Revenge Of The Birds Community Mock Draft: 15th Pick, New York Giants

by najmsh on Apr 6, 2010 12:30 PM MDT

With the 15th pick of the Revenge of the Birds community mock draft, the New York Giants select...

Derrick Morgan | DE | Georgia Tech

Strengths: Derrick Morgan is one of the top talents in this draft. He gets great penetration, as evidenced by his 12.5 sacks and 18.5 TFLs in 2009. His talents translate well to the NFL as he’s not just a speech rusher, but uses a combination of speed and power to get to the QB. He is a very powerful DE and can fight through double teams, while still getting to the QB. At 6’3" and 266 pounds, he is built like an NFL DE and his skills translate well to the pros. Unlike other top rated DEs coming out of college, he is also a very good run stopper. Plays with discipline at the line and does not play for his own stats. He has a very good work ethic and will work hard for the Giants.

Weaknesses: Not the best athlete at DE, Jason Pierre-Paul is much faster. Not suited to play OLB in a 3-4 as his coverage skills would be lacking. Other than this, he doesn’t have many weaknesses.

Why the Giants will draft him: I was honestly a little surprised he was still on the board, as most analysts consider Morgan the top DE in the draft. The Giants value defensive line players more than almost any other position. Although they still have Osi Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka, they still have a need at DE. Umenyiora has been unhappy as a Giant and unlike Anquan Boldin, this affected his play last year as he recorded only 6 sacks. Drafting Morgan, who would be able to start immediately, would give the Giants some leverage with Umenyiora and may make him fall back in line. Kiwanuka is a good talent, but will become a free agent next year and it is unlikely he’ll resign with the Giants if he is not made the full time starter. Their other starter Justin Tuck is coming off surgery, and defensive line depth is extremely important to the Giants. They really want Rolando Mclain with this pick, but since he’s off the board, I think they’ll be satisfied with Morgan.

This puts kj197728 on the clock with the Titans pick. lorenzothedog is now on deck with San Francisco’s second pick. Please send your picks to revengeofthebirds@gmail.com. The picks are after the jump…