Big Blue Kickoff Live 6/13 | Giants Player Draft

John Schmeelk and Matt Citak draft players from the Giants roster to make 11-man starting offensive and defensive lineups, and take calls from fans.

:00 - Giants player draft

55:00 - Calls

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff line.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't do it
because you're.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
On Giants dot com. Do you know what I saw
do York Giant Track and the Giants mobile at the
final one don down. We all were tampering part of
the Giants podcast network.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Let's go on.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Welcome to Friday, the edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live,
presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the Giants.
OTAs are over. I am John Schmelke. He is Matthew Sidetak.
The Giants were supposed to have their final o TA today,
they decided to do a little team out againstead. Uh
so that's why you're not gonna see any practice reports
or anything like that from us today on the website.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
We have two days of mini camp practice next week
that we will cover the same way we did OTAs
and that will matt wrap up the Giant spring. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
And then we had a I guess you can call
it a little break.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
No, it's a little Break's not much, but it's a
little a little bit sure, it's a little a little
bit of time off before we ramp things up for
training camp. Yeah, it's basically four weeks and give or take,
and then the players are back again. We don't have
the exact date, somewhere in that July twenty second, twenty
third area, and that's when training camp will kick off again.
Thanks for joining us in the Hackensack Marity Health podcast studio.

(01:19):
Keep getting better. So today we're gonna do some fun.
We did a NFC East player draft earlier this week.
UH thought it would be fun though, to just focusing
on the Giants with Matt here. So what we're gonna
try and do here today We're gonna throw the coaches
and special teams out because teams will carry multiple specials
to make that an interesting part of the conversation. So
each of us just off the Giants roster is going

(01:41):
to draft our best possible twenty two man roster in
a typical draft format, back and forth. And the reason
I want to do this not to figure out which
one of us is a better drafter. I want to
figure out where the Giants have the most depth and
where maybe we think they're a little bit lacking. Because
when we're done here, Matt, we're gonna draft four four players.

(02:01):
That's darn near all of the position players that the
Giants are gonna have on the roster that are not
special teams specific right, you're gonna have do three specialists.
You're gonna have some players that are, you know, primarily
there for coverage teams. So we're getting through ninety five
percent of the position players on the roster or who
we think might be on the roster when we draft
these teams, and we're gonna say where maybe we think

(02:23):
the Giants you might have some concerns depth wise, and
where we feel really comfortable where the Giants are depth
wise based on you remember, we're drafting two full teams here,
so you're basically getting one or two backups, two backups
really for each position, so depending on what position you're
talking about. So it should be a good exercise. Let's
have some fun, mister Pearson, are you ready with your

(02:44):
phone coin flipper?

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Ready?

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Okay? Which you can do the honors heads or tails? Heads,
tails never fails and Decks always goes tails.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Tails.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
No, there we go. Now this is tough. I asked
Pearson what he would do with this pick when we
started the show, because I think there are two guys
you could take here, and I think It's a really
tough call which one I want to take because they're
both dominant. I think they'll both help you win a
lot of football games. And I think the next best

(03:17):
guy of both these positions Matt It's a big drop
off going from one to the next. But I'm gonna
go with the guy that is tried and true and
has done it for a longer period of time. So
I'm gonna go with Dexter Lawrence. It's the best player
on the team. He might be the most dominant defensive
player in the National Football League at this point. He
had nine sacks last year as a nose tackle in

(03:38):
just twelve games. He's a monster. He helps your pass rush,
helps your run defense, and there's not another player like him,
let alone on the Giants, but in the National Football League.
So I decided to go with Dexter Lawrence with my
first pick. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I mean, two
time All Pro would have been three time All Pro
had he not gotten hurt last year.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Probably the best player at his position, if not the
best one b to Chris Jones one A. So yeah,
I can't really argue with you.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
There is that who you would have picked first? No, Okay,
where are you going?

Speaker 2 (04:12):
And it's not because I don't think he's the best
player on the teen. Because I do think he is
the best, most talented player on the New York Giants.
But I'm going to go with someone based on I mean,
you kind of mentioned it, but it might not be
who you think, Okay, based on who the Giants have
elsewhere at this position.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
I'm gonna go with Elik Neighbors. That was my second guy,
all right, Pearson? Should I go Neighbors here or should
I go dex to Lawrence? That was my debate.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Because, I mean, we saw what Malik did as a
rookie last year amazing with let's just call it not
the greatest quarterback play, and obviously we expect the quarterback
play to be a lot better this year. I'm excited
to see what he can do.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
And in no disrespect to the other wide.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Receivers on the team, but there clearly is a drop
off between Malik and whatever whichever guy you want to
put second, and it's just because of how good Melie Neighbors.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
It's nothing against the other guy. Yes, And I think
the interesting part too, when you see how that teams
in the national Football League are building teams, Matt, Who
are the positions that are right after quarterbacks in terms
of who makes the most money? So wide receivers and
guys that got after the quarterback yep. So I think
for anybody drafting these teams, these would probably be the
first two off the board if you're building an NFL team.

(05:29):
I'm usually an offense first guy, which is why I
wanted to pick Neighbors. But look, he's only been the
league for one year, he's coming off of an injury.
Dex has done it for long. I know Dex's coming
off an injury too, but he has a long history
of being healthy in these years. Sure, and so it
was a tough call for me. I was hoping you
would not go with Neighbors. I wanted to get with
my second pick.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
I knew if I had second pick, I was gonna
get one of those two.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
So whicheveryone you didn't take? So now I am going
to take a little bit of a risking eye with
my third pick. And look, we we always talk about
this guy. It's the guy that's vital to the giant success.
And if we've seen when he gets hurt the last
few years, everything goes haywire and everything goes wrong. So
I cannot not go with Andrew Thomas here. And I
understand the injury concerns and how he has not played

(06:14):
you know, double digit games now for you know, is
it two straight years under double the Jets or or
did he get the ten? No, he did not get
the ten right nine, So that's about where he's been.
But he's so important and if he's not at left tackle,
who is? And then you kind of get into panic
time with who's behind him. So again, not that you

(06:35):
don't believe in a guy like James Hunson who they
brought in. He just doesn't play to the level that
that that Andrew Thomas does. So I gotta go with
Andrew Thomas here with with pick number three.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, so that's when you were talking before about you know,
the drop off between this guy and you.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Thought I met Tommas.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
I wasn't sure if you met Malik or Thomas it
works for both of them. I kind of yeah, I
kind of assumed you would be taken Thomas or that pick.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Uh, all right, this is where it gets it thing now?
Actually it's pretty easy for me. Okay, I'm going Brian
Burns next time would have been my next pick too.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
I mean, if you look at what he did last year,
and I think people sometimes forget he played basically the
entire year banged up. Now, granted, this is the National
Football League. Most guys are banged up, and most guys
are banged up for most of the year, but he
was really fighting through injuries basically from the start of
the season till the very end. He still played all

(07:30):
seventeen games and was still very effective, and that was
with Keavon missing five games, with Decks missing five games,
Burns still had a pretty solid season, and now, given
even more talent around him, I think we might see
the Brian Burns this year that I know we were
all hoping we were gonna get last year. I think
that version of Brian Burns, if he stays healthy, that's

(07:50):
the one we're gonna see this year. So Brian Burns
will be my pick. Okay, I think that's a good pick.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Now, I who, I have two guys here I'm looking at,
and I don't know if you're gonna pick the other one.
If I don't, I also think there could be a
third guy in the mix. So this is a tough
decision because I do think, much like before, you're looking
at two spots where you don't draft this guy, there's
gonna be a drop off at the position. All right,

(08:18):
I am going to select Jermaine a Luminor and get
my two starting left tackles in the building.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
And you're doing that just to get both both tackles
and leave me without any starting tackle.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
No, I'm just Matt. I don't know who my right
tackle would be if I don't draft a Luminar. You
know it's gonna be Hudson, But I don't guess we're
gonna find Yeah, I guess we're gonna find out, right,
But I think again, this is the point, right, Alumino
is not the next best player on the roster. No, Right,
that's the point. There's one, two, three, four, probably five

(08:50):
other guys I would pick ahead of him before I
got to illumin Or in terms of what the best
player is. But we're talking about players that are most
important and that are gonna help you win games, right, Yep.
He can play guard in a pinch, He can play
bull tackle spots if you need him. So I just
think the value of him is a player. And again,
I've talked about this. If the Giants would want to
talk about a contract extension with him, I would have
no problem with that either. He's a good guy, he's

