Tag: Mike Derice

Dante Miller recalls his unlikely path to the Giants

Dante Miller reflects on his unlikely and strange path to the New York Giants, which he credits to one of the team’s national scouts.

Not every player who makes it to the NFL takes the traditional path as a draft pick or a high-priced free agent.

Throughout the league’s history, many players have emerged from basic obscurity to NFL stardom. The New York Giants are hoping that running back Dante Miller is one of those players.

Miller began his college career at Columbia and then transferred to South Carolina as a graduate walk-on. He played six games in 2022 but was declared ineligible and was forced to the sidelines. Miller returned to South Carolina in 2023 only to be denied again.

He should have been part of the 2023 NFL draft class but due to a mix-up with his eligibility status combined with the slow-moving NCAA, he was declared ineligible again.

That has all led here to 2024. Miller has technically been a free agent for a year and only recently became a hot name among the NFL scouting community. He not only drew interest from the Giants but several other NFL teams as well.

“It was a bit tricky,” Miller recently told the Richmond Observer. “My agent reached out to the League office to determine if I was draft eligible. We were told I lost my eligibility last May after the last Draft, but was told that I could sign before this Draft.”

And he did. Last week, Miller became a New York Giant after they held a private workout for him They are getting a bit of a steal, a player who has fallen through the cracks. He recently ran a 4.27 40 at South Carolina’s pro day.

“There was a national scout for the Giants named Mike Derice who knew about me from my time at Columbia,” Miller explained. “The Giants were interested in me and he asked about my eligibility situation at South Carolina.

“After I put up my numbers at my pro day, I was invited to a private workout. I worked out in front of the coaching staff and the front office staff. It took me about a day to realize New York is a great place to be. It’s a great organization to play for and I hope I bring a lot to the team.”

His college coach at Columbia, Al Bagnoli, also believes the Giants may have gotten a break with Miller.

“It’s low-risk [investment] when you sign him as a free agent,” Bagnoli told the New York Post. “But he’s zero risk. He’ll represent the place unbelievably, and I don’t say that lightly.”

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Giants national scout Mike Derice named a future GM to watch

The New York Giants currently employ several future general manager candidates, including national scout Mike Derice.

The Athletic recently surveyed 26 certified agents regarding numerous league-wide issues. Questions included which general manager/front office were the best talent evaluators, which front office personnel were the least trustworthy and who are viewed as rising stars and potential GMs of the future.

Interestingly, the New York Giants came up quite a bit. For instance, current general manager Joe Schoen received a vote as one of the NFL’s best talent evaluators. On the opposite end of that spectrum, retired Giants general manager Dave Gettleman received a vote as the least trustworthy.

But perhaps the most significant takeaway is that Giants national scout, Mike Derice, received a vote as a future GM to watch. Coincidentally, Schoen received two votes in that same category a year ago.

Schoen and the Giants hired Derice away from the Indianapolis Colts back in May.

Derice, who grew up in Brooklyn, spent the past 10 years with the Colts organization. During that time, he briefly worked alongside current Giants assistant general manager Brandon Brown (2015-2016).

Some of the quality hidden gems uncovered by Derice include Isaiah Rodgers, Rock Ya-Sin, and Zaire Franklin.

Although Brown did not receive a vote, he is also widely considered a future GM candidate.

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Giants officially hire Chris Rossetti, three others

The New York Giants have hired Chris Rossetti as their director of pro scouting and confirmed the hire of three others.

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen continued to overhaul the team’s football operations on Thursday with the announcement of four hires in the scouting department.

In the door are: Chris Rossetti (director of pro scouting), Dennis Hickey (assistant director of player personnel), Mike Derice (national scout) and Scott Hamel (area scout – Southwest).

Rossetti, a native of Ontario, Canada, worked with Schoen in the Miami Dolphins organization in 2015-16. He most recently served as the Dolphins’ assistant director of pro scouting where he ‘evaluated players throughout the NFL as it pertained to free agency, preseason, team advances, trades, practice squads and the waiver wire’ as per the Giants’ official release.

Hickey was most recently the senior national scout for the Buffalo Bills under Schoen and the two worked together before that in Miami.

Derice is a Brooklyn native who began his football career at Stony Brook and has spent the last ten seasons as an area scout for the Indianapolis Colts.

Hamel played high school ball at Rye High School and then was a walk-on running back at Michigan. He most recently worked for the Chicago Bears, where from 2015-21 where he was a combine scout and then became an area scout in the Midwest (2017-20) and Southeast (2021).

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Colts scout Mike Derice to join Giants’ scouting staff

The Colts lose a talented scout to the Giants.

Indianapolis Colts area scout Mike Derice is expected to join the New York Giants’ scouting staff under new general manager Joe Schoen.

Derice has been with the Colts long before Chris Ballard took over as general manager in 2017. The Stony Brook alum got his first scouting job with the Colts during the Ryan Grigson era in 2012.

While Ballard gets a lot of the credit for the picks the Colts have made during his tenure, a lot of the groundwork is laid by scouts like Derice. He played a heavy role in scouting the likes of Zaire Franklin, Isaiah Rodgers, Rock Ya-Sin, Jelani Woods and Nick Cross—to name a few.

The Colts will have to fill his position on the staff but with a promotion on hand under the new regime in New York, it’s hard to keep talented scouts on the staff for so long.

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Report: Giants to hire Mike Derice as national scout

The New York Giants are reportedly hiring former Indianapolis Colts area scout Mike Derice as a national scout.

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen remains hard at work reshaping the team’s front office and scouting department.

On Tuesday, the Giants made their latest addition, hiring former Indianapolis Colts are scout Mike Derice. He is expected to serve as a national scout for the organization.

Derice, who grew up in Brooklyn, spent the past 10 years with the Colts organization. During that time, he briefly worked alongside current Giants assistant general manager Brandon Brown (2015-2016).

Some of the quality hidden gems uncovered by Derice include Isaiah Rodgers, Rock Ya-Sin, and Zaire Franklin.

More to come…

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