Welcome to the Giants.

[Allstarjim]

Osi, I don't know that Pugh was the best tackle available. I had Watson as the better tackle prospect, but Pugh is certainly more versatile. Watson is more of a Tackle-only talent, but I think has the much bigger ceiling, and is just as NFL ready right now as a plug and play at RT. I think Pugh can do that at Guard, possible at RT. But Pugh's versatility won Reese and Coughlin over, I'm sure, with his ability to play inside.

[GorillaNJ]

Osi, I don't know that Pugh was the best tackle available. I had Watson as the better tackle prospect, but Pugh is certainly more versatile. Watson is more of a Tackle-only talent, but I think has the much bigger ceiling, and is just as NFL ready right now as a plug and play at RT. I think Pugh can do that at Guard, possible at RT. But Pugh's versatility won Reese and Coughlin over, I'm sure, with his ability to play inside.

 

He does seem like a coughlin type of player... If TC has another daughter might be hearing wedding bells in the near future

[fishgutmartyr]

You don't draft centers unless they are like Mike Webster. Period.

 

Right. You draft a good tackle that can switch to center if a better tackle comes along. And if that guy projects well in the interior, all the better.

 

We have 3 guys that were drafted as tackles, Diehl, and now Pugh. If one of those 3 beats Pugh out, and Pugh winds up being a 10 year pro bowl type center, we did well. This line hasn't been the same since O'Hara started breaking down, and that tells you how important a smart, stable center can be. Granted, there are other factors, but you can trace that decline back to O'Hara's initial injury. Look what happened to Pittsburgh's line after Faneca left.

 

I really don't get why centers are held in such low esteem--those are the guys that are supposed to make the calls for the oline and are essential to keep the pocket from collapsing. A smart, healthy one can keep a line stable for years, even with a degree of turnover in the other positions.

[RandolphScott]

All well and good. Guess that Diehl will be getting Eli killed again this year at right tackle.

[gmenroc]

Can't say I'm too stoked about the pick either. You can have your ratings of players as a team, but you also have to take into account the widely accepted opinions of the other teams. You could have him ranked as your #1 overall player on the board, but if everyone else thinks he's a 3rd rounder...you take him in the 2nd or 3rd rounds, not in the first despite your own ranking.

 

This is a guy who was clearly evaluated as a 2nd round guy by pretty much every outlet there was. With Floyd, Rhodes, and Trufant sitting there, I cannot believe we didn't go one of those directions.

[Herc]

hope he starts right away

[NightFire]

Or you know, the Giants draft a player that they wanted to at 19 that they feel like will give them the best chance to win game.

 

Shocking I know to think that the Giant scouts are trying to draft players that will win games but trust me it's true, I have inside information on the organization that they are trying to win another SB championship.

 

They say this about every draft pick though and I think that's why teams don't release their draft boards after the draft. As Golf pointed out this seems like a desperation move in that he was the next best OLineman left so they just went for it. This wasn't a BPA because there was many better prospects that fell. As with all draft picks though time will tell.

[Treehugger]

Diehl is gone after this season, if he makes it the full season.

 

Boothe is on a one year contract.

 

Snee is going to retire at the end of this season or maybe play one more.

 

Bass is an average center at best.

 

Honestly do people want Eli to end up on IR? We don't win games if Eli isn't upright and in this season coming or next, 4/5 of the guys on the line are going to be gone.

 

None of this means they needed to draft this kid at 19. There had already been a run on Tackles and the value (and BPA) was elsewhere.

[Sephiroth]

None of this means they needed to draft this kid at 19. There had already been a run on Tackles and the value (and BPA) was elsewhere.

 

Indeed. This clearly was not a BPA pick, and as Vendetta said, we could have traded down and still got this guy.

 

That's not to say he won't be a very good player for us (I'm reminded of Luke Petitgout) but there wasn't a whole lot of value there for the pick.

[Sephiroth]

The other thing too is we now have to pay him like the 19th best player in the country where he probably shouldn't demand that kind of money.

[BleedinBlue]

As a Syracuse die-hard fan...I really like Pugh. My thought was that there was no way he'd become a Giant because he'd fall to the bottom of the first or top of the second. I knew he was a very good player, but the magazines and websites had him behind several other guys at that position because they had the prototypical build. Pugh's arm length is supposedly "short", otherwise he'd be top tier simply because he is probably the best technician among the OT's in this draft. We've seen it over and over when a player doesn't have the correct "physical body", he gets downgraded. The list of superstar players with the wrong body type is long and the reason it's long is because there is no way to measure a player's "heart". This guy is going to great in blue.

 

Here's a shot of his "short" arms that supposedly kept him from being "elite" LOL:

 

 

One of the coolest things about him is that he's a homegrown Philadelphia boy from a family of Eagle fans. Coughlin told him to tell his family to get ready to burn their Eagle jerseys and start planning to purchase Giants jerseys. LMAO.

[Mr. P]

Woooooo!!!

 

 

CUSE!

[Nas]

I didn't read any of the above comments, but seriously? This FUCKING REEKS of the William Joseph year when there was a run on defensive line players and the Giants panicked.

 

The New York Giants took a MOTHERFUCKING CENTER IN ROUND ONE. A MOTHERFUCKING CENTER. Whatever, not a good pick. Anyone who brings up "well...the Giants ALWAYS draft best player available" is fucking stupid, don't talk to me. Anyone who scouted one iota knew this guy wasn't a first rounder. He FUCKING BETTER start opening day.

 

While I can TOTALLY understand why you'd feel that way... Let's remember it's the FO's full time job to evaluate talent... let's give them that. A year from now BIC will bring up this thread when some start complaining about our 2014 1st round pick and he'll tell you I told you so .

