In Pro Football Focus’ latest mock draft based on analytics rather than need and chemistry, the website made a surprising pick for the New York Giants at the No. 4 overall spot in the first round.
The selections they made for each team were not based on who they thought would win the Rookie of the Year but rather the best fit for each team in their eyes using “positional value” and “college-to-pro potential.”
The first pick in the draft was no surprise as Cincinnati chose LSU quarterback Joe Burrow. At No. 2, they have Washington trading out to Miami for picks 5, 18 and 39. Miami then selected Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. At No. 3, the Detroit Lions selected Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah — no real surprise there, except that another Ohio State stud, edge rusher Chase Young was still on the board.
At No. 4, with Young, Clemson linebacker Isaiah Simmons and all four top offensive tackles staring them in the face, the PFF crew has them doing this…
4. NEW YORK GIANTS – HENRY RUGGS III WR BAMA
You will get no argument that Chase Young is a better football player than Henry Ruggs. We aren’t trying to draft the ROY, though — we are trying to add the most valuable players to each team. Ruggs plays a much more valuable position than Young and projects as the best wide receiver based on our college-to-pro projection system. As we wrote in version 1.0, the worst thing that can happen to the Giants is ending up in a position where they don’t quite know about Daniel Jones because he has yet to throw to a legit set of receivers.
No way Giants general manager Dave Gettleman lives to tell the tale if he makes this pick, analytics be damned. The reasoning for passing on these other players in favor in Ruggs here makes zero sense. The Giants’ receiving corp is fairly solid with Sterling Shepard, Golden Tate, Evan Engram and Darius Slayton. Yes, they could use a field-stretching, game breaker but this draft is deep with wideouts so if they were to go this route, a trade back and then taking Ruggs would make more sense.
Either way, the Giant fans would go ballistic if they passed on Chase Young, especially after passing on Josh Allen in last year’s draft.
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