As the first round of the NFL Draft came and went, Justin Tuck watched intently from his home in tiny Kellyton, Ala. Tuck was not picked.
“After I slipped out of the first, that’s when it really got hard,” he said.
It got harder. The second round came and went. Still no Tuck scooped up by anyone.
“After I slipped out of the second, there were times when I just wanted to get up and leave,” he said.
The lowest moment came when it came time for the Giants with the 43rd overall pick. Tuck knew the Giants liked him a great deal and figured this was the perfect spot. But the Giants opted for LSU cornerback Corey Webster.
“When they didn’t do it in the second round, that kind of made me – what’s the word I’m looking for? – I was kind of down in the dumps right there,” Tuck told The Post recently. “I actually went downstairs into the basement and started working out. Just getting it off my mind.”
Finally, with the 74th overall pick, the 10th selection in the third round, the Giants took Tuck, a defensive end who is Notre Dame’s career sack leader with 24 1/2. Relief soon gave way to a more powerful emotion. He’s thrilled to be coming to New York, eager to learn from Michael Strahan but also intent on proving that he lasted too long in the draft.
“I just got to make 31 teams regret not picking me,” said Tuck, who gets his first Giants indoctrination today when he arrives for the start of a three-day rookie mini-camp. “Normally I wouldn’t need anything like that to push me, but I know this has given me more incentive to go out there and show everybody what a mistake they made for not drafting me. There’s going to be a chip on my shoulder all year, I guarantee you.”
The 6-5, 268-pound Tuck believes he can come in and start, certainly not ahead of Strahan, but perhaps by beating out Osi Umenyiora.
“[Defensive line] Coach [Mike] Waufle has talked to me about it and he expects me to compete for the starting job coming into camp,” Tuck said.
As for Strahan, Tuck is hoping to learn from one of the league’s most feared defensive ends.
“He just has the complete package,” Tuck said. “I think our variety of moves are pretty much similar. I think I’m a little faster than Strahan, but he’s definitely stronger and more experienced. I still got a lot to learn and he’s a great one to learn from.”