There is a decent amount of depth in the secondary. The 2012 Cornerbacks have more depth than the Safeties. 

Note again, just as was mentioned when discussing the Wide Receivers, DEPTH DOES NOT EQUAL QUALITY.  By depth, this implies a lot of players. Quantity.  If we saw a lot of 1's and 2's, that would mean quality, which we do not have.  In fact, as we deliver the last installment of this year's draft analysis, it is worth pointing out how few 1's and 2's there are.  

In 2011 there were 7 players rated either 1 or 2.  This year, there are 10, which is very similar.  The difference is that this year there are 77 players rated 3 while only 57 players got that rating last year... not top heavy with quality players, but depth with a lot of players than can be starters.   

Tomorrow: Wonder's Final Draft Board and a Discussion of Round 1 for Thursday Evening.

In the second to last positional installment, Wonder reviews the Linebackers in the 2012 NFL Draft.

I know you guys are tired of the Linebacker rant.  I am tired of it too. (Feel free to skip to paragraph 4 if you just want to get to the 2012 discussion.)  But in fairness to me, it HAS been 28 years since we have gotten a LBer in Round 1, so it is not as if I am the outlier.  You might be quick to say- why does it matter when the Giants just won another title, without the Linebacker?!  My answer is to remember that Chase Blackburn with two legs could barely guard Rob Gronkowski with one.

No, we do not believe that Linebacker is critical to winning to a title.  We simply see a shortage that forces the coaches have to plug in DE's and SS's at the position in order to get by.  Blackburn off the sofa.  Boley for $$. Bulluck for a cheap call option. Rivers for $ and a Round 5. WHY? Because the Gmen don't prioritize the position highly enough and NEED free agency to survive. So we end up with the Adrian Tracys and Philipp Dillards. Jacquian Williams was a pleasant surprise at R6 last season. He's our first serviceable late round LBer since Dhani Jones. But does anyone here think Williams will be anything more than a 4 (replaceable starter)? Trust me, yielding a 4 out of the 6th round will be sweet if that is as far as Williams goes. We should be so good in every draft. But most of the time, especially at LBer, we have not been anywhere near that good. Heck, I'd do cartwheels if R2 Sintim or R3 Wilkinson could be a healthy 4. 

Wonder: "Pay up for Hightower. There is nobody in the entire draft that will give more radical change to the NY Giants football team than Hightower. He fits in perfectly, is at a position of need, and is a beast. If he goes 15th-17th in Round 1, well okay, you should not be paying up for that. That will be too costly. But if he is still around in the mid 20's, you pay up for that. He'll make a huge difference for your team."

When you consider that the talk is how Rivers might be moved over to MLB, or that Boley could possibly play there, it goes back to the question- why? ... Blackburn? Jones? Schtick dreck.

Now I am not the kind of guy who wants to trade up in any draft. But if I can complete the defensive puzzle with a MLB who will be there for MANY years behind an excellent DL, that sounds like something you have to weigh carefully. Together with Manning running the offense, that means a whole lotta competitiveness.  Wonder is on record with a pretty bold call. He does not want to mortgage the farm.  But for a reasonable price, if he slips, he says you get him. The Steelers pick #24, and Wonder speculates that Hightower will not make it past them. So he argues that right now you set up a trade for the Lions' 23rd pick.  The cost? a R3 pick next year.  (This year would have to be more, since the Giants pick at the end of R3.)

For the sake of consistency, I will disagree and resist the temptation to trade up. I would rather sit back and see who falls to me.  This draft is not great.  There are not a world of 1's and 2's that are worth going crazy for.  So just sit back with your #32 pick in the draft and let the chips fall where they may.  If a LBer is our destiny, let it be this way.  David Lavonte is very attractive as well.  Hightower will be gone.  Maybe Lavonte is not.  And there are MANY other suitable players at 32 for the Giants because they have many needs.  Patience.      

