-camp.
Wrighster is certainly the most interesting of the veteran additions. Wrighster was a 4th round pick by Jacksonville in 2003 and had 94 career receptions in 6 years with the Jaguars before being released just before the draft. Wrighster, in fact, was on the verge of emerging as one of the league’s better all-around TEs until he suffered a torn ACL late in the 2007 season; as a result, Wrighster missed the final five games of that season and the first 11 games of last season. If healthy again, though, could provide some interesting added competition at what is beginning to look like a crowded field at TE.
This and that… None of the undrafted and veteran free agents signed by the Giants will want to get too comfortable in their new digs. The Giants currently have 89 players on the roster, nine above the league limit of 80 that teams are allowed to take to camp. The difference are the draft picks none of whom have officially signed to date. Once any of the team’s nine draft picks signs, though, the Giants will have to release someone to create a roster space… Next up for the Giants are the OTAs - the organized team activities - that get underway the week of May 27th. Teams are allowed 12 days of non-contact workouts and related activities over a period of a month… For the record, the Giants won’t ten open camp until August 2nd; can’t ever remember camp not opening in July before… There were a couple of interesting comments when the Giants allowed their assistant coaches to talk to the media after the draft. Most noticeably, new defensive co-ordinator Bill Sheridan seemed to indicate that he was aware that MLB Antonio Pierce may not be the same player he used to be and that change could be coming at that position at some point sooner rather than later, although Sheridan also described having a coach on the field like Pierce as a ‘luxury.’ Meanwhile, one of the concerns expressed by a number of observers after the Giants drafted TE Travis Beckum of Wisconsin in the 3rd round of last month’s draft was that Tom Coughlin has never been all that innovative when it comes to the position. Indeed, it has appeared that in Coughlin’s offense that TEs are expected to block first, second and third and the maybe they can catch a pass or two. That led to the question just where Beckum, a bulked up WR who can’t block at all, might fit. Coughlin, though, has indicated that the team will have to rework the offense a bit for Beckum; said Coughlin "It'll be fun to do that, I just think it gives us another athletic player who's faster than other people that play the quote-unquote tight end position." Wonder if former Giants TE Jeremy Shockey has any thoughts on the subject.
Have a great weekend!!!