(09:11):
a good teammate. So I'm gonna go with Jermaine Lumano
here at right tackle.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, I didn't think you were going to go that way,
just because, as you said, he's not the next best
player on the team, and so I was thinking that
I would get him with my next pick. Here, he
kind of left me with not the greatest options at tackle.
But at least now I don't.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Have to worry about now you can wait till the
end of the draft to pick them. Yeah, that that
is the advantage that I gave you. That is true.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
That's true, calling an advantage. Okay, so then let's see
all right. Then for my next pick, this is another
position where I think there is a somewhat sizeable drop
off between this guy and then the next guy at
this position. He's a new addition to He is also

(10:00):
coming off dodgery, But based on first of all, the
video that he posted on social media before getting signed
of him doing backflips and then fully participating in the spring,
I think he's healthy and ready to go.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
So my pick will be those are the two guys
I was debating between. Man, we are on the same
page here, Matt, this is interesting, all right. I can't
argue with that. I do think there's a drop off
at that spot. He was the other guy was considering
if I did not, if I picked the debo, you
would have taken alum. When I'm assuming with your pick
the all right, So i wouldn't have got both guys anyway.
So I'm not gonna beat myself up over that, all right.

(10:35):
So I'm up now, and you know what, I already
picked the book ND Tackles. I might as well pick
the player that's gonna benefit from that the most, and
I'll take Russell Wilson. I think I want him as
my quarterback. I think he is, by a pretty wide margin,
the best quarterback on this team right now. Remember we're
trying to win games this year. This is not drafting
for future years. Is just to win as many games

(10:55):
as we can in twenty twenty five. So I'm gonna
go with Russell Wilson here to be my starting quarterback
behind my two bookend Tackles and Thomas and Leminor yeah,
I can't.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Can't blame me. There was what I was. He was
in consideration for the next pick.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
Curious who you pick? Is your quarterback, you know what
to do to the end. But I'm curious who you pick.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
I mean, based on what you just said, I've I
feel like there's no Yeah, I'm curious.

Speaker 1 (11:22):
We will find out. All right.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Then for my next pick, I am going to Right now,
I only have Molik on offense. I'm gonna stick with
the defense though, and I only have one defensive player.
I don't feel great about that, by the way. Uh.
And I am going to address the one level of
the defense that I have not yet, and I'm gonna
take Bobby Okaake.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
He was next on my list too. Wow. Okay, that's
a good pick.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
So now I got one edge, one linebacker, and one
guy in the secondary.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
Alright, my defense is looking pretty good at least. Yeah,
I think I think your defense looks great to be
right now.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Right now, offense is kind of looking like the Giants
offense last year.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
It's just leak neighbors.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
All right.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
I'm gonna go to the defensive side of the ball here.
I need to get this short up a little bit.
I would. I would have picked Oup Karaka if he
was there to anchor that, but instead, I'm gonna help
the edge position. And I know I'm going down on
a limb here, Busy. I've never seen him play a
snap for the New York Football Giants or an NFL
team before, but I'm gonna go with Abdul Carter. I
want an explosive pass rusher to compliment decks, to get

(12:24):
after the quarterback. I thought about Tips here, I thought
about two other players, but I'm gonna go with Abdul
Carter here as my pass rusher off the edge. Yeah. Again,
can't blame you there.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
I mean from the little bit we've seen in spring,
granted with no contact.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
But look, he looks explosive. He does.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
And this is him lining up sometimes on the inside
because obviously the guys the Giants have on the edge,
and I don't. It looks like he's gonna be a
type of guy where you can literally line him up
anywhere and against just about anyone, and he's got a
pretty good.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
Chance at winning that matchup. Again, from the little bit
we've seen.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
So far, so uh okay, I was kind of waiting
for you to take one of the two edge guys, yes,
because I knew there were there were two left. And
I'm not even gonna wait because I want to just
keep showing up my defense. So I'm gonna go with
the other one now and get my two. Just like
you took your two tackles, I'm taking my two edge guys,
and I'm taking cave on Tibodeau.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
Now.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
I like it. Good pick, all right, So I could
wait to the end to pick my edge guy. And
I feel really good about Chauncey Golston, by the way.
I think he's a good player, so I do not
feel bad about that one. More of a bigger run
stopper on one edge, right, and you got the pass
rusher on the other. So like like my little little
combination there. But I can wait to the end. I
only need to do that here, all right. So I'm
gonna jump to I think is the next best player
on the defense, and I'm gonna go with Javon Holland

(13:38):
safety to anchor my secondary, to be that guy back there.
You have Bobby Oquerake as your main communicator, I'm gonna
have Jamon Holland step in and kind of be the
guy that minds my safety spot. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
So honestly, if you hadn't taken that duel with that
last pick, my pick right probably would have been Javon Holland. Nice,
but you did, so I am gonna take the guy
that's likely going to be starting right next to him
and Tyler Neuban, like I want to make sure I
don't lose out on both starting safeties.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
I think that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
I think Tyler Newman, I mean, we saw what he
did last year as a rookie. First of all, only
missed two snaps prior to his season ending foot injury.
H iron Man out there looked pretty good as well.
And again I'm gonna say this about a lot of
these guys on the defense, but just with the pure
level of talent all across the defense now at every

(14:31):
single level, all of these guys are gonna get put
in such more opportunities to make plays forced turnovers. Tyler
Nuban didn't even have an interception last year.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
He was a ballhawk in college.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
He's gonna get back to that, and I have a
feeling he's going to be adding quite a few takeaways
to the turnover chest this season.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
I think he will as well, all right, I'm gonna
go with the guy that I think is really the
only true slot on the roster who plays really good
in that spot. There's another player that can do both,
and I'm sure that's again picking to play that spot.
But I want to play nickel. I want to play
five defensive backs as my base defense. So I'm gonna

(15:11):
go with Drew Phillips here to slide into my slot
cornerback spot heading into his second year.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
It's a good pick. Everything I just said about Tyler
Newban kinda.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
He looks, stops the runs. He's truck he's he makes
the right plays, he's physical. He's a good football player.
Because I still think we need to see when he
gets into those man on man situations in the field,
how he covers. We haven't seen a ton of that yet,
especially a man to man. But he's a good football player.
So I'm gonna go Drew phllips here with that pick.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
All right, I am finally gonna go back to the
offensive side of the ball. Now. I feel pretty good
with the core of my defense right now. I think
you should almost half of my defense filled up. I
am going to take I'm gonna keep add into my
wide receiver. Oh no, and I'm gonna take the guy

(15:59):
who who he's I mean, he's been mister consistent consistency
for years. Giants just brought him back this offseason. He's
looked great the spring. Darius Slayton.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
I was gonna pick him, and then I decided to
pick folks instead. Tracked. I didn't think you would go
back to the wide receiver again, that's what I get
keeping No, you Arkie, those absolutely. I think it's a
good pick. All right. I'm gonna pivot back to defense then,
because I want to have at least one veteran player
on this level. The demon. I would think Mike McFadden
the linebacker. I think he's dependable. I like him as

(16:32):
a blitzer, and I think he's a guy that just
is a real consistent performer. And I think once you
get past McFadden, we might like some of the players
a linebacker, but you're out of proven commodities. You know,
Darius Mussol played a little bit in that spot last year.
You liked what you saw, but still late around third
day draft pick didn't play a ton last year. I
want to you know, if you would have drafted McFadden.

