With six picks in this year's draft, the Giants, maybe unwisely, did not pick any offensive linemen.
It was a unit last year that gave legitimate causes for concern, but it's clear that the Giants like what they have.
Rather, they stacked up some more on the defense - a unit that was mightily impressive last year.
Joe Judge and Dave Gettleman explained the decision-making on Saturday.
GETTLEMAN: First of all, you don't want it to be good enough, you want it to be good, plain and simple. It's really apparent that we have a little more confidence in our offensive linemen than you guys do. So I'm just going to say we're happy with the group that we have. Obviously you're always trying to get better and you're not going to take a player just to take a player, you take a player because you think he's going to improve the value of your team. Right now, our offensive line is what it is, the players are who they are and we're going to move forward.
JUDGE: First off I'm encouraged by the guys we have on our roster right now. They are working hard. We don't have them in the building just yet, not all of them. As we get closer to the mandatory minicamp and training camp, we'll get a feel for them on the grass. I would say we are always looking to make every position more competitive, but right now we are committed to working with the guys on our roster and approving each one of those guys individually and that should help the unit collectively.
GETTLEMAN: Elerson Smith, who we took in the fourth round, is a kid that played at Northern Iowa, didn't play this fall obviously because of COVID. He didn't opt out. They just didn't play. And he played the Senior Bowl. He's long, he's athletic and we watched him on his Northern Iowa tape and what sold us on him is they played Iowa State and he must have played about 85, 90 snaps. He's a real tough kid, athletic, long, has some pass rush potential and he's instinctive, so we really liked him... Then our last pick was Rodarius Williams out of Oklahoma State. We had a solid value on him on the board. He's athletic. He's fast. He can carry the vertical. He plays our style. He's a press corner and we were just very pleased to see him there...
As the media says, and as the public perception is, this is a passing league. So why not a lot of corners, okay. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you can never have too many good players at a position, and when everybody comes in, let the games begin.
JUDGE: Look, we are always looking for different skill sets that create versatility within our defensive schemes and look ultimately throughout the draft and free agency you're looking for the best players available. We happened to go through the draft and we had the opportunity to add two good corners, coming to compete with our current roster. We'll see when they get here how it shakes out. I tell the guys all the time, truest thing I can say, it doesn't matter how you get here; it's what you do when you are here. We are excited to get these guys here and at the same time excited to work with everyone on our current roster, and again, look, our goal is to make every position as competitive as can be and that's when you really get the best out of your team.
