NY Giants: Could Goodson Be The Future at MLB For The Giants?
By Michael Stewart
The New York Giants haven’t drafted a LBer in the 1st round since 1984 (Carl Banks). Although that tradition continued in the 2016 draft, the Giants did manage to draft a MLB in round 4 that could eventually become a 1st round talent. (MLB) B. J Goodson out of Clemson did not get the headlines like his fellow teammates Shaq Lawson and Kevin Dodd did, however; Goodson was a consistent performer for the highly ranked Tigers in 2015.
In fact, a quick comparison between Goodson and highly acclaimed MLB Reggie Ragland out of Alabama suggests that Goodson could be the real deal. Goodson had more tackles (108/102), more tackles for loss (14.0/6.5), more sacks (5.5/2.5) and more INTS (2/0) than Ragland. What makes Goodson stats even more impressive is the fact that Goodson has only played MLB for one full season; which is why he fell in the draft. Goodson is a thumper without question as he may not be a 3 down MLB at this point in his NFL career, however; the Giants haven’t had a consistent MLB since Antonio Pierce (Jon Beason only for 10 games).
I have been very critically of GM Jerry Reese throughout the years (with good reason) and despite his selection in the 1st round of Eli Apple, his remaining draft on days 2 and 3 were outstanding. Although I don’t expect Goodson to start immediately as the Giants MLB as a rookie, I do see the potential of him becoming a productive MLB who will give the Giants that presence in the middle that’s been missing for a long time.
Final Thoughts: Only time will tell if Goodson and the rest of the Giants 2016 draft class will develop into solid contributors as it usually takes a good 2 years to really see the results. Despite my displeasure with the selection of Eli Apple in round 1 (a reach in my opinion), the overall draft by Reese was outstanding and possibly within a couple of years we could see most of these prospects being starters and having a major impact towards the success of the New York Giants.