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Giants Now: Brian Baldinger's prospect Giants 'can't go wrong' with at No. 25

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Brian Baldinger's prospect Giants 'can't go wrong' with at No. 25

With the calendar officially flipping to April, we are now only a few short weeks away from the start of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Before the festivities kick off in Kansas City, many analysts from across the NFL landscape are releasing their predictions for the first round.

In a change from the usual mock draft, NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger weighed in one prospect that he believes the Giants "can't go wrong" with at No. 25.

"Look, the Giants addressed a lot in free agency, they really did," Baldinger said. "Darren Waller comes in, Parris Campbell, they re-signed a couple receivers. They added Nacho (Rakeem Nunez-Roches) and Bobby Okereke down the middle. I feel like corner is the position right now.

"You give Wink Martindale some top level corners. Last year, they played with a lot of guys off the street. They were still pretty good. But I feel like a guy like Cam Smith right here, and this is a deep draft in corners. They're talking about into the third round you can find guys that can start on Sundays. But I feel like the Giants can't go wrong if they address that position early in this draft at No. 25."

After redshirting his freshman year back in 2019, Smith saw his first real action in 2020. That season, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound corner played eight games with three starts and tied for the team lead with two interceptions.

The 2021 campaign is when Smith planted himself on the NFL radar as he played 11 games with seven starts for South Carolina. He finished the year with 41 tackles (31 solo), three interceptions, 2.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and a team-high 14 passes defensed (three interceptions, 11 pass breakups). He allowed multiple catches in just two of 11 games and only 15 catches on 32 targets the entire season on his way to being named Second-Team All-SEC.

He ended his collegiate career with an interception and five pass breakups across 11 games for the Gamecocks this past fall.

At last month's NFL Combine, Smith recorded a 4.43 40-yard dash, along with a 38-inch vertical and a broad jump of 11 feet 2 inches.

NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein listed Smith's pro comparison as A.J. Bouye.

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