Bart Hubbuch at the New York Post reviews the Bears draft:
“Bears: B
“Threw everyone — but especially the Giants — a curveball by swooping into the top 10 to take Georgia outside linebacker Leonard Floyd, who needs to add some bulk before making a big impact. Used three of their nine picks on safeties.”
I would agree and I was surprised that the Giants didn’t get more flack for their next choice in other places:
“Giants: C
“Doesn’t appear to be anywhere near the home-run draft GM Jerry Reese needed. Caught flat-footed by the Bears moving up to steal Leonard Floyd, and scouts are divided about top pick Eli Apple.”
Reese is widely believed to be in some trouble in New York and with some justification. Tom Coughlin took the fall for a bad season with a talent-poor roster last year.
I’m convinced that the Bears trade to leap over the Giants did, indeed, throw them for a loop and they reacted poorly with what is widely believed to be a reach. I like Apple more than most because of his length but almost no one believed that he was a top 10 pick. It had the look of a panic move by a team that didn’t have a plan if the guys they had targeted all went early (no one anticipated Laremy Tunsil‘s fall and that pushed guys like Floyd up the board a slot or two).
Predictably, Reese defended the pick:
“‘Well, when somebody doesn’t know what they’re talking about, it’s easy to depict it that way because they don’t know what they’re talking about,’ Reese said. ‘We clearly went through this scenario that Apple could be the player we would pick.'”
If you say so.
The Bears reacted better when the Packers leap-frogged them to take Indiana tackle Jason Spriggs in the second though general manager Ryan Pace claims that it had no effect on their draft they immediately traded back for the second time in the round when Spriggs went off the board. Though Cody Whitehair is a good pick, a good offensive tackle made a lot more sense than a guard at that point.
But if the Packers out maneuvered them for Spriggs, at least the Bears were ready and got good value. The Giants really didn’t.