Sometimes a team makes a pick in the first round of the NFL Draft and there’s all sorts of wonderment and surprise. That was not the case today when the Super Bowl champion Giants did the expected by selecting Miami (Fla.) safety Kenny Phillips with the 31st overall selection.
The first round seemingly went the way the Giants anticipated, with no safeties off the board when it came time for them to make their choice.
The pick makes complete sense, because the Giants lost their best free safety, Gibril Wilson, to the Raiders in free agency. Phillips is widely considered the top safety in this draft and certainly looks the part. He has great size (6-2, 212) and pedigree and comes from a football factory that produced great safeties Ed Reed, Sean Taylor and Brandon Meriweather. Many scouts do not put Phillips in that class, but he can run and cover tight ends.
Depending how quickly he comes in, learns the system and adapts to the NFL, Phillips has a shot to be an immediate starter. He’ll compete with second-year Michael Johnson, with newly signed veteran Sammy Knight more of a strong safety with skills to play in the box. James Butler, who has played both safety spots for the Giants, is another option; he started at strong safety last season in a system in which the strong and free safeties at times are interchangeable.
Whom the Giants picked in the first round in many ways was overshadowed by whom they did not trade away. Rumors all week were flying fast and furious that tight end Jeremy Shockey could be dealt, most likely to the Saints, and there even were reports that an agreement was nearly in place. But nothing had transpired by the time the Giants made their pick.
The Saints were hot for Shockey and were willing to part with their second-round pick (40th overall) to get him. But not long after the draft got under way they traded away their third-round pick (78th overall) to move up from No. 10 to No. 7 to select USC defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis. That lowered the chances of acquiring Shockey, not wanting to part with a second- and third-round pick in this draft.
Shockey missed the Super Bowl run with a broken leg and in the ensuing months speculation swirled that the Giants would be willing to trade him and that Shockey wanted out. This was mostly innuendo and nothing definitive ever came from Shockey himself. General manager Jerry Reese maintained he was not shopping Shockey but would listen to offers.
The Giants are believed to have asked for the Saints’ second-round pick, plus safety Roman Harper, a price the Saints were unwilling to pay.
The Giants had their pick of any receiver in the entire draft; none went in the first round. A speedy target, such as Limas Sweed of Texas, must have been intriguing to the Giants, but they went with what they believe was their most pressing need and added Phillips, whom they anticipate will quickly become a fixture in their defensive backfield.
This is the second draft with Reese as GM and he was looking to duplicate his sterling 2007 class. Reese’s debut produced seven rookies who made contributions to the Super Bowl winning team, and several are players who figure to be fixtures for years to come.