Your New York Sports Blog: Giants Draft

Saturday, March 8, 2008

At various places I have polled people on who they feel the Giants should draft with their 1st round pick (Keith Rivers, Dan Connor, Kenny Phillips) should they be available. The 1st poll was on March 1st and the 2nd on March 7th. The people's answers changes a lot between the 2 dates.

March 1st:
Keith Rivers, OLB, USC - 11 votes 24%
Dan Connor, ILB, Penn - 24 votes 52%
Kenny Phillips, S, Miami - 11 votes 24%
46 votes

March 6th:
Keith Rivers, OLB, USC - 12 votes 24%
Dan Connor, ILB, Penn - 19 votes 39%
Kenny Phillips, S, Miami - 18 votes 38%
49 votes

Combine Totals:
Keith Rivers, OLB, USC - 23 votes 24%
Dan Connor, ILB, Penn - 43 votes 45%
Kenny Phillips ,S, Miami - 29 votes 31%
95 votes

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The people have clearly spoken. They think the Giants should draft Dan Connor out of Penn State. I was a little confused by this because although I like Connor and think he would suite the Giants well he is not even the best linebacker in the pole. Scouts Inc. rating has USC's Keith Rivers at a 94, while Connor comes in at 92. Rivers is just a complete beast coming in at 6'10 236 lbs. and has good athleticism. The one who I feel they should draft and who had the greatest improvement after the departure of Gibril Wilson is safety Kenny Phillips of Miami(FL). Phillips moved from tied for last to 1 vote behind Dan Connor. This is an extremely weak safety class was Phillips being the best, but hurt is value with a poor combine. With this being a very strong linebacking class you can take your safety round one and still get a very good linebacker in the 2nd round. By doing so you increase the value of your picks and fill your 2 biggest needs with good players.