Giving up your third-round pick is never a good idea, especially for a player that wasn’t eligible for the NFL Draft. But for the New York Giants it all made sense on Wednesday. The Supplemental draft concluded in which New York walked away with cornerback Sam Beal, a feisty defensive back with the ability to make plays.
The Western Michigan CB was one of two picks in the draft, as he was chosen with the second pick in the third-round.
What New York Giants’ Dave Gettleman had to say about the pick:
“We feel like we’re getting our third-round pick now,” general manager Dave Gettleman said in a statement. “We discussed it at length yesterday, and had a great conversation. We basically had a draft meeting in the office, with people on the speaker phone who had seen him. It was a very thorough conversation.”
With the Giants thin in the secondary, adding Beal was a big part of the game plan moving forward, especially since Gettleman believes he’s getting third-round value a year in advance. Beal struggled with academic eligibility while at WMU, but still managed to start for two years. The injection of talent will surely help a cornerback unit composed of Janoris Jenkins, Eli Apple, and an aging William Gay.
At 6-foot-1 with a 4.5 40 yard-dash, Beal presented a better option over Virginia Tech corner, Adonis Alexander. He’s a lick faster and has great size as a raw cover corner in the NFL.
The biggest bang on Beal was his tackling ability and strength. Weighing in at 178 pounds was not ideal and his tackling was sub-par, but these are all things that can be improved at the professional level.
The Hot Take:
So, you’re probably wondering what this take likely entails, as coming from the Supplemental draft doesn’t pose a significant threat for any of the current starting CB’s on the roster.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that.
My take is that Beal will beat out Eli Apple for the opposite starting corner job by week 7. Apple has struggled immensely with turning his head to locate the ball and avoiding pass interference calls. If the third-year corner doesn’t improve significantly in the months ahead, I would not be surprised to see Beal emerge as a potential starting option.