It could end up being a fairly simple situation for the Giants come tomorrow night, if their need for a middle linebacker and the way the first round of the NFL Draft sorts out leaves them with the easy call of selecting Rolando McClain.
The Giants two years ago needed a safety and the best one (in their view) was sitting there waiting for them with the 31st pick, and they took Kenny Phillips. They needed a receiver a year ago and were happy Hakeem Nicks was there for the taking at No. 29. No fuss, no muss.
Rarely do drafts work out that smoothly, though, and it’s likely if the Giants are hell-bent to nab McClain, they’re going to have to trade up a few spots to get him. That’s an unlikely scenario, given general manager Jerry Reese’s reluctance to fork over high draft picks, even for the top inside linebacker available.
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On the surface there is little to quibble about with McClain. He was a three-year starter at Alabama — rare for a true freshman– an unquestioned team leader, already NFL-size at 6-foot-3 and 254 pounds, made all the checks and reads for Nick Saban’s NFL-style defense (albeit a 3-4 front) and won a national championship in his junior year before entering the draft.
As is almost always the case, there are naysayers when McClain’s value comes up. He will come up and blast away at the point of the attack but strangely is not considered to be much of an intimidator and is regarded as more of a glider than a beast when pursuing the ball. There is a debate if he can be a three-down player. Some like his ability to cover tight ends and running backs out of the backfield, others are skeptical.
Then there’s the matter of his health. Last month at the NFL Scouting Combine, he revealed for seven years he’s been battling and taking medication for Crohn’s Disease, an incurable but treatable inflammatory disease of the intestines, and claimed despite an occasional flare-up it should not affect his football career. Yet McClain could not complete drills at his Pro Day at Alabama and, strangely, this past week said although his mother does have Crohn’s he actually does not have the disease, which may or may not assuage the concerns of potential NFL employers.
The only other linebacker possibly worth taking midway through the first round is Missouri’s Sean Weatherspoon, and selecting him at 15 probably is a stretch. He’s an athletic dream at 6-foot-1 and 239 pounds, explosive, quick, instinctive, intense and highly productive, with 392 tackles (42 ½ for loss) in his three years as a starter. He’s also not a middle linebacker and best suited as a flow-and-hit player on the weak side.
Weatherspon should be able to stay on the field for three downs, as he’s fast enough to drop in coverage. There are many differing opinions of his value, based largely on the way he talks on the field (early and often) and the fear that he would not be a good fit with veteran teammates because he’s too cocky.
It’s quite possible the Giants don’t have McClain or Weatherspoon ranked as one of the top 15 prospects on their board, and if that’s the case they would be wise to wait until the second round to land a linebacker. With the 46th overall pick they could be in line for Sean Lee of Penn State, who might be too small (6-foot-2, 236 pounds) to play the middle in a 4-3 defense in the NFL but is a classic Nittany Lions throwback with great smarts and desire. His surgically-repaired right knee will have to be thoroughly checked out. Another second-round possibility is Brandon Spikes (Florida), and Donald Butler (Washington) might be there in the third round.
“I think there are good players at linebacker just like at other positions,” Reese said. “So I don’t have a lot of comment of what the depth is like. But I think there are good players at that position, yeah.”
