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Giants wrap up NFL Draft
Team selects WR, two LB's, QB and DE
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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APRIL 27, 2008

EAST RUTHERFORD - General Manager Jerry Reese had a folksy description for the Giants' work in this weekend's NFL Draft.

"We didn't shop hungry," Reese said.

In draft parlance, the Giants didn't choose players in desperation or reach for any picks. They selected according to the grades on their meticulously-arranged draft board.

The Giants selected five players and made one trade on today's final day of the draft. The newest Giants are Michigan wide receiver Mario Manningham, linebackers Bryan Kehl of Brigham Young and Jonathan Goff of Vanderbilt, quarterback Andre' Woodson of Kentucky and defensive end Robert Henderson of Southern Mississippi. The Giants relinquished the first of their three sixth-round selections to move up seven spots in the fourth round to take Kehl.

The players selected today join yesterday's two picks - Miami safety Kenny Phillips and USC cornerback Terrell Thomas - to form the Giants' 2008 draft class.

After the significant contributions last year's draftees made during the Giants' championship season, the new group has a high standard to match.

"I feel good about this draft and as I always end up saying, it is time to bring the players in and see exactly how fast they can be involved in our system," Coach Tom Coughlin said. "From a standpoint of the ability range we are excited about this group, because last year's group came in and through a lot of work, obviously through our meetings in the spring and through our on the field sessions through training camp and through our coaches - who did an outstanding job with the young guys, but you really do have to pay tribute also to our veteran players, who I have given a lot of credit to many times, for the development of the young guys that were able to, I would say, from as early as the midpoint of the season to go forward and be key factors in allowing us to continue to play and play well. I expect and look forward to greeting this group in a couple of weeks' time and in the first opportunity of mini-camp to get them on the field.'"

Five of the Giants' draft choices were defensive players. Although they stayed true to the grades on the board, it's no coincidence that they paid the most attention to that unit after losing linebackers Kawika Mitchell and Reggie Torbor and safety Gibril Wilson to free agency.

"We are conscious of what our need is," Reese said. "But we are trying to find players first. That is first and foremost. We are trying to find good football players. And in the draft we look for value and need. I think most of these players give us both value and need."

Here's a rundown of the five players the Giants drafted today, with comments from Reese and Coughlin:

*Mario Manningham, WR, 5-11, 183, taken in the third round, the 95th overall pick.

Manningham finished fourth in school history with 27 touchdown catches, fifth with 2,310 receiving yards and ninth with 137 receptions. Twenty of those 27 touchdowns were more than 20 yards long. One of the wideouts with more career yards at Michigan was Amani Toomer, the Giants' second-round draft choice in 1996 and now the franchise's career leader in almost every significant pass-catching category. In 2007, Manningham was selected first team All-Big Ten. He started 11 of the 12 games in which he played at split end and compiled career-high totals of 72 catches for 1,174 yards and 12 touchdowns.

"Manningham gives us what we wanted, which was an ability to put the fear of the deep ball (into opponents)," Coughlin said. "It gives us another young receiver who does have the ability to go deep and to be productive in terms of the deep ball."

Manningham had off-the-field issues which might have caused his stock to drop. Reese and Coughlin are confident those issues will not prevent Manningham from being a solid citizen and standout player for the Giants.

"You hope that as the individual matures and he looks at what he has to gain and what he has to lose, that he makes some serious decisions about his life," Coughlin said. "We felt really good about talking with him. (Wide receivers coach) Mike Sullivan had some excellent sessions with him. Our offensive coaches visited with Mario. I had an opportunity to visit with him just briefly. ... We felt like because of the support services that we can provide for him, because of our coaching staff, because of our veteran players, that we he would be a young man who would quickly recognize the fact that he can be a very successful player in this league, but it can be taken away very, very quickly if he would fall into some of these problems. He has assured me that he has learned from his mistakes and I think that with all of the support we can give him, he will be a guy that will come in and hopefully do well."

*Bryan Kehl, LB, Brigham Young, 6-2, 242, taken in the fourth round, the 123rd overall pick.

The Giants traded the first of their three sixth-round choices, the 194th overall, to Pittsburgh to move up seven spots to select Kehl, who had a stellar senior season as the Cougars' weakside linebacker. He started all 13 games and was named to the All-Mountain West first team after finishing the year with 91 tackles (52 solo), four sacks for 27 yards, 11.5 tackles for losses of 49 yards and three interceptions, one which he returned 38 yards for a touchdown against New Mexico. Kehl began his career in 2002, then sat out the next two seasons while he was on ormon Church mission in Toronto. He returned in 2005 to earn the first of two Academic All-Mountain West selections. In 2006-07 he started each of BYU's 26 games. Kehl ended his career with 205 tackles (108 solo), 7.0 sacks, 20.5 tackles for losses of 83 yards, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Kehl's older brothers both played for BYU, Ed as a defensive end from 1993-98 and Brandon as a defensive back in 1997.

