The New York Giants passed on an heir apparent to two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning and took a running back that many think is the best to come out of college in decade.
The Giants selected Penn State's Saquon Barkley with the second pick overall Authentic Evan Bouchard Jersey , a player many football experts consider the best running back to enter the NFL since Adrian Peterson came out of Oklahoma in 2007.
Barkley, who entered the draft after his junior season, has all the ingredients to become a great. He has quickness, speed, strength, character and can pass protect. He also can catch and is a dynamic returner, although the Giants don't plan on using him as the top returner.
Giants general manager Dave Gettleman said he hasn't seen a player like Barkley in almost three decades. He has the speed and feet of the little guy with the power and strength of a big guy.
"This kid makes our quarterback better," Gettleman said. "He makes our wide receivers better. He makes our O-line better. He makes our defense better because we'll have a much stronger ability to hold the ball. He is a great kid and he is going to be great for our culture. He was the unanimous best player in the draft."
The Giants didn't take long to make their selection once the Cleveland Browns took Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield at No. 1.
Gettleman quipped he would have made the pick sooner but the league mandates teams wait five minutes before picking.
"At the end of the day, a great player is a great player," said Gettleman, who called the pick easy. "He is a touchdown maker. He is a threat to take it to the house every time he gets his hands on the ball."
The Giants need help, coming off a 3-13 season that cost coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese their jobs.
Drafting Barkley gives new coach Pat Shurmur a player who can do it all, while showing the Giants believe the 37-year-old Manning has more in the tank.
"He is our quarterback www.buccaneersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-alex-cappa-jersey , we believe in him," Gettleman said of Manning. "He threw the hell out of the ball for three days (minicamp). He has not lost one bit of arm strength."
Shurmur expects Barkley to be an every-down player, but first he has to learn the offense, which is more diverse than the one Penn State employed.
"If he is the best Saquon he can be, then he will find his way into the lineup and he will find a way to help lead this team," Shurmur said. "That's the challenge for him."
Gettleman expects Barkley to meet the challenge. He recalled watching video of a game earlier this season when he got to the second level and was confronted by two linebackers and a safety. He put together three moves and left them in the dust.
"I watched it and saw all the other stuff and just put the clicker down and went to the next guy," Gettleman said.
He'd seen enough.
By the time Barkley spoke to reporters in New Jersey in a conference call, he had received welcoming texts from Manning and receiver Odell Beckham Jr., whom he had recently trained with in Los Angeles. He said he felt at home after his visit with the Giants.
"I know that I have to work my butt off every single day to get to where I want to go," Barkley said. "And it's not going to happen in one day. It's going to take baby steps and it's going to take a long trip up that mountain, but every single day I'm willing to work."
In three seasons, Barkley finished as Penn State's second all-time leading rusher with 3,843 yards Authentic Jeremy Kerley Jersey , including 1,271 this past season when he scored 138 points. He had 18 rushing touchdowns, pushing his career total to school-record 43. His 53 overall touchdowns also are a school record.
Coming out of the backfield, he had 54 receptions this past season. His 1,195 career yards receiving is a school record for a running back.
Barkley ended his career as the school's career all-purpose yards leader with 5,538 yards.
Orleans Darkwa led the Giants with 751 yards rushing in 2017, running behind a weak offense line.
By the way, the last time the Giants had the No. 2 overall pick was in 1981. The late George Young selected Lawrence Taylor.
Aldrick Rosas can’t have a repeat of last season if he wants to remain the New York Giants‘ placekicker.
The 23-year-old from Southern Oregon might have been the biggest surprise of training camp last summer, making the roster as a first-year free agent. The 6-foot-3, rock-solid 233-pounder with a booming leg made almost every kick attempted in training camp to beat out veteran Mike Nugent. It was a no-brainer for then-coach Ben McAdoo and his staff.
Then came the regular season and everything went south for McAdoo, the team – and Rosas.
There were good moments: Rosas kicked in the opener at Dallas and then hitched a ride on co-owner’s Steve Tisch’s jet so he could get to California for the birth of his daughter and first child, Karsyn Isabella.
”She is doing great, she is awesome Roberto Perez Jersey ,” Rosas said Friday after practice. ”It’s amazing. She is eating the house. She is growing so fast. It’s amazing.”
His season wasn’t so pretty.
Rosas made 18 of 25 field-goal attempts. That’s 72 percent and not good enough when coaches expect their kickers to hit 80 percent.
”It’s felt like I have done five years since last summer,” Rosas said. ”It’s been a ride. When you go back and reflect, it’s learning the game of football, being a professional and learning the game of life and being a Dad. I am still learning.”
Rosas said the biggest thing he learned as a player was the need to stick to a plan and take it one kick at a time, regardless of each result.
This season, he is trying to follow a routine after each kick. He wants to come to the sideline, take a sip of water and wait for his next field-goal attempt, kickoff or extra point.
Rosas insists when he walks on the field, he is never looking to see how far he has to kick the ball, or where the ball is positioned. He is looking at his spot and focusing.
”So if I pushed the last one wide right, I am still going to line up the same, right down the middle,” he said. ”I am going to give it my best effort to make it. It may be the same result Lawrence Taylor Jersey , but I am not going to let the last kick dictate what I do on this one.”
Rosas has spent a lot of time recently working with regular long snapper Zak DeOssie and new holder, punter Riley Dixon. Friday was the first time the unit practiced the hurry-up, last-minute field-goal attempts with the fans and media watching.
Rosas made all three attempts.
Looking back on last season, Rosas can’t say one thing went wrong. He said his confidence level was OK, but he felt he let his mind wander on what he should and should not be doing in practice with his kicking.
This year, he wants to do the same thing every kick and have a little fun.
New coach Pat Shurmur was hesitant to say what he expected from his kicker, although he agreed with someone with a cranky wizard-like voice from behind the podium curtain who chirped in: ”Just make `em.”
”I think it’s important,” Shurmur said. ”Again, you’ve got to see it happen in game situations. Most often, the kickers that you have in camp make them during the practice sessions, you’ve just got to watch it happen. It’s really not that much more complicated than that.”
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