Here are the positional breakdowns for players at

DEFENSIVE TACKLE

DEFENSIVE END

Please note that there are a few defensive ends that can be 3-4 OLB's and vice versa.  The question this draft for the Giants is- will Marvin Austin be ready for football after being out of football for 2 years? The answer to that question is going to have a role in what the Giants do at DT.  Obviously it would also be nice to have more clarity on Osi, who was a no-show at an OTA last week.

Speaking of Defensive Tackles and Defensive Ends, it was more than a little eye-opening to hear Tuck talk about last offseason.  Because of the lockout, Tuck admits he "(re)laxed on my regimens," and that likely was a good part of the reason why he was oft-injured.  It is great to see that Tuck is full of focus during this offseason. Tuck is a class act.  By confronting his own shortcomings in 2011, that kind of honesty and integrity is going to propel him to even greater heights.  Along with Snee, I fully expect him to come back in 2012 with a great year.    

The tentative schedule is to do the Linebackers Tuesday, Secondary Wednesday, the final board on Thursday and a discussion of Round 1.  Follow us on Twitter on Thursday night-  we'll watch to see how the first round unfolds, comment on other teams and see who the Giants draft.  It should be a lot of fun.

The last installment in the Offense, Tight End. 

In 2010, the year that everyone has now heralded as the year of the Tight End, Wonder had 10 starters and a total of 14 guys worthy of a draft pick. That's a lot, considering these guys are ~1/22nd of your starters.  This year, he has only 7 players projected as starters and a TOTAL of 7 draftable players.  So just when everyone wants their Jimmy Graham or Aaron Hernandez or Ron Gronkowski, now the stock of talent will be less here.  That is typical of the way the NFL copycats chase trends.  HINT: you have to pick to WHERE the talent IS, not to where the trends ARE.  MAKE YOUR OWN TRENDS.  Invent your own blueprint, draft good players who can make plays, wherever they are. 

Reese quietly navigated Free Agency well:
1) TE in the draft is thin, so he got Martellus Bennett (to fill in for Ballard on a short contract)
2) WR (while not top heavy) is amply stocked with 3's and 4's, so Manningham can be replaced with another player who can compliment Nicks and Cruz down the road 

Here is the breakdown for Wonder's 2012 NFL Draft for Quarterback.

The way drafting works in the NFL, General Managers get judged vs what others think they should do, not what is necessarily right.  Case in point, the 2006 Draft.  Everybody wanted to line up to kiss Reggie Bush's ***.  The Texans could not agree on a deal with Bush and they went elsewhere, taking DE Mario Williams. The Texans were skewered, roasted alive for not taking Bush. Did it matter what happened afterward? No.  Consensus was that Bush was going to be OJ Simpson and Tony Dorsett and Barry Sanders wrapped into one, the #1 pick who HAD to be taken #1.  The Texans were guilty of passing up on the best player in the draft. Forever. Ridiculous.

So why do we mention this now?  Well, Wonder thinks the same thing is going on with respect to Luck and Griffin.  Luck has the blessing of Harbaugh, is deemed the best QB to come out of the draft since Elway, and so anyone who DARE thinketh that you take Griffin before Luck is out of their mind!  I guess that makes Wonder out of his mind!  But this is how the draft works- it is dominated by orthodoxy and convention.

Here is how the orthodoxy works:

If you take Luck #1 and Griffin is better, well, hey, you took Luck, who could fault that!

If you take Griffin #1 and it doesn't work out, you are a F***ing moron who got what was coming to him.  How dare you challenge the informed decree of the football minions?!

For Wonder's money, Griffin is the better prospect.  He believes people are trying to "stereotype" Griffin as a Vick-type scrambler, but he's much more- he's a pocket passer with athleticism.  And since Luck does not have a strong arm (like Elway, the one he is compared to), Wonder thinks the #1 QB in the draft is RGIII.  Just his opinion.  No lock on it falling out like that, but if he is the GM of Indianapolis, that is who he takes.  That doesn't mean that Luck won't be a terrific QB, just that RGIII has more upside and is the preferred pick.  Both should be very good QBs.

The orthodoxy says: pick anyone you want #1, as long as it is Luck.  We know Luck is the safe pick. Is he the best pick?