(16:53):
I would have been really worried about my linebacking course,
so I'm gonna put Mike and McFadden in that.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
I did consider it, but I had a feeling that
if I did, you were gonna take Slayted in. I
wanted to get another offensive weapon out there. So all right,
I'm glad I took him. Then all right back to me,
who I still don't have an offensive linement.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
I do not love that. Yeah, you might want to
block somebody kind of important.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Well, again, we're talking about trying to get the best
players on the team, and you know, once the two
tackles are gone.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
But we're also building a roster. We're trying to build
a team that wins. Yeah, then I have a quarterback
with no receivers to throw the ball to. So what
does that tell you? Okay, I am gonna go with uh.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, I gotta do it because he's my boy, and
he's gonna play right next to Daan Tyler Nubin in
the secondary. My guy Dan Belton. I've been hyping him
up since before OTA started. He's looked great in ot
He's probably been the defensive standout in OTAs and again
it's ot as well.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
That would be a preview of Matthew Sitek's Factor fiction
coming later today giants dot Com.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Oh yes it's already really so yes, I did go
with fact on that one, so literally, and that's why
I go, I know, side Tak's going to go fact here,
so I'm going to give you a different name.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
And I didn't even know what you're rope, but I
knew that's what you're gonna I mean, look, the guy,
the guy.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
I've said this on the show, I don't even know
how many times now, but the guy just forces turnovers.
He gets the ball into his hands, whether it's on defense,
on special teams, and guess what.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
That's exactly what he's done this spring.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
He's I think he has three interceptions, which is the
most takeaways of anyone on this defense. Again, he's looking
like he's slotting into that number three safety role, assuming
Newban and Jamon Holland are healthy. But if he keeps
playing like this, he's going to force the coaching staff
to get him on the field because they're just not
going to be able to keep him off if he
keeps playing at this level.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
All right, since I don't have any receivers. I'd better
be able to run the football here. So I'm gonna
pick Tyrone Tracy to be my running back. I know
it's a deep position. I just think he's a really
good football player and I think he is gonna be
the giants number one back this year. And if I
can't throw it, I better, hell ye be able to
run it. So I'm gonna pick Tyrone Tracy here as
the stoady running back who I do think will be
getting sixty to seventy percent of the carry share to

(19:03):
start the year. I'd be surprised if he didn't. Yeah, No,
I think that is a good pick.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
I think he definitely is the most talented running back
on this team. And we haven't seen much of campscataboo,
but yes, Tyrone Tracy, we saw what he did last year.
Going into year two now and again everyone seems to
forget the guy's only had two full seasons playing the
running back position, one in college and then last season,
and he looked pretty darn good for someone that has
not played that position much. So I think that is

(19:30):
a very good pick there, all right, Next up for me, Ooh,
I know what I'm gonna do next? Going back to
the defense, someone that you mentioned that you wanted as
an edge guy. But guess what, this guy's versatile. I'm
gonna line him up on the inside. I'm gonna line
him up on the inside. So I'm gonna take Chauncey Golston.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
That's a good pick. That's a good pick. Yeah, you
got me with that one.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
He's definitely gonna He's gonna be lining up all over
the defensive line this season. He's not gonna just be
exclusive to one position or one. He will line up
at something at defensive tackle. He certainly will get some
snaps at edge as well. He's looked pretty good the
spring as well. Again, granted, no contact, There's only so
much you can learn from offensive lineman and defensive lineman.

(20:13):
But so far, so good from him. So taking him
as my first defensive tackle.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
All right, So I'm leaning into the run game. What
do you mean with a good run name, you need
some play action passes and a guy that can win
over the top. So I'm gonna go with Jalen Hyatt here,
even though one though Rominson is more approven wide receiver.
I need a speed guy in the outside the play offense.
The way I want this group to play offense. I
have Russell Wilson at quarterback that loves throwing the moonball deep. Well,
I want the fastest guy in the team, and that's

(20:39):
Jalen Hyatt. I'm gonna go Jalen Hyatt here to be
my first wide receiver. Yeah again, and you already took
two of them, so I'm run out of guys.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
He has looked great this spring. I mean again, not
to ruin fact or fiction, but that was my pick
for the offensive standout.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
On that one. I couldn't get to. I couldn't get
more creative. It was just too hard to argue against that.
He had to great look. And I know, hey, by
the way, we haven't talked about this part of it.
Has he dropped the pass?

Speaker 2 (21:06):
I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
I don't think so either, Not that I can remember
at all either, can I? Uh?

Speaker 2 (21:11):
And I know because I saw, especially after you know
Darius Layton said yesterday about him adding Jalen Hyde adding
the muscle. Saw plenty of people on Twitter being like, oh,
we've heard this before. You know, we heard this last year.
Let me tell you because John, the two of us,
we were out there every day during OTZ last year,
and again every day during ot IS this year. He

(21:33):
looked significantly better right now than he did at this
time last year.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah, and last year, neither one of us said that
we thought he looked significantly bigger. No, I think he
might have said that he added some muscles, but it's
and then I think we said this last year he
didn't look like and even he only said he had
like five pounds or something. Yeah, But like I mean,
I don't know if you remember, like day one of
ots maybe even before the first time I saw him
with a sleeveless shirt on, I said, he looks no bigger.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yes, I don't know necessarily if it's you know, twenty
pounds of muscle bigger, because that is a lot.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
But he looks that's that's more than that is. If
you if you can get up to one to eighty,
it's all he needs to be. That's what DeVante Smith is.
It's fine. Yeah, just don't have around one seventy and
you're good.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, So I like that pick there. Let's see, all right,
I'm gonna well, I might as well just round out
the wide receiver room then and get my slack eye
and I'll take Wandell Robinson. All right, pretty happy with
my wide receivers being we're likely to be the top
three wide outs on the team this year. Granted I

(22:38):
don't have anyone to throw them the ball or anyone
to block for the no name quarterback, but at least
we have the wide receiver room done.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
You do excellent job on the wide receiver. All right, Well,
you're gonna make me pivot here now, Matt, and I
was gonna play eleven personnel, but man, I'm gonna lean
into something else. I'm gonna pick THEO Johnson to be
my starting tight end. Uh So I'm gonna slide him
into tight end here and you'll see what I uh,
what I do here as I try to run down
my offense right and THEO Johnson, I get my little

(23:09):
thumb now on him. I guess big player size Wise
came on at the end of last year before he
got hurt. Receiving skills. I don't think he's the twitchiest guy,
but he's certainly is straight ahead speed. He's got good hands,
he can get open, he can block a little bit.
So I think you hold my run game. Like I said,
I want to be a run first team. I want
the big run blocking tight end in there, so I'll
bring THEO Johnson to be my starting tight end.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yes, I was deciding between Juandell and THEO. I would
have picked up the other guy. If you would have
picked the other guy, so there you would have figured. Uh,
I can't really argue with that pick there. All right,
I think it is finally, finally time.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
Are you gonna break the lid on the offensive line?
I think so. I think so. And you know this guy.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
Granted, I think we maybe wanted to or expected, I guess,
slightly better play last year. But again, he was better
in the first six weeks before Andrew Thomas went down.
Once Andrew Thomas went down, the whole line took a
big hit and everyone kind of dipped in their production,
so to speak. I think is I mean, again, as
long as Andrew Thomas stays healthy, I think this guy

(24:16):
is due for a much better season. I'm gonna take
John Runyan. I thought he played well last year. I
know he was solid. He was solid, he wasn't bad.
But I think I guess we were maybe hoping he would,
you know, bring about pro Bowl level play to the
interior offensive line.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
But I think he could improve the season what we do.
He's left guard to right guard for your Runyon left
guard for now, right left guard for now. You can
always move him around. All right, So I'm gonna actually
then boost my offensive line as well, and I'm gonna
go with Greg Van Roten. He's a guy that can

(24:55):
play guard, he can move around a little bit, he's
a veteran. I'm gonna slide him intos one of my
starting guards. Yeah, and his first flexibility and versatilities which
will protect me in case you do something here that
would be true.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Honestly, I've I mean, people that listen to the show,
you guys know I love Greg Van Rodin. I was
very happy when the Giants brought him back. I just
think Runyon ceiling given his.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Age is higher.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
But I probably would have taken Van Roden with this
pick if you did not just take him there. So uh,
all right, Well then with my next pick, all right,
I am going to take the number one center on
the team in John Michael Schmidtz. And I know I

(25:40):
thought you might do that, and I know you know
a lot of people might be disappointed with his first
two seasons. But to that, I will say his rookie
year compared to last year were very different. He got
a lot better. Granted there's still a lot of room
for improvement, but he was better last year than he
was as a rookie. He took a pretty decent size step. Obviously,

(26:04):
going to year three now, which is a big year
for offensive lineman, he needs to take a much bigger
step up. But he's just he's the best center on
this team, yep, and I don't think it's very close.
I think we're going to see better play from him
this year, again, assuming the lynchpin of the line stays
healthy and Andrew Thomas. But I think there's a version

(26:25):
we see of JMS this year based on not what
we've seen in the spring, because again offensive lineman or
not not a whole much to learn, but more so
from what we've heard his teammates say about him since
they reported here, was it right before the draft, the
beginning of the offseason workout program, anytime he's been brought up,
whether it's fellow offensive lineman, quarterbacks raving about him. So

