New York Giants: Giants Shouldn’t Draft Christian McCaffrey
By Michael Stewart (@golderbad)
With the NFL Draft less than a week away, I’ve been reading many reports that Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey could fall in the 1st round and possibly be available when the Giants select. I’ve also been reading that Giants GM Jerry Reese has expressed interest in the multi-talented RB out of Stanford.
What I’m about to suggest will certainly raise some eyebrows among the many fans who are rooting for McCaffrey to become a Giant, but I believe that would be a big mistake. Despite the achievements at the college level, McCaffrey (IMO) doesn’t translate well to be as successful at the NFL level. He reminds me of two former college standouts who were arguably the best college football players during their time and they were QB Tim Tebow of Florida and QB Johnny Manziel of Texas A & M.
Both were phenomenal college athletics (like McCaffrey), both had tremendous stats in college (like McCaffrey) and both failed to live up to expectations in the NFL. I believe McCaffrey will have difficulties adjusting to the speed and the talent level of the NFL and will not be able to live up to expectations as well. In my opinion, I see McCaffrey as a Shane Vereen type of player that will contribute offensively at a smaller scale and not be the primary RB on an NFL roster.
Now having a player like that is good to have on an NFL roster, but not with your 1st round pick! There will be plenty of RB’s in this draft that will be able to contribute in multiple areas available in days 2 or 3. GM Jerry Reese is known for the unexpected, especially in the 1st round and my fear is that this scenario is very much a reality and one that could derail the Giants RB situation severely.
Current Giants RB Paul Perkins will be given all the opportunity to be the primary RB for the Giants in 2017. Although I like the way Perkins plays the game, I think the Giants are investing too much hope that Perkins is their RB of the future. Perkins and McCaffrey are similar in size and playing style to some extent; which would not make much sense sharing the RB duties. The Giants need to get a big RB who can run between the tackles, gain those tough 1 yarders & be effective on the goal line. LeGarrette Blount has been mentioned and is still available and there’s a strong possibility that the Giants sign him prior to the draft. If not, there are plenty of big productive RB’s in this year’s draft for the Giants to select in every round.
I know that I’m probably in the minority with this and that’s fine with me. I didn’t think Tebow or Manziel were going to be that successful in the NFL at the time and as it turned out; I was right. Do I think McCaffrey will fail like Tebow or Manziel? Absolutely not; I see him as a serviceable platoon RB that will have a longer career than the two mentioned, but not at the level that many experts or fans are projecting. Obviously; this is my opinion and I could be way off here and McCaffrey could turn out to be a star in the NFL.
If so, I will gladly admit my error and move on.