 

Look I'm not too thrilled either... but honestly why do you think that is? It's because none of us has seen this guy mocked in the first round... anything else? Not really. Yes Shakes is right that we could have traded down... but in reality when Reese says this guy was on top of his list, do you really want to run that risk? In Reese we trust.

 

Let's welcome the big guy.

[mastershake]

I do think Pugh will be a nice player somewhere on the OL... not dominant, but a consistent starter. The staff thinks he's NFL ready this year. But my problem is #19 was too high for him... we could have traded down and still picked him up.

[Herc]

i don't watch enough college to have a strong opinion one way or the other but one argument against the panic move is that JR has shown that he is willing to grab the talent that falls to him in Prince and JPP. maybe he knew something about the teams right behind us that the "experts" on the websites didn't.

[Mr. P]

i don't watch enough college to have a strong opinion one way or the other but one argument against the panic move is that JR has shown that he is willing to grab the talent that falls to him in Prince and JPP. maybe he knew something about the teams right behind us that the "experts" on the websites didn't.

 

none of us know jack shit, comparatively.

[BleedinBlue]

I didn't read any of the above comments, but seriously? This FUCKING REEKS of the William Joseph year when there was a run on defensive line players and the Giants panicked.

 

The New York Giants took a MOTHERFUCKING CENTER IN ROUND ONE. A MOTHERFUCKING CENTER. Whatever, not a good pick. Anyone who brings up "well...the Giants ALWAYS draft best player available" is fucking stupid, don't talk to me. Anyone who scouted one iota knew this guy wasn't a first rounder. He FUCKING BETTER start opening day.

 

First off...you are 100% right about us taking Joseph in 2003 because there was a run on DT's and he was the only one left on the board. He had the exact physical attributes one wants in a DT...but the book on him was that he played "uninspired", "didn't take practice seriously", "lazy", "not particularly bright", etc., etc. All the warning signs were there. The Giants thought that taking a guy who played without heart would suddenly see the light after we handed him millions.....duhhh.

 

Secondly....Pugh is one of the hardest working, smartest, disciplined, cleanest, players in the draft. If his arms were 1 inch longer, he would be in the same conversations with Fisher and Joeckel - no doubt about it.

 

And as far as "starting day one", there wasn't a single position on the Giants team in which a drafted player would have earned the starting position on day one....with the exception of possibly right tackle.

 

Cut this guy some slack...he is a real baller and will give the Giants 100% all the time and he's a superb technician of a player who is smart (academic all star) and knows exactly what is needed on the offensive line from every position. Do you really think the fact that his fingers are a 1/2 inch shorter and arms 3/4 inch shorter than the "ideal" physical specimen is a good judge of the man's heart, athleticism, character, mental tenacity, and football capabilities? This isn't a beauty contest where physical measurements are the only thing that matters and it's not a fantasy football team where flash is all that matters. How many offensive linemen do you know who saved a QB because his fingers were long and narrow? OT Tony Mandarich was the second pick overall for the Packers a few years back and he had "long arms" and had a great showing in a bowl game. But he was a total bust. Robert Gallery was the second pick overall and was the "best OT to come out of college in the last 25 years" and had "long arms". But he cost the Raiders millions and the guy never panned out to be anything other than a decent OG, because he couldn't hack being an OT in the NFL.

 

I trust our scouts know a whole lot more than the average fan who has to rely on websites and the opinions of other fans.

[mastershake]

Nobody doubts his talent and potential, just that we could have traded down and likely still had him later on.

[gmenroc]

Nobody doubts his talent and potential, just that we could have traded down and likely still had him later on.

 

This.

[Herc]

maybe no one was dying to trade into 19? maybe the bears wanted him and JR knew? i don't know but i find it hard to believe he didn't do his due diligence here but who knows

[Herc]

none of us know jack shit, comparatively.

 

true that. i mean look at how much those guys on espn wouldn't shut up about te'o and how we were in "te'o territory" and he didnt even get picked.

[BleedinBlue]

maybe no one was dying to trade into 19? maybe the bears wanted him and JR knew? i don't know but i find it hard to believe he didn't do his due diligence here but who knows

 

Exactly. The very next pick was the Bears who grabbed Kyle Long (perfect body - character issues - can't handle the tackle position) which was the consolation prize of the top tier offensive linemen.

 

And as far as trading goes...you got to have a trading partner and if the phone doesn't ring, not much you can do. My hunch is that the Giants really like Pugh a lot and knew there was no way to get him if he passed them by.

[mastershake]

I also don't accept the premise that the GM is infallible... obviously he's not. Several picks haven't worked out for him.

 

On the whole, I trust Reese and he's been very good (can't complain about two SB rings), but he's human and makes mistakes from time to time.

[Allstarjim]

As far as the whole trading down thing... San Francisco traded down right in front of us to take Eric Reid. I would think they'd rather trade to 19 than 18, unless they really thought the Cowboys would take Reid if they didn't get them out of the 18th pick, which is a possibility.

 

Anyway, I have a hard time believing the phone didn't ring given the number of trade ups I saw.

 

But I'm on board, begrudgingly. When that pick was there, you guys just don't know how I was envisioning Datone Jones on our defensive line, two big, physical beings at DE across from each other in Jones and JPP... that would have been unreal.

[fringe]

When the Cowboys and 49ers conspire, I do think it's to fuck the Giants. Perhaps they thought we wanted Reid, perhaps we did. I remember one time the Cowboys traded with the 49ers to sweep a receiver from us, Mike Sherrard from UCLA, who ended up breaking his leg a few times and finishing a lackluster career with the Giants, ironically.