(26:49):
I think we're gonna see a year three jump from JMS.
So I'm taking him as my center.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
I like it all right, I'm gonna go to the
defensive side of the ball and I'm gonna get an
I'm gonna get my first outside cornerback, and I'll roll
the dice on so upside here, I'll go Deontay Banks.
I will hope that he steps up in this year.
I want a guy that's big and physical on the outside.
I already have a big I have a physical slot.
I want a physical outside cornerback as well. So I'm
gonna go Deontay Banks as one of my outside starting corners. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Again, it's kind of waiting to see, waiting for you
to take one of the two corners for me to
then come in and take the next one with my
next pick. So I'm going to go and take Cordell
flat with my next pick. And Cordell has gonna say
he's looked pretty good to spring.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
That was my standout on defense pick.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
He has looked pretty good. I know we kind of
I feel like we've all been like hoping or waiting
for a you know, a breakout from him prior to
this season his first couple of years. But so far
the spring, he's had pretty sticky coverage no matter who
he's been lined up against you know, he's been mixed in.
Him and Deontay Banks have both gotten time mixing with

(27:57):
the starters. He's gotten some reps there. He's looked good,
whether it's with the first or second team defense. I
think he's gonna get at least some chance to play
this year. Again, I don't I would still think Deantay
Banks is the favorite to be the starter opposite Paulson Adebo.
But cordelf Loot's certainly gonna get some opportunities, especially training
camp preseason, to show what he can do. So and

(28:19):
I think he's gonna take advantage of those opportunities. So
I'm going with Cordell Flott here.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
No.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
I think that's a good pick, and it's a TVD
right now. Whether or not he's on the outside or
in the slot.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
I like it. I like it all right. I'm gonna
stick with the player that I just think is really good.
He's a new player. We have not seen him with
the Giants yet. But I think, you know what, I
think this is instructive right now, Matt, because I think
we're looking at a few spots and we kind of
explain the purpose of this exercise to see where the
giants might have depth issues like who's the fourth safety?

(28:53):
Is it Anthony Johnson? Is it Raheem Lane?

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Those are going to be my two rights one of
those two, right, So that's that's an area where I
think we get the camp.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Who's gonna be the fourth safety on the roster? Is
there a fourth safety on the roster? Right? That's one
spot that I'm keeping an eye on. The other spot,
I think once you get past the top four cornerbacks,
whose cornerback five? Is it Trey Hawkins? Is it r Green?
You know these are the type of guys we're talking
about e ro owin to what you get the cornerback
number five? So those are two deeper depth spots. Is

(29:23):
you want to have more than four corners, you want
to have one more safety than three. So who's your
next guy up at those two spots. Let's take a
look at wide receiver? All right, we know who the
top four guys are. Those guys are all off the board.
Who's your fifth wide receiver? I think a Meer Smith
Marsett gets put on because the special teams. But we're
not drafting special teams here, right, So who's your fifth

(29:43):
wide receiver? That's just a wide receiver. Right, We're looking
at the Zach Pascal's, We're looking at the little Jordan Humphrees.
You know, is it one of these undrafted rookie free
agents that figures out a way to get on the
Rice roster. Is it a Bryce Ford Wheaton who's got
a lot of size. So I think that's another spot. Again,
we're talking not even the first guy off the bencher.
We're talking about the next guy after that. Who's your

(30:03):
next wide receiver that's coming off the bench. So I
think as we do this, those are some of the
areas of depth that I'm keeping an eye. And I'm
you know, maybe I'm not positive what we have necessarily,
all right, So I'm gonna go to defense, and I'm
gonna pick Darius Moose out just because I think, again
we talked about inside linebacker. I don't think there's a

(30:24):
ton of depth there, Matt. Once you get past the
top two guys, we have Moosa, who played enough last year,
I think it feel good about it. But after that,
you're looking at a bunch of unknowns. You know, Deantey
Johns's beenry, hasn't really played a ton, But I don't
know who the next guy is an inside linebacker. You
gotta guy like Chris board Flannagan Foles who are more
special team types? Are they really guys that are gonna

(30:45):
be on the field on defense? So much so, I'm
gonna go moose out here. And then I'm curious who
you think is the next linebacker up to play next
to a character. You don't have to pick him now, obviously,
but I'm curious where you end up gorolling with that.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
Not gonna pick him now, but you will get my answer.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
I will. I look forward to it.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
For now, I'm gonna go with the guy that I
was pretty confident you were about to take, and then
you switch your mind, change your mind at the last second.
I'm gonna finish up my defensive line and take a
guy that, as you mentioned, has not played a single
snap yet, hasn't even done a lot in the spring.
But I just think the upside is there, very much so,

(31:19):
and especially given oh no, I was not playing.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Oh there you go?

Speaker 2 (31:24):
Especially, I mean, so there there's a veteran. I was
considering with the spot or.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
The rookie, and I'm going with the rookie because I
want to go on the with the upside, especially because
I have Brian Burns and Cavon on the outside, So
I'm gonna go with the upside play on the inside.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Next to Chauncey Golston. I'm gonna take Darius Alexander nice
all right. Again, we haven't seen him do much, and
not even if he was out here, there was again,
not a whole lot you can learn from the defensive linement.
It's gonna be a lot more telling in six weeks
when the pands come on at training camp. But I'm
really excited to see him play, and especially with the

(32:00):
other guys around him on the defensive line. I mean,
after the draft we were talking about how that could
be one of the most underrated picks and a guy
that could contribute and contribute right.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
Away for this defense. I'm excited to see what he
can do. That is exciting, all right. I like it
a little smaller defensive line there. My power running game
is gonna give you some issues there with your with
your with your tiny inside. It's not exactly the power back.
He can run with plenty of power. Don't you worry
about that? All right? All right, Pearson, You're gonna slide

(32:29):
over greg Van Rone the center. He's gonna be my
starting center, not a starting guard. So one of the
reasons I picked him, I thought you might go JMS.
I want the guy that could be a little flexible there,
So move Van Roane over the center for me, and
I'm gonna slide Evan niel And as my starting left guard.
So I'm gonna draft Evan Neil here. Much like Deontay Banks.
I'm betting on some upside here. I'm hoping for him
at least in a new position, you get a better

(32:51):
quality of play. I think there is upside there. He's big,
he's strong, he's powerful. I think he can do it.
So I'm gonna go Evan Neil here to your Evan
Neil's left guard. So what position do you have? Right
guard left? Yes, I have right guard left. That is correct,
all right.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
So I'm gonna take my right guard right now, so
you don't take him first, and I'm gonna take Aaron Stinny.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Okay, that again at leaves be a guard I'm still
happy with. So that's okay.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
I was kind of waiting to see who you took
between kind of I figured it was gonna be one
of those two. So I was happy to take whichever
one you did it. So I will shore up the
interior offensive line with Aaron Stinney.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Now I like that. I think that's a good pick.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
All right.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
Now we're getting to the point where we're just running
at like we have all the positions drafted, so we
just got to figure out who the next best guy
up is. So I'm gonna bet on upside with my
next pick here as well. So I'm gonna play some
twelve personnel Pierson. You can remove that third wide receiver
from my offense. You can put in the tight end there.
And I really thought about Bellinger here, but you know,
I'm a big Thomas Fadoni fan, and I want somebody

(33:52):
with some receiver upside to go next to THEO Johnson
to get a little bit of a They both really
long thirty four inch arms. They can run the seams
a little bit. He came from a blocking run scheme
in Nebraska. So I'm gonna go with Thomas Fadoni here
as my tight end number two Pearson, and I'm gonna
run twelve personnel is my base offensive package.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
Right.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
You gotta say it was not expecting that I thought
you were gonna go in a different direction, and I was, oh,
worried you.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Thought man hurts.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
No, I didn't think you were gonna Yeah, okay. Uh
so again, I have my interior offensive line done. I
don't have a single tackle, So I'm gonna take a
tackle now. And I feel like this might have been
the guy that you were thinking of for your guard.
I'm gonna take Marcus Bo.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
No, actually I was not.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
I know he's obviously a rookie, but and he's versatile.
He's been training at all five positions. Obviously that is
a much more right or left.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
Uh put him at the right. Yeah, I think he's
been a right tackle primarily, So I go there.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
I think that's that's clearly you know, again, somewhat of
an upside pick because we haven't seen him play a
single snap, and especially as an offensive a fifth round
rookie offensive lineman, it's a little bit of an unknown,
but especially with the more veterans on the inside, I
think that will help him if he ends up getting
into a game this season, he will lean on those

