NFL.com's Bucky Brooks predicts defense for Giants at No. 11
Mock draft season is officially upon us.
With the Senior Bowl now in the rearview mirror, draft boards for teams across the league are likely to change following the week of festivities down in Mobile, Alabama.
NFL.com's Bucky Brooks finally released his first mock draft for the 2021 NFL Draft. Of course, a lot can change between now and April 29. But in his initial attempt to predict how the first round will play out, Brooks predicts the Giants boost the defense with the selection of Miami edge rusher Gregory Rousseau.
Rousseau was one of the many prospects to opt out of the 2020 season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the 6-foot-7, 265-pound pass rusher enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2019.
In 13 games that season, Rousseau totaled 15.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss to go with two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one pass defended and 54 total tackles (34 solo). His 15.5 sacks led the ACC and ranked second in the country behind only Chase Young's 16.5.
The Florida native earned several accolades for his stellar redshirt freshman season, including ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year, First-Team All-ACC, Second-Team All-American and Freshman All-American.
As Brooks writes, "Rousseau is an intriguing option for the Giants given his athleticism, length and sack production."
NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah updated his ranking of the top 50 prospects in the 2021 NFL Draft for the final time before the start of the draft.
No. 50 Georgia CB Eric Stokes
No. 49 Oregon S Jevon Holland
No. 48 LSU WR Terrace Marshall Jr.
No. 47 Notre Dame OT Liam Eichenberg
No. 46 Penn State TE Pat Freiermuth
No. 45 Wisconsin-Whitewater IOL Quinn Meinerz
No. 44 Oklahoma EDGE Ronnie Perkins
No. 43 Alabama DT Christian Barmore
No. 42 Houston EDGE Payton Turner
No. 41 Minnesota WR Rashod Bateman
No. 40 Alabama IOL Landon Dickerson
No. 39 Florida State CB Asante Samuel Jr.
No. 38 Virginia Tech OT Christian Darrisaw
No. 37 North Dakota State OT Dillon Radunz
No. 36 Oklahoma State OT Teven Jenkins
No. 35 Michigan OT Jalen Mayfield
No. 34 Missouri LB Nick Bolton
No. 33 Washington EDGE Joe Tryon
No. 32 Alabama QB Mac Jones
No. 31 Penn State EDGE Jayson Oweh
No. 30 Georgia EDGE Azeez Ojulari
No. 29 Washington DT Levi Onwuzurike
No. 28 Florida WR Kadarius Toney
No. 27 Northwestern CB Greg Newsome II
No. 26 Mississippi WR Elijah Moore
No. 25 North Carolina RB Javonte Williams
No. 24 Tulsa LB Zaven Collins
No. 23 Kentucky LB Jamin Davis
No. 22 Virginia Tech CB Caleb Farley
No. 21 Miami EDGE Jaelan Phillips
No. 20 Alabama RB Najee Harris
No. 19 Clemson RB Travis Etienne
No. 18 Miami EDGE Gregory Rousseau
No. 17 Michigan EDGE Kwity Paye
No. 16 TCU S Trevon Moehrig
No. 15 Notre Dame LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
No. 14 South Carolina CB Jaycee Horn
No. 13 USC OL Alijah Vera-Tucker
No. 12 Penn State LB Micah Parsons
No. 11 Oregon OT Penei Sewell
No. 10 Northwestern OT Rashawn Slater
No. 9 Alabama CB Patrick Surtain II
No. 8 Ohio State QB Justin Fields
No. 7 North Dakota State QB Trey Lance
No. 6 Alabama WR DeVonta Smith
No. 5 Alabama WR Jaylen Waddle
No. 4 BYU QB Zach Wilson
No. 3 LSU WR Ja'Marr Chase
No. 2 Florida TE Kyle Pitts
No. 1 Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence
Eli Manning's legendary 2011 postseason run
With Super Bowl week finally here, Pro Football Focus looked back at some postseason quarterback performances from the last 15 years.
When talking about some of the best QB playoff runs in recent memory, Eli Manning's four-game stretch leading to the franchise's Super Bowl XLVI victory over the Patriots is certainly in the discussion. According to PFF, the analytics support this notion.
Manning registered 17 big-time throws in the 2011 playoffs, the most of any quarterback in a single postseason since 2006.
As PFF puts it, "In its simplest terms, a big-time throw is on the highest end of both difficulty and value. While the value is easy to see statistically, the difficulty has more to do with passes that have a lower completion percentage the further the ball is thrown down the field. Therefore, the big-time throw is best described as a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window."
During that four-game span leading to his second Super Bowl MVP award, Manning completed 65.0 percent of his passes for 1,219 yards, nine touchdowns and just one interception, helping him earn a 103.3 passer rating.
NFL Draft talk with Matt Miller
Giants.com's John Schmeelk is joined by Matt Miller from thedraftscout.com to wrap up the Senior Bowl and take a look at the 2021 draft class.
Miller covers several topics in his conversation with Schmeelk, including potential first round picks who shined in Mobile last week, the senior edge rushers, the class of wide receivers, options for the Giants at No. 11 and much more.
Check out the audio below to hear the full discussion with Miller on the Giants Huddle podcast.