"We moved up to get him because there were so many positive things about him," Reese said. "He is a big athlete, can run, very, very smart, good in coverage. He played in a 3-4 defense as an outside backer, so we think he can play SAM (strongside linebacker) or WIL (weakside) for us. They are kind of interchangeable in our defense, to be honest with you. There is a lot of positive stuff about him. We think he will be a good football player for us and play on all of the special teams right away. We like him that way."

*Jonathan Goff, LB, Vanderbilt, 6-2, 245, taken in the fifth round, the 165th overall pick.

Goff was an accomplished middle linebacker and student at Vanderbilt, where he played in 46 games with 38 starts and was twice selected to the All-Southeastern Conference second team. He was the 10th player in school history to lead the team in tackles in consecutive seasons (2006-07). Goff completed his career with 307 tackles (202 solo), 15.5 tackles for losses of 67 yards, 6.5 sacks, three interceptions and three forced fumbles. As a senior in 2007, he had a team-best 113 tackles (61 solo), three sacks and 6.5 tackles for losses of 20 yards. Goff has been honored as a member of the SEC's All-Academic team. As a teenager, he was a member of the National Honor Society and was chosen to attend Johns Hopkins' gifted and talented student program. Goff's mother, Gwendolyn Tyre, was the first African-American law clerk on the Georgia Supreme Court. Goff was a three-year starter at St. John's Prep in Danvers, Mass.

"We think he is a middle linebacker - very productive,very smart," Reese said. "He can play on all of the special teams."

"We lost two linebackers in free agency," Coughlin said. "We really did a good job here because these two young men (Kehl and Goff), not only are they good football players but they are smart, they have been in sophisticated systems, and I think that both of these guys are going to come in and they are going to be people who will challenge. I think mentally they will be in good shape and they also are going to be outstanding special teams players because both of them have the ability to run."

*Andre' Woodson, QB, 6-4, 227, taken in the sixth round, the 198th overall pick.

Tall, strong-armed quarterback who played in 44 games with 38 starts for the Wildcats. Started every game in which he played in his final three seasons. Completed 791 of 1,278 passes (62 percent) for 9,360 yards, 79 touchdowns and 25 interceptions. He is second in school history in pass attempts, yards, offensive plays (1,510) and total yards (8,870) to current Giant Jared Lorenzen. In 2007, Woodson was a second-team All-SEC selection and was the team MVP for the second year in a row. He set school and conference records with 40 touchdown passes while completing 327 of 518 throws. Woodson was a star at North Hardin High School in Radcliffe, Ky.

"This was just too good a pick for us to pass up," Coughlin said. "This is a guy that was rated highly on our board. We found ourselves in a position where we felt like he was a guy we wanted to bring in as a young quarterback who could work in our system and be a guy who we could develop as we went forward."

"For years we have talked about bringing in a young quarterback and developing him in our system," Reese said. "Let him grow up here. This guy has got a strong skill set. We like a lot of things about him. He is very productive playing for Kentucky. He has a lot of production over his years there as a quarterback. He has the arm to make all of the throws. He is a pretty good athlete for that position. So there are a lot of positive things about him down there in the draft room. We are going to bring him along and see if he can challenge for some of our backup quarterback spots."

The Giants currently have five quarterbacks: Eli Manning, plus backups Anthony Wright, David Carr, Lorenzen and Woodson.

"I doubt that we bring five quarterbacks to training camp," Reese said, "so the competition will start quickly."

*Robert Henderson, DE, Southern Mississippi, 6-3, 278, taken in the sixth round, the 199th overall pick.

Henderson started the final 30 games of a 46-game collegiate career. Southern Mississippi went to a bowl in each of his four years. Henderson concluded his career with 173 tackles (115 solo), 29.5 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks. He added nine passes defensed, seven forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick. He finished his career by making 30 consecutive starts. In 2007, he was an honorable mention All-Conference USA selection. He finished the regular season with 56 tackles (33 solo), eight tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Henderson had a career-high 11 tackles against East Carolina.

"He is kind of a size-speed defensive end," Reese said. "He is a developmental kind of a kid - ran real fast. So he has some things to develop that we like about him. He is a big, thick guy with some athletic ability. We think he can develop into something for us in year or so."