(35:10):
veterans wherever he's lined up next.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
To Sot to go with Marcus Bo.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
You like it, and I don't think necessarily that he
is the next best tackle. I just thought you were
gonna take him, so try to say.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
I like that. I like that, all right. So I
think all the positions I have left are positions that
you have except for corner. And I didn't want to
have to make this tough decision, but you're gonna make
me make the decision as to who the next best
corner is. And you know what, a guy that I
think has done a pretty good job since he's gotten here.
Matt has been Art Green. He's a free agent, he's
come over. He's been solidly with the twos throughout pretty

(35:45):
much all of camp. He's gotten his hand on the
football a little bit. I think he plays good coverage.
I thought about Trey Hawkins here, that was my other
guy I was thinking about. But every time he'll flash
and camp here there, But when he gets into games,
it just hasn't clicked with him. Has the size and
the speed. Maybe it will this year finally, but I'm
gonna go Art Green here as my second quarterback.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Right, Yeah, that would have been my next pick for
a corner, third cornerback.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Yeah, I'm sorry, my second outside cornerback, third corner overall, sorry, Yes,
we're running nickel defense here.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yes, yes, that would have been my my next pick
at corner, so can't blame me there. I am going
to finish up my offensive line now with the selection
of James Hudson as my other tackle.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
That makes sense. He's the swing, he's the next best
guy up.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Would have preferred having one of Andrew Thomas or Jermaine Iluminor,
but you took illumina or a little sooner than I
thought you would, so James Hudson it will be my
starting left tackle.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
All right.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
I'm gonna slide on Roy Robertson Harris as my defensive
tackle next to Dexter Lawrence Good run stopper, long violent.
I'm really I'm drafting like I'm like just building trenches here.
So I'm going old school here with when I'm building
the team. So I'm gonna go going Ory Robertson Harris
as my defensive tackle.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
So let's see, we have what one, two, three?

Speaker 1 (37:04):
I have four guys left.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
I think you have five, okay, and it's all positions
you have, so it doesn't really matter the order though.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah, that's correct.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
Take these guys in now anyway, all right, I'm going
to let's get the quarterback out of the way now.
I'm gonna go with Jameis Winston, and I would know
if we're we're talking about twenty twenty five, not the future.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
As you mentioned, and.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
As I've said many times since the Giants draft to
Jackson Dart, I hope that Jackson Dart does not see
the field at all this year because that means the
Giants are winning games, their offense is playing well, and
I think it's beneficial for beneficial for his development to sit.
You know, maybe the whole season might be unrealistic, but
at the very least half of the season, I think
I think he would really benefit from just sitting behind

(37:55):
Russell Wilson and Jamis learning from them. Obviously, when you
take Jameis Winston as your quarterback, you're signing up for
the full Jamis experience, and it is a bit of
a rollercoaster as we've kind of seen this spring. But days,
I think it was yesterday where Jamis just looks great
and is making the row was fantastic, throwing Dart's thirty

(38:17):
forty yards down the pro.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
The last week, he's looked great.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yeah, I would say he started the spring. Maybe a
little bit slow, but it's really picked it up. The
last call it a handful of practices. Yes, you guys
can't see Pearson was just doing the slow motion run.
We all saw the photo of Jamis running from practice
in the indoors, and we got.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
The video on the BBK t's Adam Tour of that
day too.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
He ran for thirty forty yards and it was a
real thirty forty yard he game, not like a fake one.
So going with Jamis as my quarterback nice.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
All right, I'm gonna fill out my safety spot. I'm
gonna go Verheem Lane. He's heading into his fourth year.
He's played in thirteen games. He's a little bit more experienced.
Thought about Anthony Johnson here, but I've seen more from
Lane in practice in the spring, so I'll slide Verheem
Layane in is my safety.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Would you have picked Timmer Johnson? I probably would have
picked Raheem Layne. Okay, He's just it's close.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
But I've seen a little bit more from Raheem Layane
this spring, I agree with you, So I would have
definitely leaned towards him. All Right, at this point, I'm
just gonna go.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
Down in order of just start throwing them out. Ooh okay.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
So now this is tough at running back because there's
two guys here, the veteran and the rookie.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
And I know I might be leaning.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
I'm leaning kind of heavily on the rookies here, but
I'm gonna go with camp scatabo That's what I would
have picked, because again, with the upside, Devin Singletary is
a solid pro. You know what you're getting with Devin Singletary.
Scataboo again a little bit of an unknown, but there's
a reason why the Giants took him in the early
fourth round. He was one of the best players in

(39:51):
all college football last year. Power showed flashes of just
electric running and and I know we we haven't mentioned
this as being necessarily part of the equation, but we've
seen clips and videos of him off the field, like
pregame huddles in the locker room with his teammates.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
He's a leader.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
He is not a guy that's gonna just you know,
sit back and you know, let everyone else take over
the room.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
Like he's gonna voice his opinion about things. He's gonna lead,
try to lead. Obviously, there's only so much you could
do as a rookie.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
But I just I think this guy's gonna have a
great NFL career, and I think he's gonna start this
year with whatever opportunities he gets.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
I think him and Tyrone.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
Tracy are a great want two punch, and they compliment
each other very well. I think those two are the future,
at least the next couple of years, because you never
know what the running back position, but for the foreseeable future,
it's gonna be those two guys leading the way.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
I would have loved to select I'm with you, by
the way, that's I would have taken too. I would
have taken Victor d mccagey as my edge, but injury
there so that's not gonna work for twenty twenty five.
So I'm gonna mention a guy that I'm not sure
we've mentioned on the show yet this offseason, and I
don't want to make too big of a deal about
it because it's been no pads and everything, but I'm
taking a flyer. I want to go Trace Ford, who

(41:12):
is an undrafted free agent that I think is really
flashed and the opportunity he's gotten in the spring and again,
no pads, not a lot of contact. You could easially
go with the Tamon Fox, but I think we know
what Taman Fox is, right, He's been here for a
long time. We know what he is. And you know
Demetrius and then you know Dean mccage's hurt, so you
really run out of guys. So I'm gonna roll the

(41:32):
dice on the undrafted free agent year and I'm gonna
go with trace Ford, who I think you're shown some
pass rushing upside here in sprint camp. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
So I think I mentioned this all the way back
in rookie camp, but he was one of the two
guys that in the rookie camp, which they really didn't
do a whole lot, but caught my eye. And then
once the rookies joined the veterans in OTAs again stood
out a little bit from the other guys in you know,
the second or third unit. So I like that pick,

(42:00):
I mean, especially given it was between him and tom
on Fox and he's a little bit He's on the
smaller side, of course he is.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
And I'm not big, and I have two small edge
players now with him in Carter, which I don't love,
but it is what it is. It's all right.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
I've got the not the biggest interior defensive line, so
but yeah, I like that pick. Okay, next up, I lied.
I don't want to go down in the order because
I'm not sure necessarily which tight end I want to take.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
So you know, actually I take that back. I do
know which tight end I'm gonna take, because don't you
have to take Bellinger at this point? Or no, no, I.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Don't because I don't necessarily love the blocking I have
at the tackle position.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
You're just leaning into receivers at this point. I'm I'm
gonna go with Chris Manner. Oh okay, you want to
go some big time help there? Like that is the
best blocking tight end on this team. I like that, okay,
And Bellinger I do think brings more to the passing
game as a pass catcher than man Hurts. But I've
got my three receivers that I'm very happy with and

(43:03):
Scattaboo who can catch the ball. I'm gonna need some
more help blocking with James Hudson and Marcus bow as
a rookie fit there as my tackles. Give me your
Chris man Hurts Pierce. I hope you're evaluating these teams,
We're about to put you on the spot about what
seemed to think is better, So just be prepared for that.
All right, I'm gonna go Jake Kubas to be my
right guard. Him Stinny and Neil have kind of been
rotating first team guard reps with running not coming back

(43:27):
yet and Van wrote and getting veteran days and stuff
like that. So I'm gonna say Kubas in there a
guard and they love what they saw from him last year.
Hopefully that he keeps that up.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yeah, that's that's fair. He's probably the next best guard
on the team. So uh, let's see next up we
have linebacker. Now, this guy, I'm happy he was left
there for me to take. I know you mentioned it before.
We really haven't seen a whole lot from him because
he hasn't gotten much of an opportunity. But he did

