Feels like first time
After 33 years, Giants could take LB in opening round
Anything that has not happened in 33 years probably is not worth counting on, so linking the Giants to a linebacker in the first round of Thursday night’s draft is strictly an at-your-own-risk proposition.
But it could happen and, depending on how the first 22 players come off the board, it more likely is to happen this time than many of the previous years the linebackers came off and the Giants looked away.
Lest we forget, one year ago the Giants were hot on the trail for Leonard Floyd, a rangy linebacker from Georgia who they rated above all others. Had he been there at No. 10, the Giants would have blessed their good fortune and sprinted up to the podium to embrace him. The Bears, though, traded up two spots and swiped Floyd with the No. 9 pick. Somewhat reeling, the Giants took cornerback Eli Apple out of Ohio State.
It all worked out for the Giants. Floyd did not make a huge impact in Chicago, slowed as a rookie with concussion issues. Apple got better through the season as he developed within an emerging defense. Still, the Giants wanted an impact linebacker and did not get one. Perhaps they will try again this year.
Jarrad Davis (Florida), Zach Cunningham (Vanderbilt) and Haason Reddick (Temple) are three linebackers who figure to be first-rounders, probably falling out of the top 10. Might all three be gone at 23? Possible, but not likely.
Of the three, Cunningham is most similar to Floyd in terms of speed and size, but Cunningham is not the passrush threat Floyd was in college. Cunningham had the longest arms and wingspan of any linebacker at the scouting combine and iiss unmatched when it commes to racing sideline-tosideline to
pursue a ballcarrier. He needs to get stronger and add muscle, but he can fly.
“That’s definitely been a knock that I’ve heard about me,’’ Cunningham said. “Being able to have that strength, playing at the linebacker position. I’ve been around 225-230 [pounds]. So most of the questions I’ve gotten is would I be able to put on, say, 10 more pounds and play at that weight. And that’s something I would definitely be open to.’’
Davis is a thicker athlete and a harder hitter.
“When he hits somebody, he rocks their world,’’ said a national scout contacted by The Post who likes the idea of Davis at No. 23 to the Giants. Davisavis is aalso t h ee mo st ve ersatil e, cap pable oof playing inside or outside and packing a punch wherever he lines up. He has a history of leg issues and missed four of his final five games at Florida with a sprained ankle. He did not participate in drills at the combine, but a strong showing at his Pro Day proved he is ready to roll. “I’m a very hard-working guy, very dedicated,’’ Davis said. “Football is not all I have, but I treat it like it’s all I have. I treat it like it’s everything, and I feel like that separates me from a lot of guys.’’ Reddick is a Camden, N.J., product who is not as tall (6-foot-1) as scouts would like and vaulted up the charts after a breakthrough senior year (22.5 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks). He might be better-suited as an ededge rusher in a 3-4 defensive front. “He’s just a naturanatural linebacker and an explosive kid who plays hard every down,’’ ththe national scout sasaid. “He’s a better ppass rusher than ththe other two.’’ The Giants have not pput a linebacker in the Pro Bowl sinsince Antonio Pierce in 2006. You havhave to go all the way back to Jessie ArmsteadA to find a home-grown linelinebacker to make it to the Pro Bowl — which Armstead, a 1993 eighth-rouround pick, did f ive times (1997-2001).