NFL.com Mocks This Position to the Giants at No. 25
The New York Giants have some glaring needs on both sides of the ball, none more glaring than receiver, where a solid No. 1 option could potentially open things up for the offense, and linebacker, where a lack of speed at the position was consistently exposed seemingly every week.
So in what's likely a coin flip for the draft prognosticators given that the Giants are set to pick 25th this year, barring any trades, NFL.com's Lance Zierlein is going with the defensive side of the ball, his pick being Clemson linebacker Trenton Simpson of whom he writes:
Simpson has extremely rare speed as a linebacker. The Giants know they need to put players on the field who can run and chase the Eagles for years to come.
Although the Giants offense lacked explosiveness in the passing game last year--and it's fair to wonder if perhaps that was by design--the bigger disappointment was the defense's inability to stop the run and cover in the middle of the field.
The Giants inside linebackers, remember, went through a revolving door that was not a result of injury; rather, it was a result of different players just not being able to stop the bleeding, which resulted in the Giants' run defense finishing 27th overall (144. yards/game) and 31st in average yards gained per rush (5.23/play).
Coverage was even worse among the three primary inside linebackers, Jaylon Smith, Micah McFadden, and Jarrad Davis. According to Pro Football Focus, not one Giants inside linebacker finished with a rating under 100, the best of the bunch being Smith (106.9).
Further, the inside linebackers, in coverage, allowed a whopping 90.1 percent of the pass targets against them to be completed for 568 yards and two touchdowns and didn't post a pass breakup or interception among them.
This comes as little surprise considering the team's leading tackler--and by a wide margin--was safety Julian Love, an indication that too many opposing ball carriers made it to or beyond the second level.
How Giants general manager Joe Schoen decides to prioritize filling the team's most glaring needs remains to be seen. Still, it would be surprising if inside linebacker isn't among the top priorities addressed.
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