Brian Daboll had this to say not long after the Giants made cornerback Deonte Banks their first-round draft pick:
“Played a heavy amount of man-to-man coverage and press, and he’s strong. He’s got good length. He’s got good quickness, good speed. And now we’ll just throw him in the mix with our guys and good to have him.’’
This was Daboll on center John Michael Schmitz, the second-round pick:
“This guy’s tough. He’s smart. He’s got a good frame. Former wrestler. Good leader. We’ll throw him in the mix, let him compete it out with the other guys and see how it ends up.’’
And here is Daboll on wide receiver Jalin Hyatt, a player the Giants traded up 16 spots to select in the third round:
“Everything is new for him. He’s a young guy. We’ll throw him in the mix with the other receivers and let those guys compete it out. Definitely has some qualities that you like when you’re watching him. Good young man. So, happy we have him.’’
There is a theme here.
Daboll is happy to have these guys and, beyond that, well, there is not much beyond that, as far as what he is interested in revealing.
Of course Daboll is devising plans for all the top picks, hoping Banks, Schmitz and Hyatt get on the field in starting roles.
The head coach, though, is not going to gush about any of them. Not now. Not yet.
There was a definite dynamic each time Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen sat down and discussed the seven players who make up the Giants’ 2023 draft class.
Schoen explained why the player was attractive to the team and why the value of the player matched the round and slot he was taken.
Daboll. His comments were far more muted, cautious and reserved, befitting the person tasked with getting these rookies onto the field in places where their talent will overcome their lack of experience at the NFL level.
“Look, what I tell Joe and the scouts is: Find good players,’’ Daboll said. “You don’t always necessarily agree — whether it’s scout-to-scout, coach-to-scout, coach-to-coach. But you sit down, and you talk about these players. I’m excited about all these players.
“And then your job as a coaching staff, I’ll say this until I’m done coaching, is to get good players and find a way to use them. You have a playbook, but our playbook really isn’t finished quite yet. We just added some players, and we have to do a good job as a staff of going out there on the practice field and trying different things, seeing how people respond, running different routes, or doing some different blocking schemes.
“These guys have been working their tails off since the start of the last draft at the end of it, and the coaches have been working hard to try to evaluate them. You don’t know what you’re going to get until they are out there doing it. So that’s why we’re big on competition. We’re excited about the players we have, but we’ll throw them in the mix and let them compete it out.’’
The “compete it out’’ phase starts Friday, when the Giants open up a two-day rookie minicamp.
At this gathering a year ago, Daboll refrained from doing much with the newcomers, as far as any real work on the field resembling actual football.
He knows these players have been preparing for the draft since the end of their college seasons, priming for the NFL Scouting Combine and their individual Pro Day showcases.
Daboll also knows these players have not been in pads or working team drills for months and sees no sense risking injuries by demanding to see too much, too soon.
The rookies have to wait a bit before they get out on the field with the veterans and that melding is usually a wake-up call for the youngsters.
“I don’t think you want to put too much on the rookies early on because, you know, let’s be honest, they have been on the road,’’ Daboll said. “They have to re-acclimate themselves and you want to be smart with them, and slowly integrate them into the system. But that’s what you do every year. You try to build as much competition for your roster as you can, and that’s what we’re trying to do.’’