(43:57):
get to start the season finale this past season and
he had I believe what was fourteen tackles and it
was against the Eagles who were playing their starters because
they still had significance in the game, and he looked
pretty good out there. Granted that was the only NFL
game we've seen him play, but he also the year prior,
so it is the twenty twenty three training camp was

(44:20):
probably the defensive standout before suffering an injury that forced
him to miss I believe it was basically the whole year. Yeah,
he never got called up to the active roster after that.
I'm gonna go with Deontay Johnson as my second linebacker
next to Bobby Okay, okay.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
I hope he makes the team. I would love. I
cannot wait.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
He is one of the players I'm most excited to
see come training camp in the preseason because that is
when he's going to be given the most opportunity, and
I think he's gonna take advantage of it.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
So Deontay Johnson. I saved this for last because I
couldn't decide which guy I wanted to pick. So I'm
looking at Zach Pascal, I'm looking at a little Jordan Humphrey,
and honestly, which guy he thinks the better blocker. They're
both special teams guys I think they could both do.
They're both big. I think litt Jeh Humphrey is probably
a little bit thicker than Pascal is. Right, he's almost
like two thirty, right, Little John Humphrey.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
I feel like Pascal might have more of the the
track record of the block of blocking better blocking.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
All right, I'm gonna go I know who I would
pick here, but I'm gonna pick little Jordan Humphrey. That's
who I would. I think he's a little bit younger,
he's a little bit more upside. He's a big body.
He can't block a little bit huge. He's just a
huge guy. And he's and he's made some plays too
in in spring practice. I'm gonna little Jordan Humphrey here.
As uh, I do not love my wide receiver cord
That is my big regret here. As as as we

(45:38):
wrap this up, I'm sure you have your own, yuh,
but but that is mine. All right, wrap things up
and then we'll get Pearson's stake here, all right.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
So with my final pick, I need another cornerback. I
Am going to move Cordell flat to the slot and
take Trey Hawkins, okay, as my second outside corner. Quite frankly,
it's there's just not much left there. It's between you

(46:05):
know who is it? Trey Hawkins Corey Black, who obviously
a rookie seventh round pick, Dee Williams who he hasn't
We haven't seen anything from him really, Nick Jones, who
the Giants signed to a reserve future deal right after
the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
TJ.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Moore, an undrafted rookie free agent. Trey Hawkins at least
has some experience under his belt.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
That's why I would have picked That's fine.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
And he's he's made some plays this spring as well.
So Trey Hawkins is how I round out my secondary.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
All right, I'll do a quick readout here of the teams,
and then Pearson will give which one he likes the best.
Do when we do offenses first together and then do
defenses or do the full teams? What do you think Pearson?
Do offense first? Okay? So all was mine? Then sidetecking
list his My offense, I go twelve personnel, Russell Wilson, Tyrone, Tracy, Jaylen, Hyatt, Little,
Jordan Humphrey, Theo Johnson, Thomas Fadoni. My offensive line, which

(47:00):
is I think the strength of my team Andrew Thomas, Evan, Neil,
greg Van Wrote and Jake Cubas and Jermaine luminor what's
your offense? Mister? All right?

Speaker 2 (47:08):
My offense, Jamis Winston under center, handing off to Camp
Scataboo and then the wide receivers Molik Neighbors, Darius Slayton,
Wandel Robinson. I think that clearly is the strength of
my offense. Uh, Chris Manner, it's a tight end for
the blocking. My offensive line is James Hudson and Marcus
bow at tackle, John runnyan and Aaron Stinney at guard,

(47:30):
and John Michael Schmidz is my center.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Who do you give the nod to on offense? Pearson?

Speaker 3 (47:35):
It's tough.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
What's more important to the offensive? Well?

Speaker 3 (47:39):
I like Jamis Winston hucking it up to these wide
receivers of if he has time.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
I'm leaning into the passing game with.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
You. Schmuck. Might have to do some dump downs.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
Oh no, I will be checked down deep balls, deep
balls and checkdowns. You are you are meaning into the
variability on offense, like side, have some really good weeks
and all the weeks it's gonna go very poorly.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Defense a little bit, there's some turnovers.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
I'm gonna give the slight advantage to smoke.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Okay, I'll take that.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
Few more starters on that on that roster, and I
think defense.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
You did lean defense more early while I lean protection
I mean your offensive lines just the tackles alone is
significantly better than my offense.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Live well, when you used through two of your top four.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
Picks on him, it better be right rush to run
a little bit.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. All right. Let's let's and Jamis
will have to use those legs, all right, So let's
go to defense. My defense, I got dexter loins Ory
Robertson Harris. I'm gonna be stout against the run. I
got two pass rushers outside abdul Quater and Trace Ford,
Mike mcfadd and Darius Moose out inside linebacker. My defensive
backfield or I have some questions as a very young
defensive backfield. My corners Deontay Banks Drew Phillips are green,

(48:58):
and my safeties are Javon Holland and we're eam lane and.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
Then on for my defense, I have on the interior
defensive line Chauncey Golston and Darius Alexander. On the edge,
Brian Burns and Kevon Thibodeau and linebacker Bobby o'carake and
Deontay Johnson corners Poulson Adebo Trey Hawkins on the outside,
and then Cordell Flott in the Slott in the slot,

(49:22):
and then at safety, Tyler Newban and Dane Belton and
my safety group at least are going to lead the
takeover department.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
I feel good about your secondary. I feel good about
your secondary. Yeah. And edge Yeah, I mean, I mean
Burns and Thibodau a pretty good. I like that Dull Corn,
I like my tackles. I think you got to give
the edge of sight. I'm with you. Hey, look, I
think I think this was so what did you learn
when you took a look at this and we did
this exercise about the Giants depth at certain spots?

Speaker 2 (49:51):
I guess And I gotta have props to Paul because
he's been saying this for a while now.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
I think the Giants.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
Maybe could afford a little little more depth in terms
of cornerback. You know that if there is a position
to address, you know, maybe right before the start of
training camp, or be on the lookout during training camp
if a team makes a player a veteran available, I
think corner would be the position I would be looking at.
I mean, I feel good about between a Debo Banks

(50:21):
and Flat and Drew Phillips, those four guys, I feel good,
very good about after that. It's just it's not that
I feel badly about the guys, but you start to
have some questions after that. That is that's really the
main position. Every other position, at least. The depth I'm

(50:42):
like okay with. Obviously, you'd love to have, you know,
an amazing backup player at every position, but that's just
not feasible when constructing a roster.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
And again, I take deep depth at safety, deep depth
at inside linebacker. I think you like Foals and Board
as the guys you have on your roster, but they're
more special teams types.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
I'm actually good with the line it because I like
Bobby and I like Mike as the starters. I think
Darius Moussow and Deontay Johnson as your backups. That's a
good They've got some upside at least. And Chris Board,
especially Chris Board is making the team obviously yea. And
while he is Special Team's ace, he does have some

(51:24):
experience playing linebacker. I think he might get a little
bit more of an opportunity to play linebacker here. What
he does with that opportunity remains to be seen, but
I don't I don't think linebacker depth is as much
of a I don't want to call it concern, but no,
I'm with you somewhat raising a flag as opposed to corners.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
And I'll just say offensive tackle for every NFL team
is always a spot you want more guys that. You
just always want more guys there and you can never
have enough. Not that James Hudson. You don't feel good
about him coming in and playing if you had needed to,
you got bowl guy you have to do. I know both.
I was a big fan at a third round great
on him, so I'm a big fan of his and
I mean that's it. I think otherwise, you know you're
pretty good deep running back room tight ends. No one

(52:11):
that's a star, but he got a bunch of guys
that you have options that can play and do things
for you wide receivers. You go four deep, you feel
pretty good about it. You got Si mar Set a
return guy. Who's your six guy? If you keep six,
that's a question we got to figure out when we
get there. Who's gonna be the last guard on the roster.
I think is a fun game. We'll play defensive tackle
and edge is extremely deep. Yeah, I think look this roster,

(52:34):
if we did this like two years ago, it would
have been it would have been ugly. It would have
been ugly.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
I don't think we would have done that two years ago,
would have been ugly.

