New York Giants Select TE Adrien Robinson in 4th Round

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With the 127^th pick, 32^nd pick of the 4^th round in the 2012 NFL Draft, the New York Giants selected Tight End, Adrian Robinson out of Cincinnati University.  This pick helps fill a need that the Giants have while adding another weapon to an already impressive passing attack.  With starting tight end Jake Ballard and backup Travis Beckum both getting hurt in the Super Bowl adding a tight end was a good move even with the addition of Martellus Bennett in free agency.

Robinson is 6’4” tall and weighs 267 pounds.  Robinson, unlike the last three picks made by the Giants, does not have much of a track record in his four years at Cincinnati.  He had 12 receptions for 183 yards and three touchdowns last season, and totaled only 29 catches in hi four seasons.  What really has intrigued the Giants is athleticism and “untapped” potential.  Robinson is being likened as the “JPP of tight ends.”  There is no better team that Robinson could have ended up on, as the Giants and Tight End coach Mike Pope are some of the best in the business at developing tight ends.  The track record of Pope has been good, developing undrafted free agents Jake Ballard and Bear Pascoe into starters recently. 

Marc Ross, director of college scouting for the Giants, said that Robinson is a former high school basketball player.  That is the new thing for teams to look for in tight ends, as Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez and Jimmy Graham to name a few all had basketball backgrounds before picking football. 

One scouts take on Robinson is, “Above-average athlete but needs polish with routes.  Possesses the top-end speed to run away from defenders with flag, seam and crossing routes.  Has the experience and is effective lining up flexed out.  Possesses long arms and a big frame that provides him with a wide catching radius.”

Another scout says, “Soft hands and catch the ball naturally away from his body.  Underrated athlete that has above-average body control to adjust to throws outside of strike zone.  Possesses the initial burst and top-end speed to stretch the middle of the field and factor in down the deep seams.  Flashes a competitive edge and not afraid to mix it up.  Could do a better job of sustaining blocks but effort is not the issue.”

This was a great addition for the Giants.  It gives them another healthy body at tight end, which they needed, and a potential problem for other teams.  Robinson will have an opportunity to show what he is made of with Beckum possibly not being ready to start the season and Ballard not returning until maybe half-way through the season if he returns at all. 

Pope is the best in the business in developing tight ends and should have a blast working with someone dripping with potential such as Robinson.  Ballard is obviously less gifted athletically than Robinson and Pope along with Eli Manning and the coaching staff made it work.  At the very least, Robinson adds depth for this season with potential to have an impact the more work he has. 

“We really think this guy has a huge upside,” GM Jerry Reese said.  “He is a big, big man [with] long arms.  He didn’t catch a lot of balls for them.  But he is kind of a late bloomer who has really come on.  And we think this guy is kind of a ‘JPP’ of tight ends.  We like these kind of people.”

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 “He is just a big, gigantic man with long arms,” Reese explained in comparing Robinson to JPP (Jason Pierre-Paul).  “He has got those freakish athletic numbers.  When we got Jason [Pierre-Paul] we said, ‘This guy hasn’t scratched the surface.’  And Jason still has a lot of learning to do [and] continuing to grow.  This kid [Robinson] hasn’t scratched the surface yet.  He has a chance to be really something, we think.”

New York Giants Draft Preview: Tight End

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This is the fourth installment in the series of posts breaking down the Giants position by position for the upcoming NFL Draft.  The next position up is Tight End.

The depth chart for the Giants at tight end currently includes Martellus Bennett, Jake Ballard, Bear Pascoe, Travis Beckum, Christian Hopkins, Ryan Purvis, and Larry Donnell.

Heading into the off-season, tight end was definitely a position of concern for the Giants, quite possibly the biggest concern for the team.  Ballard and Beckum both suffered serious knee injuries in the Super Bowl, leaving the Giants deathly thin at the position entering free agency.  Beckum says his rehab is going extremely well; so well he could be ready to go by opening night after tearing his ACL.  Ballard had to have micro-fracture surgery in addition to ACL surgery on his knee.  He will be lucky to return after mid-season, if at all this year. 

