2010 NFL Draft one year later: New York Giants

Posted: April 10, 2011

A year ago I was a little down on the New York Giants draft for not taking a LB that could start from day one. A year later I see a team that returned a lot of veterans hat ate up spots for their draft class to make an immediate impact. The long term success of this class falls on DE Jason Pierre-Paul. If he becomes a stud this draft looks a heck of a lot different.

A quick look at the 2010 Giants draft class:

Round One- DE Jason Pierre-Paul
Round Two- DT Linval Joseph
Round Three- DB Chad Jones
Round Four- LB Phillip Dillard
Round Five- G Mitch Petrus
Round Six- LB Adrian Tracy
Round Seven- P Matt Dodge

So Pierre-Paul ended up in the pass rush rotation had racked up 30 tackles and 4.5 sacks. Joseph had eight tackles in a limited role. Chad Jones injured his leg in a car accident and may miss 2011 as well. Dillard was a regular on special teams, while Petrus saw spot duty on the O line and special teams. Tracy injured his elbow and spent the year on injured reserve, while Dodge had a good year punting averaging 34.3 net yards per attempt.

For me that leaves this class way under average. If Pierre-Paul can become an impact pass rusher it undoes the loss of Jones. However failing to take a LB early hurt this team and LB remains one of this team’s primary needs.