National Football League

Giants trust their draft process and never stray from it

Published May. 5, 2015 10:10 a.m. ET

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When the New York Giants selected University of Texas safety Mykkele Thompson in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, just about everyone was surprised. Even Thompson himself admitted that he expected to go undrafted after receiving interest from only one team (Giants) during the pre-draft process.

Some critics believe that Thompson is an example of a bad draft pick based on value and not their evaluation of the prospect. If you can draft a player in the seventh round, but you draft him in the fifth round and pass up on other prospects rated higher on your board to draft, is that a strong move?

That's a question that the Giants have no interested in answering. They trust their evaluation process, and they simply want to draft their highest rated player at the time of each selection.

"We trust our scouts. We trust our coaches. We trust our process, and what the media writes or what other teams do [in regards to] if they like him or don't like him, has very little to no bearing on what we do," said vice president of player evaluation Marc Ross to reporters after the third day of the draft.

Head coach Tom Coughlin confirmed that this has been the same mindset since his first year on the job back in 2004.

"This is a franchise that in all the years that I have been around ‐ you may have some legitimate battles of things of this nature, but the best player is going to get taken," coach Tom Coughlin said, according to True Jersey. "Sometimes it looks as if we already have people at that spot, but over the years that has been proven the way to go. This organization does not change from that policy."

However, just because the Giants don't consider what other teams think doesn't mean they strictly adhere to the highest rated player on their board. One way to find value in the draft is through the marriage of need and grade. Drafting Thompson is a great example of this.

"We tried to tie that together," general manager Jerry Reese said, according to True Jersey. "We were all about the best player available, but we tried to tie in need with value as well. We were definitely cognizant of that and we tried to do that."

Over the years, this process has turned in mixed results. The Giants have been strong drafters in the early rounds, but they have struggled at times to turn mid-to-late round draft picks into quality NFL starters.

(h/t True Jersey)

Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports