Draft Mistakes Giants GM Joe Schoen Needs to Avoid

So far, so good.

Giants general manager Joe Schoen has come into East Rutherford with almost no bluster about what he's going to fix or do. He's brought with him a plan to weed out a disappointing and underwhelming roster that went 4-13 last year and which has almost no cap space of which to speak of.

And he appears to be walking hand-in-hand so far with head coach Brian Daboll, whom he knows from their days together in Buffalo. Thus far, both men have bonded together ont he same page to make decisions--some of which have been bold, like the lopping of safety Logan Ryan from the roster--that are fair to wonder if team ownership might have made if they were running the show.

Yes, the Giants off-season has gone about as well as can be expected, though it needs to be emphasized that there are no trophies given out to the teams that "win" the off-season. But the long overdue work of shaping the Giants roster into one that can actually be competitive has only just begun, as still to come for the Schoen-led Giants rebuild team is one of the most important drafts in recent franchise history.

The Giants currently have nine picks, and thanks to their free agency moves, they really don't have any spots where a glaring need exists other than perhaps right rackle.

Schoen has set things up to where he has stop-gap solutions to carry the torch while the youngsters he'll be adding get the necessary training/coaching behind the scenes to get themselves ready for full-time play--and when that happens, thanks to the per-game roster bonuses Schoen made sure to include in many of the veteran contracts, he'll be able to keep costs low while the team's foudnation starts to solidify.

But in getting back to the draft, there are pitfalls one would hope Schoen is careful to avoid if he wants to ensure the Giants rebuild remains on schedule and is successful. Here are just a few of those draft pitfalls of which he needs to be wary.

Falling in Full Bloom Love

There's nothing wrong with developing an affinity for a player, but you darn well better be sure that you do a thorough investigation into his flaws as much as you look at what he does well when figuring out if and where you intend to draft him,

Saquon Barkley is perhaps the best example of this. Barkley came out of Penn State with a unique skill set that had former general manager Dave Gettleman, who viewed Barkley as a potential Hall of Famer before the kid even played a snap, hooked.

While no one could have foreseen the injuries Barkley has had to deal with, one could have seen on tape. For example, Barkley seems to favor finding the escape hatch rather than grinding it out between the tackles. He's also not as proficient in his pass blocking as one might like.

The moral of the story is that when one falls in love, sometimes one tends to ignore or overlook the flaws in the object of their affection--flaws that need to be considered just as strongly as the virtues.

Reaching on a Prospect

Given how things have worked out so far, a strong case can be made that the Giants reached for quarterback Daniel Jones, whom they grabbed sixth overall in the 2019 draft.

Jones, like everyone else, has talent, but he also had an injury history at Duke to go along with a turnover problem. Many of the negatives in his NFL.com scouting report still hold true after three seasons, such as his putting the ball up for grabs rather than taking a sack, dangling the ball as a runner, trying to throw into some impossible windows, and demonstrating too much bravado as a runner.

Those issues, which were overlooked by the starry-eyed Giants brass hopeful that they could be coached out of the young man, have followed him to the NFL. They have left questions about whether the Giants over-drafted Jones when they picked him sixth overall and if he'll ever develop into a legitimate franchise quarterback.

Before Jones, the most famous top-10 "reaches" in recent Giants draft histories included offensive lineman Ereck Flowers, chosen ninth overall in 2015, and cornerback Eli Apple, drafted tenth overall in 2016.

Drafting Athletes Over Football Players

One of the biggest reasons behind the Giants' strikeouts in the mid to late draft rounds between 2012 and 2018 was their growing affection toward drafting athletes rather than football players.

Athleticism--physical characteristics of athletes, such as strength, fitness, and agility--are certainly core traits one will want in a football player. Still, the intangibles such as acumen, play speed, and play strength were often characteristics that it's probably fair to say a lot of these picks didn't have (hence why the cupboard became frighteningly bare one failed class after another).

Former offensive tackle James Brewer would be a recent example that fits this category. A 2011 fourth-round pick out of Indiana who had ideal size, strength, and length for an offensive tackle, Brewer never developed for the Giants despite being kept on for his rookie contract.

He tried to keep his career going with the Jets, with whom he signed as a free agent in 2015, but he never made it out of training camp and decided to retire when the opportunities ended.

Letting Assets Influencethe Selection Process

The worst thing the Giants could do is stay away from adding additional assets at a position just because they addressed it in free agency and/or last year's draft.

This was an argument used by some last year against drafting more offensive linemen for the pipeline. Some felt that because the Giants had devoted three assets to the offensive line--Andrew Thomas, Matt Peart, and Shane Lemieux--in the draft, they should eschew the unit.

Sure enough, the Giants did not draft any offensive linemen in last year's draft. Whether that was intentional or a result of them not wanting to reach, the decision came back to bite them hard when injuries (and retirements) struck the line, and they didn't have very many options in the pipeline to step in.

The Giants had to trade for veterans like Ben Bredeson, who ost them a draft pick in this year's draft, and Billy Price, who cost them B.J. Hill.

This year, the Giants loaded up on veteran interior offensive line depth, but if a young center is available in the draft who has the highest grade on their board, would anyone object if they pass on adding a prospect to the pipeline?

And for those of you concerned about the money, so long as the Giants are spending it on productive players, does it matter if, for example, the offensive line group average pay is above the league average for a season or two?

That doesn't mean the Giants should draft nine offensive linemen, but that also doesn't mean they should stay away from a prospect that can help them just because they recently addressed the position.

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