ARMS RACE
Giants draft QB for ‘competition’
Michael Matta, the head football coach at Downingtown East High School outside Philadelphia, was on hand April 2 when Giants offensive assistant Ryan Roeder arrived in Exton, Pa., to work out former Cougars QB Kyle Lauletta.
“I watched the workout. He threw the ball for 45 minutes to an hour and not one ball hit the ground,” Matta told the Daily News by phone Saturday afternoon.
This left the Giants with their second strong in-person impression of Lauletta in three months.
At the Senior Bowl in late January, with GM Dave Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur in the stands, the Richmond quarterback had completed 8 of 12 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns — a 75-yarder, a 1-yarder and 14-yarder.
“He was impressive and he made some strong throws into tight windows, anticipated things, and for me, that’s what really piqued my curiosity,” Gettleman said.
Not every NFL evaluator believes Lauletta has what it takes. He’s often criticized for not having NFL level arm strength. And one league scout said to temper any expectation that the Giants made a huge statement about their franchise’s direction by taking Lauletta with the eighth pick of the fourth round at 108th overall on Saturday.
“He’s a backup,” the scout said. “This is not the Giants drafting their next franchise quarterback. This is competition.”
On one hand, the Giants’ selection of Saquon Barkley and not a QB at No. 2 overall on Thursday represented confirmation of their belief that Eli Manning can play at a high level for “years” to come.
On the other, Shurmur hedged on NFL Network after his press conference, saying that the Giants’ 2018 starting quarterback “most likely is gonna be Eli.”
That’s an eye-opener, that Shurmur might turn training camp into a three-way competition for the starter’s job.
Lauletta, a 6-foot-3, 222-pound, accurate passer (64.9% his senior year with the Spiders), said on a conference call that he is used to be ing counted out and doubted.
“It’s kind of been the story for me my whole career, being doubted and kind of being the underdog,” he said.
Lauletta had four offensive coordinators in five years at Richmond, running offenses that branched from Bill O’Brien’s Penn State system, another with a Dallas Cowboys influence and last year running the spread. And he’s a stand-up guy who people naturally follow, according to his high school coach.
“His character is as good as anyone I’ve been around,” Matta said. “He doesn’t say one thing and do another. High caliber, high character.”
Lauletta, from Exton, comes from athletic and football bloodlines. His father Joe played football at the Naval Academy (1983-86), his uncle Lex played at Navy (1977-80), his uncle Lance played lacrosse at Bucknell (1976-79), and his grandfather Joe played football and basketball at Delaware (1953-56). The Giants’ decision to draft Lauletta is a direct result of Ben McAdoo and Steve Spagnuolo not putting Davis Webb on the field last season, and of co-owner John Mara refusing to force them to do so.
Shurmur and Gettleman had no NFL game tape with which to evaluate Webb, the Giants’ third-round pick out of Cal last year, so even though they do like him, they wanted depth and another promising prospect to groom just in case.
“There is no lack of confidence (in Webb),” Shurmur said.
Interestingly, Gettleman also alluded to the idea that the Giants are aware that life after Eli is coming. “Were we thinking long-term? Yeah, you have to because if you’re not thinking longterm, you always give into that situation where a guy retires or you cut him and you have nobody in line to replace him,” Gettleman said. “You’ve put yourself in a very uncomfortable situation.” f the Giants realized this, though, why didn’t they just draft one of the heralded quarterbacks in this class in the first round? They seem to be toeing the line dangerously between winning now and staying successful into the future. Only time will tell if they made the right choice or screwed it all up.
I—Leonard