Why Giants' Attendance at Last-minute Private Workouts is No Big Deal

Sometimes, one has to take a situation at face value, especially regarding the NFL Draft and the New York Giants.

Speculation ran amuck last week when it was reported that the Giants planned to partake in one last look at this draft class’s top quarterbacks–Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, and Louisville’s Tyler Shough–via private workouts that seemed “hastily” arranged to suggest that maybe there was still divide within the Giants’ decision makers.

While it’s fair and expected to assume that there will always be different opinions–the Giants, under general manager Joe Schoen, seem to have a large group of people involved in scouting and creating a draft board, as we learned last year thanks to Hard Knocks–the notion that there is “a sharp divide” over the quarterbacks and where they rank on the team’s draft board appears to be a manufactured headline.

Schoen downplayed this notion, citing scheduling issues as a reason for some of these “last-minute” private workouts.

Schoen revealed that these workouts will include non-quarterbacks, a fact that was swallowed up by the idea of the organization being “split” on a prospective first-round draft pick like Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

Dianna Russini of The Athletic agreed that the fuss over the workouts' timing is much ado about nothing.

“I can tell you from what I can gather after having some conversations, this is less about coming to a final decision for the Giants, but more about collecting as much information as possible–to be prepared for as many situations that can happen,” Russini said on the latest episode of Scoop City podcast.

Given the importance of an unpredictable event like the draft, teams must leave no stone unturned and continue to do due diligence until the league rules dictate otherwise.

When one looks at the Giants’ draft record over the last ten years, it’s no big secret that, with few exceptions, the team hasn’t drafted well.

Poor drafting is a big reason the franchise has fallen on hard times in the win-loss column. The team not only hasn’t been able to build up a solid, steady core group of players that hangs around for multiple years, but there have been far too many draft day misses, particularly over the first two days, that the team continues to try to recover from.

Schoen, who admittedly contributed to some of those misses with his early drafts as Giants general manager, is trying to stop the bleeding and ensure that the guys they bring to wear the uniform have staying power and can be solid contributors.

So why not take advantage of every moment allowed under league rules to engage in visits and private workouts, gathering as much information as possible?

Isn’t that better than seeing a guy once or twice and forming a definitive opinion that ultimately turns out to be wrong, leading to even more years of misery for the franchise and, more importantly, its loyal fan base?

JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA! Follow and like us on Facebook. Don't forget to check out our YouTube channel. And if you want to send a letter to our mailbag, you can do so here.

More New York Giants Coverage