This Year's Draft Is the Key to the Giants Future



Without a doubt, this years draft can be make or break for the New York Giants. Looking back to all the great Giant teams of the past, they were all built from successful drafts. The Parcells teams of the 80's were virtually built from scratch with legendary players such as: Lawrence Taylor, Joe Morris, Carl Banks, Mark Collins, Mark Bavaro, Maurice Carthon, Leonard Marshall, Bart Oates, and the list goes on and on. It was this core of young talent who were added to the existing veterans such as Phil Simms, George Martin and Harry Carson to produce the most dominant Giants team ever assembled.

Lawrence Taylor  Picture Source: ESPN







By 1990, the draft class from the early to mid 80's became the core veterans, and George Young and Bill Parcells had added a couple more vital pieces through the draft such as Rodney Hampton, Jumbo Elliot, Doug Riesenburg, Dave Meggett, Stephen Baker and Mark Ingram. This ultimately put them over the top during their improbable run that culminated in one of the most dramatic super bowl victories in NFL history against the Buffalo Bills.






The 2000 team that made their own improbable run to the Super Bowl was also built through the draft. It was draftees such as Tiki Barber, Amani Toomer, Jesse Armstead, Michael Strahan and Jason Sehorn that made up the core of that team.

Finally, most recently in 2007, the Giants draft class going into that season is renowned for the significant contributions that each of them made during the Giants super bowl run, and epic upset in the super bowl of the undefeated Patriots. Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, Kevin Boss and Ahmad Bradshaw all played integral roles and were all part of the 2007 draft class. Add super bowl MVP Eli Manning to the mix, as well as Brandon Jacobs, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Chris Snee, and David Diehl, as well as veteran draftees such as Toomer and Strahan, and you have the nucleus of yet another title.
 

Now, once again, it is the moment of truth. Can Jerry Reese put together a draft that will produce a future championship? After the elite draft class of 2007, Reese followed up with an almost equally strong draft producing such players as Kenny Phillips, Terrell Thomas, Mario Manningham, and Jonathan Goff at the end of the 5th round which is impressive value considering he was a relatively productive starter this past season. It is from the core of young draft talent leading up to the 2007 super bowl, combined with the talent of the 2007 and 2008 drafts that Reese must reinforce this year. The last two drafts have produced little outside of Hakeem Nicks, and many of the pieces of the former classes have began to decline in their abilities. With the expiration of the CBA agreement and threat of a lockout putting a hold on free agency, the 2011 NFL Draft has become a vital tool for building a super bowl contender this off-season.



I will be posting my projected picks rounds 1-7 for the Giants over the next couple of days. Check back in and feel free to post some of your suggestions for this years' draft.


-Augie Tieri