It was a long afternoon of waiting through 84 picks from the start of the fourth round to the New York Giants first pick of the sixth round.
And then in the span of eight picks, from 186 to 193, the Giants’ draft is over. The Giants’ scouts and coaches are working the phones with priority free agents as I write, but for now we have the a trio of new Giants to look at.
186 – Bobby Jamison-Travis, iDL, Auburn
Jamison-Travis is a big, long nose tackle prospect at 6-foot-3, 330 pounds with 34½ inch arms. He’s a stout defensive tackle who flashed
a bit in Keldric Faulk’s tape eating blocks for his teammates. Jamison-Travis isn’t an athletic interior defender, and is more strong than powerful. His long arms and play strength should allow him to clog interior gaps and keep the Giants’ athletic linebackers clean to flow to the ball in the run game.
He doesn’t offer much as a pass rusher and only has 2 hits and 2 sacks over the last three seasons. However, the Giants insistence on keeping Kayvon Thibodeaux and playing Arvell Reese as a WILL linebacker could point to a plan for a 2-5 defensive front. That could use a pair of big, stout defensive tackles to occupy blockers while Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Arvell Reese, and Abdul Carter (at some combination of EDGE, WILL, and SAM) concentrate on penetrating into the backfield.
Jamison-Travis could fit with veterans like DJ Reader and Benito Jones in that role. He took a ‘30’ visit to the Giants.
192 – J.C. Davis, OT, Illinois
The Giants had Davis in for a ‘30’ visit, so this isn’t a surprise here. He’s a big (6-foot-4, 322-pound, 34¼ inch arms) offensive lineman who started every game at left tackle over the last three years. He’s played against some really good pass rushers at Illinois and has held his own, as well as done some good work as a run blocker.
Davis has enough athleticism that he might be able to stay at offensive tackle if he plays with consistent technique, but his frame suggests that a move inside is an option for him as well. The Giants have a ton of bodies for their offensive line right now, and Davis could compete to be a four-position backup. There’s also a question as to what this means for Marcus Mbow at swing tackle.
Mbow played well in relief of Andrew Thomas and Jermaine Eluemunor, however play strength was a notable problem. That, in turn, could make him a question mark in the Man-Gap power schemes that Greg Roman will likely be dreaming up. It’s possible that Davis could take Mbow’s job and the Giants could look at trying Mbow at center.
193 – Jack Kelly, LB, BYU
Okay, can we just pause for a second to recognize that Jack Kelly might have the most “linebacker” name since “Jack Campbell” a couple years ago?
Kelly is a stocky linebacker at 6-foot-1, 240 pounds, with 31-inch arms, but he’s a surprisingly good athlete. Kelly turned a 4.57-second 40 with excellent explosive traits — a 1.61-second 10-yard split, 37-inch vertical, and a 10-foot-5 broad jump. It isn’t much of a surprise that Kelly is an excellent blitzer who notched 10 sacks, 13.5 tackles for a loss, and 2 forced fumbles last year. His athleticism also gives him some upside in coverage and Kelly is 21st in coverage stops and 19th in forced incompletions per ProFootballFocus.
Kelly is also a two-time team captain and his traits also give him special teams upside. He’ll need to clean up a bad 22.4 percent missed tackle rate if he’s going to win a job on special teams, but he has a lot more attractive traits than bad.
Kelly has quite a few similarities with Micah McFadden as a slightly undersized but athletic and aggressive off-ball linebacker with significant blitzing upside. McFadden was drafted for Wink Martindale’s blitz-happy Baltimore defense, and Dennard Wilson will likely employ a similar scheme.
McFadden and Kelly could be in direct competition for a job this summer.
