The Giants have picked DT Linval Joseph out of East Carolina with the 46th overall pick (2nd round) of the NFL Draft.  Joseph is a big guy at 6′6″, 325 pounds but he doesn’t have a mean streak yet.  That shouldn’t be a problem as head coach Tom Coughlin will likely be on his butt from day #1 to help him develop one.  Joseph played in 14 games (all starts) for East Carolina last season and he finished up with 60 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks and 1 batted down pass.  He has improved every single year in college and the Giants hope that trend continues.  Joseph played in 41 games (27 starts) in his three years at East Carolina and he finished up with 143 tackles, 29.5 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks, he batted down 2 passes, forced 1 fumble and he recovered 2 fumbles.  Joseph has a good upside and he will likely help out on the Giants’ D-Line for a long time.

The New York Giants have selected DE Jason Pierre-Paul with the 15th pick of the first round of the NFL Draft.  Pierre-Paul is a physical freak as he runs a 4.65 40 despite being 6′5″, 260 pounds.  His game is speed around the edge attacking the QB but he has a weakness in his game in trying to deal with a power running game.  Look for the Giants to try to get him to add a few pounds in a effort to make him a more complete player.  Pierre-Paul only played 1 year at South Florida appearing in 13 games (7 starts) in which he had 45 tackles, 16.5 tackles for a loss, he had 6.5 sacks, batted down 3 passes and he forced 2 fumbles.  Pierre-Paul has a huge upside but he only started 1/2 a season in his only year in Division One football so he is probably a tad raw and will need the Giants to coach him up.

The Giants are definitely looking to add to a defense that was a sieve last season.  They already addressed the safety position in free agency adding Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant but they still need help at DT, DE and MLB.  On offense the Giants have needs at OT and C but I have a feeling they will address those needs in the middle rounds of the draft.  LB Rolando McClain, LB Sean Lee, DE Jason Pierre-Paul and DT Jared Odrick are the likely targets of the Giants in the first round.

PROJECTED FIRST ROUND PICK:  DE, Jason Pierre-Paul, South Florida 

The Giants found some keepers in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft last April but they didn’t finish the draft too well.  WR Hakeem Nicks (1st round, #29 overall) out of North Carolina made a huge impact for the Giants last season.  He played in 14 games in which he caught 47 passes for 790 yards (16.8 avg) with 6 TD grabs.  Nicks also carried the ball 2 times for 8 yards (4.0 ypc) and he also returned 1 kickoff for 16 yards.  Nicks has a huge upside as he could develop into one of the better receivers in the NFL down the road.  In the 2nd round (#45 overall) the Giants took LB Clint Sintim out of Virginia.  Sintim played in 11 games for the Giants last season and he made 20 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and he had 1 sack.  OT William Beatty (2nd round, #60 overall) out of Connecticut played in all 16 games (4 starts) for the Giants as a rookie.  The 6′6″, 307 pound Beatty could develop into a full-time starter in the very near future for the Giants.  WR Ramses Barden (3rd round, #85 overall) out of Cal Poly only playing in 3 games for the Giants last season catching 1 pass for 16 yards.  TE Travis Beckum (3rd round, #100 overall) out of Wisconsin played in 15 games for the Giants last season in which he caught 8 passes for 55 yards (6.9 avg) and he also returned 1 kickoff for 3 yards.  RB Andre Brown out of North Carolina State (4th round, #129 overall) was on the Injured Reserve List the whole year.  QB Rhett Bomar (5th round, #151 overall) out of Sam Houston State stuck around last season but he didn’t play in any games for the Giants.  CB DeAndre Wright (6th round, #200 overall) out of New Mexico got cut by the Giants and signed by the Vikings but he didn’t play in any games for them.  CB Stoney Woodson (7th round, #238 overall) out South Carolina got cut by the Giants and picked up by the Buccaneers but he didn’t play at all for them last season.

GRADE FOR 2009:  C

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  B-

Rookie WR Hakeem Nicks missed part of the early season due to injury but he is making up for lost time.  He has caught 7 passes for 121 yards (17.3 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Nicks has pretty much already passed up Domenik Hixon who was a starter for the Giants last season.  He might even overtake Mario Manningham in the starting lineup but that might take him some time.  After all, Manningham has caught 20 passes for 342 yards (17.1 avg) with 3 TD grabs this season.  Nicks is the big, home run type WR that the Giants have not had since Plaxico Burress was out of jail and playing for them.