Speaker 3 (52:42):
All Right, So I'm taking Jackson Dart.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
Okay, all right, that's actually not terrible.

Speaker 3 (52:49):
Daniel Bellinger Okay, and that's not bad. Zach Paskell, okay,
Oh boy, Bryce Ford Wheaton.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
Okay, you put a mier Smith Marris that there.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
I'll put them in there. Uh. Then I had no
idea for line.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
Okay, that's fine. You can up pull some guys out
of the equipment room to play offensive.

Speaker 3 (53:09):
That's pretty much all I got.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
Okay, but that works.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
Elijah Chapman, Yeah, definitely taking definitely taking him.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Oh you can put Jeremiah led Better at the tackle
spots and you feel good about that?

Speaker 3 (53:20):
Can I take Schlotman? Did anyone in the center?

Speaker 1 (53:24):
That's why, you know what? It's actually not guys you're
doing okay? Tom on Fox? Yeah, Tom on Fox and Chris.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
To take Landing and Fowls as your tight r line.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
You know what, it's a much better it's a much
much better roster than we've seen here in yours past.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
It just the clearly depth was a priority this past offseason.
I mean, I feel like it has been for many years,
but the Giants had to figure out their starters first,
and it took a couple of years under this regime
to really get a arreading corps that you feel good about.
And then they accomplished that and then went out and
worked on the depth this offseason as well, and I

(54:07):
think they really addressed the depth at a lot of
different positions. Could you use more depth at a few others,
of course, but show me one roster in across the
NFL where you feel great about the depth at every
single position.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
You won't be able to find it. Hey, look in
the questions of the same ones as we talked about
what kind of what quarterback play you're gonna get? Right?
That's huge question. And then you know the guys that
are on rookie contracts, the Niels, the Schmidts's, Deontay Banks,
the flots. Are those guys going to take the steps
you need them to take? Nuban and Phillips into their
second year, are those guys gonna do what you need
them to do in order to take that next step

(54:42):
with your starter? So that stuff we're all keep an
eye on as we move forward. Here, we got two
calls in. You guys have been waiting the whole show,
and to make sure we get you in, Uh, Scott
and Brandon to Scott and Oregon first, Pierson, Scott, you're
on Big Blue Kick Off Live.

Speaker 5 (54:53):
Oh hello, Yeah, I've got four premises I want to
send at you, and you can tell me what's wrong
with my premises. And in that hypothetical world, then I
want to talk about a trade possibility.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
All right, all the time, Scott. So, so let's start
getting thrown.

Speaker 4 (55:09):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (55:09):
So the premise Dart is playing well and would be
ready by December or so, we can't keep four quarterbacks
on the roster. My second premise, the third one is
that Dart is going to need a mentor for this
year and for next year also. And the fourth premise
is that Wilson and Winston are not all that far apart.

(55:32):
In other words, the difference that the improvement of Wilson
over Winston isn't that huge. And given those four premises,
you could tone with thrown. With them, I would say
we should be trading Russell Wilson away for Chris a
Lobby And maybe maybe we would have to maybe sweeten
the pot with I don't know, maybe a sixth round

(55:52):
pick or something like that. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
I think a little bit more than let's start with
let's start with that trade. There's no way in any
chance that New Orleans would do that for I mean, again,
this is nothing against Russell Wilson, but he's a thirty
six year old quarterback on a one year deal. They
are not expecting to contend for a Super Bowl this
season given the rest of their roster. Chris Olave is

(56:16):
one of their best players, and he's young. Now, he
has some concussion histories, and then that's a pressure for sure.
I get there is a little bit of an injury
risk there, but if you're trading him away, you're getting
more than Russell Wilson in a six round Yeah, and Scott,
I think, yeah, I think they're looking for a first
round pick if they're trading with Chris Olave first.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
I think that's what the conversation starts, and they probably
want a little bit more than that. To be totally
honest with you, I think the one premise Scott that
I'll disagree with. I think if first three were fine,
the premise I'll disagree with. I think there is a
significant difference between Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston if you
look at the years that Russell Wilson has had, even
in his last three years, which you know, there are
fair criticisms of them. Single digit interceptions over twenty touchdowns,

(56:56):
all right, Jameis Winston just doesn't do that consistently. And
a bunch of teams had a chance to sign him
to even a high level backup contract this offseason, and
they chose not to. The Giants got him in a
fairly reasonable backup quarterback contract, to be totally honest with you,
and if all the reports are correct, so I think

(57:17):
there is a there's a reason the Giants named Wilson
starter right off and didn't make it a competition. They
did believe and so do why that there is a
more than small difference between the two players, at least
in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
Yeah, I mean, just I'm just gonna go with what
we've what we've seen with our own eyes these last
couple of weeks, and Russell Wilson is just so consistent.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
He is consistent.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
He brings consistency to the quarterback position, which you know,
I feel like we might have taken for granted with
all those years of Eli Manning bringing consistency to the position,
but he just he doesn't make a ton of mistakes. Like, yeah,
he threw some interceptions, some of them were on deflected
balls or balls that hit off his pat the past
catchers hands and then deflected to the defender's arms. But

(58:04):
he's just not going to turn the ball over a lot.
And Jameis Winston, while he's got a cannon of an arm,
and he has days where he'll throw dots fifty yards
down the field to place it perfectly. You're like, wow,
that is the number one overall pick of the draft
right there. But then you know the next play he
might throw the ball, you know, right at the defender,
right into the defender's arms. Yeah, and you appreciate the

(58:24):
call it, by the way. So I'm for agree with
you completely. I just think, especially given the state of
the rest of the roster, you need the consistency at
the quarterback position for sure. The other premises Jackson Dart
needing till December based of course, I definitely agree with

(58:44):
that mentor for this year and next year. The Giants
signed Jamis Winston's reportedly to a two year deal. I
feel like obviously they didn't know if they were for
sure going to get Jackson Dart, but I think they
did that thinking he might be that mentor for whoever,
which I'm a rookie they get in twenty for twenty
twenty six.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
Yeah, multi year backup quarterback. Yes.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
And then what was the second premise?

Speaker 1 (59:09):
The fourth one was the one that I disagreed with.
The other premise I think was was pretty reasonable. I
don't remember exactly what it was, but I think it
was reasonable.

Speaker 3 (59:16):
Pierce, do you think there were two qb ones?

Speaker 1 (59:18):
No, there were, there were There were four premises. I
forget where was Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
I figured that Jackson Dart needed time and.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
Ed time, he needed a mentor. There wasn't much difference
between Wilson and Winston. Oh, I think they were only
going to keep three quarterbacks?

Speaker 4 (59:31):
Was that?

Speaker 3 (59:31):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (59:32):
He said maybe is like their chance or something about
keeping four? Yeah, I don't think so.

Speaker 3 (59:37):
No.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
I don't think it's just it's tough for any NFL
roster to hold four quarterbacks. I mean, we've had many
years of the Giants and only having two quarterbacks on
the roster. I do think obviously that there will be
three four is probably a tough stretch because then you're
just you're really hurting the death at another position, and
we just talked about how you need as much depth
as possible, especially at all those other positions would tend

(59:58):
to be a little more physical than the quarterback position.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
It's gott I apologize. I know you're trying to get
something else in there. It's ready past one thirty. I
want to make sure we get Brandon in New Jersey
and give him a couple of minutes here. Brandon, you're
gonna wrap us up today. What's up? Hell?

Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
All right? I had a little I have a few
things about. I know we're pressed for time, so I'm
gonna just keep it to the shortest things I had
on my list today. But I do want to call
you back about this one conversation we had before.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
John, absolutely, but so.

Speaker 4 (01:00:23):
But real quick, the conversation we had. I just for
two things. I want to do. One sing my own praises,
and then two, I want to ask you about a
couple of win totals since we're cross for time. Number
one I had called in November. There's more than this
conversation but I did want to say I said that
there are a couple of players I wanted to target.
One of them was Parson, a dobo. You put that

(01:00:44):
man on everybody and that worked out, and the other
person was O'donald Fortune. So I would like an update
on how he's doing so far, because miss stuff, you
didn't even know who he was when I asked you
about him, and now he's on the roster. So he
also get my application up to the scout in the Yeah,
what do you guys think about uh Fortune for now?

