Joe Schoen obtained a nook for Wink Martindale.
The Giants GM traded up one spot to No. 24 total on Thursday night time and took Maryland nook Deonte Banks on the heels of a large receiver run from picks 20 by means of 23.
Schoen gave the Jacksonville Jaguars picks No. 25, 160 (fifth spherical) and 240 (seventh spherical) to maneuver up one spot to assist his secondary.
That earned him an enormous bear hug from Martindale, his defensive coordinator, within the draft room.
“You guys know Wink’s defense and what he likes,” Schoen mentioned with a smile. “Deonte fits that mold to a ‘T.’ So he was ecstatic.”
Banks, 22, is a bodily 6-foot, 197-pounder who has the dimensions and athleticism to play press man protection on the surface. His choice addresses a significant want on Brian Daboll’s roster, the place the Giants had been missing reliability behind veteran Adoree Jackson.
“I bring a lot of physicality,” Banks mentioned on a convention name. “I’m a press-man, lockdown corner. It’s gonna be fun.”
A 12 months in the past, the Jets took nook Sauce Gardner at No. 4 total out of Cincinnati earlier than the Giants might get him at No. 5, and he gained Defensive Rookie of the Year. Now the Giants hope Banks can provide their protection a right away carry.
Banks really earned NFL NextGenStats’ fourth-highest athleticism rating (98) of any cornerback prospect during the last decade after recording a 4.35 40-yard sprint, an 11-foot-4 broad soar and a 42-inch vertical at this 12 months’s mix.
“He’s a prototype from a size standpoint,” Schoen mentioned. “He’s athletic, physical, [and he] can run. He’s got arm length, big hands. He’s a four-year starter. Schematically he was a good fit. We spent a lot of time with him.”
Banks, a Baltimore native, mentioned he met with the Giants “a bunch of times,” together with a top-30 go to to New Jersey and a current dinner with Martindale the place “he came to me.”
The Maryland nook mentioned he knew there was an opportunity he’d be drafted earlier than they picked, however he mentioned based mostly on their interactions, “I already knew if I made it to 25 it was gonna be the Giants.”
Schoen mentioned the draft “got pretty tense,” although, when a cluster of the Giants’ most well-liked gamers began flying off the board simply earlier than their decide.
The first spherical broke fairly nicely for the Giants initially.
The first huge receiver didn’t come off the board till No. 20 total, when the Seattle Seahawks picked Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Quite a lot of the highest corners and receivers obtained pushed down the board by a number of developments:
Three quarterbacks went within the prime 4. Six defensive gamers got here off the board within the seven picks from 13 by means of 19. The Detroit Lions took a working again and an inside linebacker with their two picks within the prime 18.
It was establishing for the Giants to probably decide a playmaker or a nook at No. 25.
But then 4 straight wideouts got here off the board in a row: Smith-Njigba to Seattle, TCU’s Quentin Johnston to the Chargers at 21, Boston College’s Zay Flowers to the Baltimore Ravens at 22 and USC’s Jordan Addison to the Minnesota Vikings at 23.
Multiple league sources consider Flowers would have been the Giants’ decide if he had slipped to 25, however he by no means made it there.
“The way it went down and the way the board fell, we were getting depleted,” Schoen admitted.
So as soon as the Jacksonville Jaguars got here up on the clock at 24, Schoen mentioned he executed a commerce that he’d labored with Jags GM Trent Baalke forward of time simply in case.
Schoen mentioned he had choices to commerce again out of 25, too. And he additionally had an inventory of gamers at much less premium positions that he might have chosen if he’d stayed pat.
“When you’re picking at 25, we had multiple positions — and it may not be a popular position, but they were the best player available,” he mentioned. “And we were prepared in different scenarios that we went through where we would have taken one of those players.”
But in the end he mentioned the Giants “didn’t want to get greedy. We just wanted to say ‘hey, this is a player we like and covet. Let’s just take him and move on to day two of the draft.”
The Giants nonetheless are anticipated to take a playmaker someplace within the early rounds, and they should deal with the middle place, too. But Banks, who made 21 begins and 30 appearances throughout 4 faculty seasons, might help this crew instantly.
He mentioned his confidence is “real high” and he emulates prime corners just like the Dolphins’ Jalen Ramsey and the Saints’ Marshon Lattimore.
“I love how they play,” Banks mentioned.
In a division dealing with the Eagles’, Cowboys’ and Commanders’ receiving corps, with a pressure-based defensive scheme that trusts its corners to deal with their enterprise, including a starter on the surface early was a should for Schoen.
Especially because the Eagles, the NFC East’s present gold customary, solely obtained higher Thursday by taking two Georgia defensive linemen: D-tackle Jalen Carter and edge Nolan Smith.
So the Giants must preserve bettering this weekend with their remaining seven picks. They’ll most likely should draft not less than another nook, frankly, to maintain reinforcing the secondary.
And Schoen indicated that giving up picks on Thursday wouldn’t cease him from buying and selling up once more on Friday within the second or third rounds for a participant he likes.
“It’s not gonna affect me,” he mentioned. “We’re still in good shape from that standpoint if we want to move around.”
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com