Gettleman Fine with Only Six Draft Picks and Other Takeaways from Giants' Pre-draft Media Session
If building a team through the draft is the way to go, the New York Giants might be in a bit of trouble this year.
That’s because the Giants only have six draft picks in next week’s draft, tying them for the second-lowest draft capital in the league.
But as far as general manager Dave Gettleman is concerned, it’s not always about quantity.
“I’m very comfortable with the six picks,” he said. “We don’t have the fifth-rounder, we got this guy [DL] Leo Williams instead and the seventh-rounder was like [DB] Ike Yiadom, who’s on our roster and we got him, so that’s where they went. We moved [Cardinals LB] Markus Golden to get an extra sixth. I’m fine with the number of picks we have in this draft.”
There are a couple of reasons why Gettleman is probably fine with only six picks. The first one is the big free-agency spending spree he went on that brought over a dozen veterans to nearly every position unit on the roster.
But more importantly, with only six picks and, per Over the Cap, a hair over $5 million in salary-cap space (but only $936,897 in functional cap space), the Giants probably can’t afford to add extra draft picks this year.
Money aside, that doesn’t mean that if the Giants, who are unlikely to land any comp picks in next year’s draft, will turn down any opportunity to acquire additional picks in future drafts.
“Going in, you don’t know what’s going to happen, so I’m fine with the six and it’s okay with me,” Gettleman said. “Again, it depends upon the deal.”
Here are some other takeaways from the video conference call with Gettleman and director of college scouting Chris Pettit.
Kyle Pitts is a “Different Breed of Cat”
In a perfect world, the Giants, when they go on the clock at No. 11, will have among their choices, Florida tight end Kyle Pitts on the board.
Alas, we don’t live in a perfect world, and if the scores of mock drafts are to be believed, Pitts will likely be long gone by the time the Giants go on the clock, even if five quarterbacks are drafted in the first ten picks.
But hey, a general manager (and fan base) can undoubtedly dream about having a guy who Gettleman characterized as a “uniquely talented player” on the roster of the league’s 31st ranked offense last year, right?
“You can’t characterize him as just a receiving tight end because you watch him block and he’s got a lot of blocking grit. He’s got some nice fundamentals down and he’s certainly big enough,” Gettleman said when asked for his assessment of Pitts, expected to be the first tight end off the board. “He’s a different breed of cat, now. He’s very talented.”
MORE FROM GIANTS COUNTRY
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Receiver is Still in Play
Just because the Giants signed receivers Kenny Golladay and John Ross to new deals doesn’t mean that they’re crossing receiver off their list of potential draft picks.
“You’re always looking to upgrade every position--doesn’t make a difference,” Gettleman said.
“Whether it’s wide receiver, tackle, whatever, you’re always looking to upgrade. I’m going to give the same response I just gave, frankly, it’s about value and how you’re building your team, what you’re looking to do. You can never have too many good players at one position.”
Waddle or Smith would not only add reinforcement to the Giants receiving corps that would also help out Daniel Jones, who, remember, Gettleman pledged to add playmakers around him to help him take that next step forward in his development. But some analysts have concerns about both players’ size.
Not Gettleman.
“You evaluate the film and the college film suggests that they’re very good players,” he said. “There are plenty of smaller guys that have been very successful in this league just like there are plenty of huge guys that have been successful and everyone in the middle.”
Edge Rushers a Plenty
Some mock drafts have the Giants adding to their edge-rushing cache in the first round, but in listening to Pettit, it sounds as though the Giants feel they will have options on Day 2 and 3 in that area.
“There’s a bunch of them, there’s different ones, different types, which we like, there’s ones that fit our system, so I think it’s a good group,” Pettit said.
“I think it’s obviously an important position that we look to fill every year, not this year over any other year. We’re going through it and hopefully if we decide to address that and one’s there at a certain time and he fits what we do, we take him.”
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