(01:01:06):
And how he's you know doing. I know there's no
paths how he's doing.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
You know, Brandon, I actually forgot that was that was
one of the small school guys you actually did ask
about mid season last year, which I did not recall.
Now as you bring it up, I do remember that
he's got a stand in a couple of football so
that's many things spectacular.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
But he's called South Carolina a small school.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
That's right. I'm sorry. Let lesser known prospects. Sorry, lesser
known prospects. I pardon me, but yeah, I mean he
said some moments he's.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
Made sure he's been fine, but you gotta keep in
mind that he is an undrafted rookie free agent. Right now,
he is towards the bottom of the depth chart, like
he's playing with the third third string defense. He doesn't
get as many reps as obviously the starters come training camp.
Let's see what he's got, because he looks he's gonna
get a lot more opportunities that. Yeah, but he has

(01:01:52):
shown some he has made some place.

Speaker 4 (01:01:56):
I think his major part is going to be come
pre season because I think he's fine. I mean Trey
Hawkins for the same spot, and he's I think he's
a better tackler. Trey Hawkins is kind of a liability
and that, but he's a better coverage guy, a lot
more speed, but he's a liability in a run game, all.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
Right, So real quickly, I would say, Brandon real quick,
real quick fortune, what he does in the preseason games
will be critical, absolutely critical, Yes.

Speaker 4 (01:02:20):
Yeah, absolutely so, then I get the win.

Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
Tolst.

Speaker 4 (01:02:22):
You guys can get off earlier in the year. There
are a few questions about the head coach. I don't
particularly think he's on the hottest of seats, as some
people were to believe at the end of last season.
So I had two questions. I have one for him.
I think, if I'm John Mara, the only metric that
I'm going to judge this coach on this year and

(01:02:43):
whether or not he retains his gig next year, is
how many how many wins he gets at home. If
you go five hundred at home, I think you're good.
I think if you do anything less than five hundred
at home. I know it's a tough schedule, but you're
an NFL coach and you're playing NFL teams, you gotta
win at least fifty percent at home this year with
with with what was going on, you know, protect the

(01:03:05):
dollar the purse, and you're not protecting the purse if
you're doing a bunch of losing at home.

Speaker 1 (01:03:09):
Brandon, have you have you seen?

Speaker 4 (01:03:11):
That's my biggest.

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
Have you seen the home schedule this year?

Speaker 4 (01:03:16):
I don't care their NFL teams either, the NFL coach.

Speaker 2 (01:03:18):
You're right, they are NFL teams, but the home schedule
is significantly harder than the away schedule.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
Yeah, I think, Brandon, is a good chance they win
more road games this year than home games. I'm sorry,
I think there's a decent chance they win more road
games and home games this year.

Speaker 4 (01:03:34):
Uh yeah, I don't. I don't know. I don't know
if you got that type of anybody has that type
of leeway. If they go, you know, o for at
home again and then they win all their away games,
I don't think that bodes well for your because again,
the purse really is more about at home than it
is away. Of course they make money away, but the
person is at home, you gotta win the home game.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
I mean, Brandon, It has nothing to do with Brandon.
It has nothing to do with money. The games are
sold out, the tickets are sold like, people aren't giving
their tickets back, like they're gonna make the money they're
gonna make for home game. Now, you want to put
a good show on for your fans at home. Obviously
that's critical you want to do that, But it's not
money related, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (01:04:09):
Yeah, that's the And then the other thing about the
schedule we're talking about in the offseason. Every year, somebody
strength the schedule is one thing at the beginning of
the year and it's completely different come the end. So
I don't accept that, Oh they got the toughest. Listen,
somebody's gonna fall off. That was good last year, it's
just every year that happened the nature of the so
I don't I don't accept that five front of that

(01:04:30):
home and then the last win total thing. And I
know this is weird, but like, let's say RUSS does
really well, and how far do you think like the
team has to go in the season for RUSS to
even get to the point where you could talk about
maybe a one year maybe two years since I don't
think it'd be more that because of Dart, But you

(01:04:51):
know what, how much how much win? Because I don't
know if the team makes it a NMFC championship, I
don't see them just all right, that was cool. Do
it again with the rookie next year.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
I don't see that.

Speaker 4 (01:05:00):
Not hear Brandon appreciate you think that has to be
like where do you think the line is for Russ?

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
Thank you to appreciate the appreciate the call man, good stuff.
And Scott, if you want to call back to in Oregon,
please feel free call back next week. I'll make I'll
give you all the time you want to talk football
with us. I don't know if it's necessarily and I
think you you tweeted me this question too, and I
replied to you the same way I want to apply
to you. Now, if they let's say they go to
the NFC title game, but they do what scoring like

(01:05:26):
nineteen points a game because the defense is ridiculously good,
like win losses, not a quarterback stat or how does
the quarterback play? Right, that's the question. How is the
quarterback contributing to you winning football games? Not necessarily how
far you go? So that will be my answer to that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
Yeah, I mean, look, if the Giants make it to
the NFC Championship, even make it to the playoffs, and
Russ throws you know, for four thousand yards, it has
thirty touchdowns with single digit interceptions, then yeah, I see
what you're saying. It would be tough to just let
him leave after a season like that. But based on

(01:06:02):
just what we've seen from him the last couple of years,
I don't think that production necessarily is in the cars.
I mean it would be. I would love for it
to happen, because again, that would mean very good things
for the Giants offense. But when you make the move
to trade up for Jackson Dart again, I've been the
main proponent here of saying give him time to develop,

(01:06:23):
but at the same time, and everyone talks about this
around the NFL. When you draft a rookie quarterback, you
have a window you don't want to waste, not waste,
but spend, you know, forty percent of that window having
that rookie sitting on the bench because by the time
he's actually in your lineup. Let's say if they were

(01:06:43):
to bring Russ back next year and Russ plays the
whole year and then Jackson Dart's not starting till twenty
twenty seven, you have two years of him on his
rookie deal and then the fifth year option, which is
more money than the.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
Rookie deal, but by then it's going to be over
thirty million dollars the fifth year old. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
So then you're basically looking at that two year period
of having a window open of your quarterback on a
rookie deal.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
Yeah, you're righty.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
Now we're seeing quarterbacks, yeah, get you know, huge extensions
after three years in.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
The NFL, some of the better ones. Correct.

Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
So I hear what you're saying, But I feel like,
based on the reported lengths of all of these contracts
given to the quarterbacks this offseason, I would think the
plan is or the hope is that going into week
one of twenty twenty six, Jackson Dard is the clear
number one starting quarterback, and you're.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
Already losing the first year of his rookie contract because
of the Russ money and the dead money to Daniel.
So I mean you're already losing the first year of
that advantage, right because you have thirty between the three quarterbacks,
what thirty five million dollars worth of money going to
the other three quarterbacks on the roster. So you're not
getting that advantage in year one. You certainly want to
try to get that in year two. Yeah, again, that
plays good enough to be the start, that's the hope.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
Obviously he needs to if he gets out there this
year and plays, he needs to show you to give
you confidence going into twenty twenty six that he will
be your starting quarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
Of course, that's not something that's just going to be
handed to him. I just want to make that clear
one hundred percent. All right, folks, as all the time
you after a big bookick Off, I thanks you for
joining us from our podcast studio presented by Hackensack Berty
Hell to keep getting better. Brandon mentioned the home schedule.
Some great teams on there, folks, you want to see
some of the best players in the National Football League.
I think there are some season ticket memberships still available.
Go find out Giants dot com slash tickets. You get
great member benefits, stay canack to the club all year round.

(01:08:27):
A lot of good stuff we get we give to
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on Giants d Huddle, which is on all of our
thank you, Pearson, on all of our platforms, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon,
Fire TV, all the smart TV's. You can find Giants
TV on that talking about the new huddle that just
went up. Yes, and we have a new huddle that
just went up. That is That is Sean Iguano, the

(01:08:48):
running backs coach for Cam Scattabo from Arizona State. Also
recorded Dion Barnes, Abdul Carter's defensive line coach from Penn
State yesterday. That'll be going up to the next week
of the week after them, just waiting on old miss.
Still working on that one one. And then we're gonna
get all our draft picks in the bag. Here. Chris
Busignano is gonna go up on Monday, the Little preview
of Mini Camp and a wrap up of OTA. So
a lot of good stuff come up on the Johns

(01:09:09):
Little Podcast. Make sure you check it out. For Matthew Sietek,
I'm John Schmelk. It'll be sidetak and Datino on Monday.
Make sure you check that out. We'll talk to you
then