New York Giants 2012 NFL Draft Positional Rankings

Victor Cruz has really come on strong since Mario Manningham sat out a game with an injury. How has his emergence changed the 2012 draft needs for the New York Giants

Yet to do anything noteworthy: Prince amukamara (Foot-hopefully back after bye week), Miles Austin (IR out for the season), Jerel Jernigan (been active, but did nothing), Da’Rel Scott (though he was finally active vs the Seahawks all he did was go out for a pass pattern on a third down). James Brewer the OT out of Indiana is doing nothing noteworthy.

Spencer Paysinger-the training camp wonder has been irrelevant on the field for the New York Giants this season. He is not appearing in any of the game day defensive packages and instead is playing special teams where he’s not making much of an impact.

Mark Herzlich-Herzlich also does not appear on the game day pacakges, but is almost making a lot of special teams tackles. He seems to be in good position all the time, but doesn’t quite get there.

Now I’ll look at the rookies playing a lot.

Greg Jones-

Jones was a very productive college football player who many thought might sneak into the 2nd to fourth round range, but fell all the way to the sixth round where he was drafted by the New York Giants. The Giants hoped to ease him into action, but due to a season ending injury to Jonathan Goff he’s been the starting middle linebacker this year and so far he hasn’t made much of an impact. He’s mad ea few nice tackles, and actually played on special teams vs the Seahawks and played there very well on Sunday. But fans are starting tos ee a little bit why Jones fell in the draft he plays physical, but he doesn’t have sideline to sideline speed and I’m not sure he’ll ever be a special player in the N.F.L. I’m not writing him off, but the Giants won’t hesitate to add another MLB if they don’t think Goff will make a full recovery.

Draft impact: A player like Manti Te’o or Vontaze Burfict in the first round might be more of a realistic option now that Jones isn’t setting the world on fire than if he was.

Tyler Sash-

I’m surprised with how little Sash has been on defense, but I think he’ll be a good player in the long run.

Jacquian Williams

Williams has been one of the top 20 rookies in the league this year, maybe borderline top 10. Williams is making plays all over the field and he’s going to be a very nice nickel linebacker for the future. Williams has a similar skill set to Michael Boley. He’s fast, he’s good in coverage, and he’s a plus blitzer. I think he’s a better tackler in his technique as a young player. The Giants think he has a very high ceiling and I think they are right.

Draft impact: Travis Lewis and Zach Brown are more of Will linebackers in the N.F.L. and with Williams emergence less likely to be Giants come draft time then one might think. I really believe they feel they have their future WILL linebacker. Williams leads all Giants, not named Antrel Rolle in tackles this year. This “crazy” 6th round pick has been their best rookie this year.

Positional Needs Update on page two