Pat goes to college tape
ORLANDO — It would have helped Pat Shurmur to have NFL tape of Davis Webb playing quarterback to have a better handle on whether the Giants even needed to draft a QB at No. 2 overall.
But Shurmur doesn’t have that, through no fault of his own, so he’s doing the next best thing: evaluating Webb’s college tape in comparison to the members of this year’s class, then giving Webb one more opportunity in a pre-draft minicamp to wow Giants brass before it enters the war room.
“As I was watching this year’s quarterbacks, I went back and watched (Webb’s) college film to compare him to the guys coming out this year, and I went back and revisited my notes from (scouting) him (for the Minnesota Vikings) a year ago. We had him rated highly,” Shurmur said Tuesday morning at the NFL coaches breakfast at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes. “The unfortunate thing for me is that there’s just not a lot of him playing football in a Giants helmet, which would have been a good thing for me to see. So that is what it is, but I’m looking forward to working with him.”
How Shurmur ultimately feels about Webb most certainly impacts what the Giants will do at the top of the draft. He is therefore excited about the extra, voluntary minicamp afforded him as a new head coach from April 24-26, with the first round of the draft occurring the evening of April 26. Webb will get a heavy amount of snaps to show his stuff.
“It factors in,” Shurmur said of Webb in the draft process. “I’ve got high hopes for him being a productive player in this league. It’s a little bit of an unknown. The advantage we will have, though, is we’ll have two weeks of training where we can’t go on the field — it’s just in the meeting room — and then we’re gonna get that extra minicamp, which’ll be right up to the draft. So it’ll be a great way for Davis to sort of showcase what he can do.” Shurmur didn’t want to put too much pressure on Webb to perform that week but the truth is he’s using every opportunity available, including reviewing last year’s practice tape, to evaluate him. “He’s gonna get a lot of reps and he probably would anyways,” he said. “I don’t want to make this sound like it’s a showcase for Davis Webb, but as a guy who we’re certainly interested in seeing, he’s certainly gonna get his fair share of the reps.” GM Dave Gettleman was colorful in his description of what a quarterback must be for the Giants to use the No. 2 pick on him. “In the area code we’re picking in, does he make everybody else better? Is he the guy, can he do what Eli did? Two minutes left in the Super Bowl and he takes the team down the field, BOOP. You’ve gotta be able to picture that.” Shurmur admitted he has “a list, an order in mind,” but wouldn’t divulge specifics and said those quarterbacks are “all in the same category right now.” Shurmur allowed that Webb’s one year in the NFL, even as a backup who never played, is in his favor in comparison to a potential rookie draft pick. “There’s no substitute for experience,” the coach said. “Even though he was here and didn’t play a bunch, he became experienced in ways that you can’t if you haven’t been here.” AP