The Giants took a flier on Bennett, the former second round pick of the Dallas Cowboys.  The Giants are holding out hope that Bennett can finally have that breakout season he seems capable of. This will be the first opportunity Bennett has to be the starting tight end and primary pass catcher in his career now that he is out of the shadow of Jason Witten in Dallas.  Bennett brings all the tools you could ask for out of a tight end as he has size, good hands and is an above average blocker. They gave Bennett a one year 2.5 million dollar contract, a sort of lets see what your made of contract.  If he does well, the Giants got great production at a great rate and if he fails and flames out the Giants are not on the hook for anything past this season. 

Pascoe is another player the Giants are high on.  He is capable of playing multiple roles for the Giants, being a jack of all trades playing tight end, fullback and being put on the field as an extra blocker.  Hopkins has also received his fair share of hype from the Giants brass after spending last season on the teams practice squad.  It is not out of the realm of possibilities for the Giants to have one of these tight ends develop into a capable pass catcher.  Eli Manning did it last season with Ballard and there is no reason to believe he cannot do it again this year.  The Giants have one of the best Tight End coaches in the NFL in Mike Pope, who is highly respected around the NFL by his peers. 

The last time the Giants used a selection in the draft on a tight end was when they drafted Beckum in the third round in 2009 out of Wisconsin.  No one ever knows what GM Jerry Reese is thinking in respect to the draft, so it remains to be seen if he is willing to use such a high pick on a tight end after signing Bennett this off-season. 

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Many draft experts still have the Giants still selecting Coby Fleener out of Stanford.  Fleener is rated as the best tight end in the draft, and would definitely be a great addition to a Giants squad who likes using two tight end sets.  If Reese is not comfortable using a first round pick on Fleener, look for the Giants to entertain the idea of drafting Dwayne Allen of Clemson in the second round or Orson Charles a little later in the draft.

The Giants have hit it big with undrafted free agent tight ends the last few seasons, so developing one is not a problem for them if they do not feel comfortable drafting one.  Because of this, I would rate the necessity of adding a tight end in the draft as a 6 on a scale of 1-10. 

New York Giants Draft Preview: Quarterback

This is the first in a series of posts where I will discuss the Giants current outlook and needs for the upcoming NFL Draft position by position.

The first position I will be taking a look at is Quarterback.

At quarterback, the depth chart for the Giants goes Eli Manning, David Carr and Ryan Perrilloux. 

Eli Manning is coming off his best season as an NFL quarterback and no longer has to answer questions about his standing amongst other QB’s in the league or how elite he is.  Manning is coming off his second Super Bowl MVP award and is in the prime of his career.  Manning cut down his career high 25 interceptions from 2010 to only 16 in 2011, not only improving his ball control but making everyone around him better; a sign of a great leader and quarterback.  New pieces were all over the offense, and Manning still managed to put up career numbers and keep everything clicking.  From undrafted players Victor Cruz and Jake Ballard becoming major contributors to playing behind what was a makeshift offensive line at time, Manning never broke stride and kept the team moving. 

What makes Manning’s season that much more impressive was the performance of the Giants running game, or a lack there of.  This season Manning will be relied upon heavily again, as the Giants are in the midst of a changing of the guard on the offensive line and new players will need to be worked into the offense.  Much like last season, Manning will need to develop chemistry with new receivers.  With Mario Manningham leaving via free agency, the Giants are looking for a new third receiver.  Also, the Giants signed new Tight End Martellus Bennett to solidify the position after injuries ravaged the Giants during the Super Bowl when Ballard and Travis Beckum both went down with knee injuries.  Thankfully for Manning and the Giants, they will have a full off-season to work everything out unlike last year because of the lockout.

God forbid if Manning was ever injured, the Giants could do worse than David Carr.  The former number one pick out of Fresno State has starting experience and is a seasoned veteran.  Carr also plays an important role during practice and on the scout team.  Perrilloux has something the Giants must like because they signed him back to the practice squad numerous times this past season.

The last time the Giants drafted a quarterback was Rhett Bomar out of Sam Houston State in 2009 in the 5^th round.  If the Giants are to take another quarterback this year, it will not be more than a developmental pick.  It is safe to say the Giants are pretty set at QB currently.  If they were to look at a QB in this year’s draft, Darron Thomas of Oregon and Jordan Jefferson from LSU are two names to keep an eye on.  They are both great athletes, but could use some time to learn the position and who better to learn from than two former number 1 overall picks? 

The necessity of a quarterback on a scale of 1-10 for the Giants I would put at a 1.  Manning isn’t going anywhere and is here for the long run.