Griffin finally hears name at NFL draft Giants fill glaring holes on team
Barkley, Hernandez highlight solid picks
Arlington, Texas — Shaquem Griffin came back. The crowd loved it.
Players in attendance not selected in the first two days of the NFL draft usually head out of town before the fourth through seventh rounds.
Griffin, who sat through 100 names being called in the first three rounds, wasn’t in AT&T Stadium on Saturday. Then he was after Seattle spent the 141st overall selection on the Central Florida linebacker who has no left hand.
That fifth-round choice, announced in Seattle, drew loud cheers from fans at Jerry’s World.
Griffin, whose left hand was amputated when he was young, has become the feel-good story this year and one of the most popular players in this draft because of his perseverance, outgoing personality and, of course, his talent.
“I mean that was amazing,” Griffin said. “To even have an opportunity to come back, I didn’t think I was going to be able to come back and do it ... I don’t remember seeing too many people who have left and came back.
“That was the most amazing experience of my entire life. Me thinking about it, that moment, to be up on that stage and having the crowd go crazy, it was like we had won the Peach Bowl all over again. It was nuts.”
Griffin helped UCF go undefeated last season, then blew through the NFL combine with a 4.38 in the 40, sensational lifting work with his prosthetic, and a can-do attitude.
Exactly the sort of player the Seahawks seem to find; they drafted his twin brother, Shaquill, out of UCF last year.
“It’s been a really good experience,” Shaquem said. “I would have been crazy to turn an experience down like this. I’m just glad I was one of the selected few to be here.”
Griffin had one of the more unusual ways of finding out he was chosen.
“I was using the restroom and my brother came and tackled me with my cellphone, saying ‘answer it, answer it,’ and I looked, and that’s when tears started pouring down,” Griffin explained.
“I literally went to use the restroom and that’s when my brother busted in and tackled me. I think I was more scared of him tackling me in the bathroom and not knowing what was happening than anything.”
East Rutherford, N.J. — After finishing his first draft as general manager of the New York Giants, Dave Gettleman got a laugh when asked his thoughts on his six picks.
With his heavy Boston accent, Gettleman said no GM is going to walk into a press room and tell the media he drafted garbage.
Garbage wasn’t the word he used, but the meaning was clear. He could have stretched the truth if he wanted, but it wasn’t necessary.
“I’m thrilled. We got big butts. We got power. We got speed,” said Gettleman who momentarily stopped to apologize for his choice of words. “And we got a quarterback we really like. I am not angry.”
Coming off a 3-13 season that cost coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese their jobs, the Giants seemingly found value and filled a need with every pick in the NFL draft that ended Saturday.
They feel they got the best player in the draft in Penn State running back Saquon Barkley with the second pick overall. They had a first-round grade on guard Will Hernandez of UTEP when they took him in the second round.
Edge rusher Lorenzo Carter of Georgia and defensive tackle B.J. Hill of North Carolina State had second-round grades when taken in the third round.
Quarterback Kyle Lauletta of Richmond and defensive tackle R.J. McIntosh of Miami were right where the Giants felt they would be in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively.
The picks will create competition on a team that needs to be pushed by new coach Pat Shurmur.
Gettleman also knows the job of building a roster is far from over.
“It takes time,” he said. “Folks, you have to understand that Rome was not built in a day. This is a brick-bybrick deal and at the end of the day we are going to keep making moves and shake up the back end of the roster until we get it right.”
Eli still the one
The decision to grab Barkley and ignore the quartet of quarterbacks taken in the first 10 picks overall clearly shows the Giants think 37-year-old Eli Manning has good years left. Taking Lauletta in the fourth round also shows the team wants backup Davis Webb, the third-round pick last year, to have competition in training camp.
The Barkley factor
Barkley should give the Giants their first legitimate home run threat out of the backfield in more than a decade. What makes him unique is he is a three-down player who runs with speed and power, and can catch passes. And in the NFL, opposing defenses can’t focus on him like in college. There’s Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard and tight end Evan Engram to worry about.
“I think that’s why I was brought here, to bring an impact to the running game, to have that same domination that I had in college where a team wants to just shut me down, and then it just opens up everyone else,” said Barkley, who had 53 total touchdowns in three years with the Nittany Lions.
The O-line
The offensive line will be dramatically different than the banged-up, inefficient unit that played last year. Hernandez should be able to start at one of the guard positions along with free agent signee Patrick Omameh. Fellow free agent Nate Solder is set at left tackle and Brett Jones returns at center. The only question mark is right tackle. Ereck Flowers has been asked to move from the left side to the right, but his status is uncertain; he has refused to take part in the voluntary offseason activities and minicamp.
Never enough
Gettleman is a believer in never having enough good players. The additions of Carter, Hill and McIntosh gives the Giants a dozen pass rushers when veterans Kareem Martin, Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison, Dalvin Tomlinson, John Mauro, Romeo Okwara, Kerry Wynn, Robert Thomas and Avery Moss are added in. Should be an interesting camp.
Still needed
A big receiver is needed. Veteran Brandon Marshall was let go after failing his physical last week. New York has other guys who played last season, but no one combines height and speed that can stretch the field. The Giants could use one more inside linebacker for depth in the new 3-4 alignment. With Eli Apple coming off a bad season and Janoris Jenkins returning from ankle surgery, a cornerback would help.