The Giants don’t know exactly who will be available when they make their first selection in the draft next week, but they can be pretty sure where multiple prospects played their college ball.
Edge rusher Arvell Reese, linebacker Sonny Styles and safety Caleb Downs were all teammates at Ohio State before moving on to become three of the top players in this year’s draft class. Reese is usually projected to be selected before the Giants are on the clock at No. 5, but Styles and Downs are frequently mentioned as options for the NFC East club.
There have been discussions about whether there’s enough positional value for either player to be picked that early, but the Giants have not seemed opposed and General Manager Joe Schoen certainly did not take anything off the table during a Tuesday press conference.
“That wouldn’t be out of the question,” Schoen said, via the team’s website. “Those are really good football players. Those are the conversations we’re having right now. Hey, we like all these guys, but you’ve got to pick one and a couple of them are going to be there. We’re working on stacking that right now. But you speak of Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs, talk about talented defense; we’ve watched a lot of Ohio State defensive film the last couple of months. A lot of good football players from top to bottom on that defense. Those are two of the key players on that defense that we looked at. Certainly guys that we’ve talked a lot about and think very highly of.”
Schoen also discussed running back Jeremiyah Love on Tuesday and there have been similar conversations about the wisdom of taking a running back at that point. That could leave Schoen and the Giants with a decision to make about which way they want to buck trends when it’s their turn in the first round.