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Joe Judge of the New York Giants is a very hands-on kind of guy and although he’s entering just his second season as head coach, that has manifested itself during the team’s draft process.
Similar to Pat Shurmur, Ben McAdoo and the other coaches who have come before him, Judge has been heavily involved with general manager Dave Gettleman, director of college scouting Chris Pettit and others while evaluating prospects and potential draftees.
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“He’s very involved, he was very involved last year. I have this crazy idea that we should collaborate and this crazy idea that we should bring in players that fit coaches’ schemes,” Gettleman told reporters on Thursday. “The best part is the direction and him and his staff explaining the type of player they’re looking for.”
Judge is no more or less involved than Shurmur and McAdoo were, but the one glaring difference is the type of player and personality the second-year head coach seems to be keen on. Early returns suggest that Judge’s input has led to better roster building than those who recently preceded him.
But there’s also an emphasis on scheme fit more than overall talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball where the Giants are in need of a quality edge rusher for Patrick Graham.
“It’s a good group,” Pettit said of the edge prospects. “There’s a bunch of them, there’s different ones, different types, which we like, there’s ones that fit our system, so I think it’s a good group. I think it’s obviously an important position that we look to fill every year, not this year over any other year. We’re going through it and hopefully if we decide to address that and one’s there at a certain time and he fits what we do, we take him.”
Who the Giants ultimately end up with in the 2021 NFL draft remains to be seen, but it’s clear the team is working diligently to find and add players that align with Judge’s overall philosophy and who also specifically fit the offense of Jason Garrett and defensive of Patrick Graham.