Daniel Jeremiah's possible WR fits for Giants beyond first round
The Giants have been connected to the top wide receivers in many mock drafts since the end of the season.
If Big Blue does decide to go with an offensive playmaker at No. 11, some of the names we have seen linked to the team are Alabama wide receivers Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith and Florida tight end Kyle Pitts.
However, not every draft expert believes the Giants are going to go offense in the first round. In his latest mock draft, Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network projected Miami EDGE Gregory Rousseau to the Giants, despite both Waddle and Smith still being on the board.
Jeremiah jumped on a conference call this week to answer questions about the upcoming NFL Draft. One question asked was what wide receivers the Giants could target in the later rounds if they decide to go in a different direction at No. 11.
Jeremiah mentioned several WR prospects who are projected to go in the first round but could slip into the second, such as LSU's Terrace Marshall and Minnesota's Rashod Bateman. But two players who have really stood out to the draft analyst as potential fits for the Giants at No. 42 are North Carolina's Dyami Brown and Western Michigan's D'Wayne Eskridge.
"I'm really intrigued by Dyami Brown from North Carolina who, gosh, I think he averaged over 20 yards a catch," Jeremiah said earlier this week. "They used him on a lot of verticals and deep crossers. He's an over-the-top guy. He's not as polished working back downhill but he is somewhere they can get vertical. You don't get as much size with D'Wayne Eskridge from Western Michigan, but he's another one who's a home run hitter. Adds some kickoff return value. Really good at run after the catch stuff. Tough kid who's played corner. His tape as a gunner is phenomenal. He's a really tough kid who kind of fits that style there for the Giants."
Brown had back-to-back impressive seasons at UNC. He was named Third-Team All-ACC in 2019 after catching 51 passes for 1,034 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games. Last season, Brown registered 55 receptions for 1,099 yards and eight touchdowns on his way to being selected as First-Team All-ACC and AP Third-Team All-American.
Eskridge had easily his best season for the Broncos in 2020. He caught 33 passes for 768 yards and eight touchdowns in just six games. He also added 17 kickoff returns for 467 yards (27.5 avg.) and a touchdown. His performance led to him being named First-Team All-MAC and the MAC Special Teams Player of the Year.
Another player Jeremiah discussed as a possibility for the Giants in rounds three or four is UCLA's Demetric Felton, who was one of the stars of the Senior Bowl back in January.
"And then I think another interesting player in like round 3, round 4, just as an overall offensive weapon, would be Demetric Felton out of UCLA who played running back, goes to the Senior Bowl, plays receiver at practices there, and was darned near uncoverable," Jeremiah noted about the offensive playmaker out of UCLA. "Just really juicy, really explosive at the top of his route. Can make people miss in space. Just a really fun player. I think would be fun complement there to what they have."
Felton did a little of everything for the Bruins this past season. In six games, he rushed the ball 132 times for 668 yards (5.1 avg.) and five touchdowns while catching 22 passes for 159 yards and three touchdowns on his way to being named Second-Team All-Pac-12. He also returned eight kickoffs for 168 yards (21.0 avg.) in 2020, one year after returning 13 kickoffs for 338 yards (26.0 avg.) and a touchdown. At the Senior Bowl, Felton caught two passes for 28 yards and a touchdown and returned one punt for 10 yards.
NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah updated his ranking of the top 50 prospects in the 2021 NFL Draft for the final time before the start of the draft.
No. 50 Georgia CB Eric Stokes
No. 49 Oregon S Jevon Holland
No. 48 LSU WR Terrace Marshall Jr.
No. 47 Notre Dame OT Liam Eichenberg
No. 46 Penn State TE Pat Freiermuth
No. 45 Wisconsin-Whitewater IOL Quinn Meinerz
No. 44 Oklahoma EDGE Ronnie Perkins
No. 43 Alabama DT Christian Barmore
No. 42 Houston EDGE Payton Turner
No. 41 Minnesota WR Rashod Bateman
No. 40 Alabama IOL Landon Dickerson
No. 39 Florida State CB Asante Samuel Jr.
No. 38 Virginia Tech OT Christian Darrisaw
No. 37 North Dakota State OT Dillon Radunz
No. 36 Oklahoma State OT Teven Jenkins
No. 35 Michigan OT Jalen Mayfield
No. 34 Missouri LB Nick Bolton
No. 33 Washington EDGE Joe Tryon
No. 32 Alabama QB Mac Jones
No. 31 Penn State EDGE Jayson Oweh
No. 30 Georgia EDGE Azeez Ojulari
No. 29 Washington DT Levi Onwuzurike
No. 28 Florida WR Kadarius Toney
No. 27 Northwestern CB Greg Newsome II
No. 26 Mississippi WR Elijah Moore
No. 25 North Carolina RB Javonte Williams
No. 24 Tulsa LB Zaven Collins
No. 23 Kentucky LB Jamin Davis
No. 22 Virginia Tech CB Caleb Farley
No. 21 Miami EDGE Jaelan Phillips
No. 20 Alabama RB Najee Harris
No. 19 Clemson RB Travis Etienne
No. 18 Miami EDGE Gregory Rousseau
No. 17 Michigan EDGE Kwity Paye
No. 16 TCU S Trevon Moehrig
No. 15 Notre Dame LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
No. 14 South Carolina CB Jaycee Horn
No. 13 USC OL Alijah Vera-Tucker
No. 12 Penn State LB Micah Parsons
No. 11 Oregon OT Penei Sewell
No. 10 Northwestern OT Rashawn Slater
No. 9 Alabama CB Patrick Surtain II
No. 8 Ohio State QB Justin Fields
No. 7 North Dakota State QB Trey Lance
No. 6 Alabama WR DeVonta Smith
No. 5 Alabama WR Jaylen Waddle
No. 4 BYU QB Zach Wilson
No. 3 LSU WR Ja'Marr Chase
No. 2 Florida TE Kyle Pitts
No. 1 Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence
Giants release veteran guard Kevin Zeitler
One day after Dave Gettleman discussed the youth on the Giants’ offensive line, the team parted ways with the oldest member of that position group in 2020.
Kevin Zeitler, who turned 31 on Monday, was released today, one week before the start of the new NFL business year and free agency.
In his two Giants seasons, Zeitler started all 31 games in which he played at right guard, including all 16 last year. He missed only the victory against Miami on Dec. 15, 2019 because of an ankle injury. That ended his streak of 85 consecutive starts
In 2020, Zeitler joined center Nick Gates and right tackle Cam Fleming among the five Giants who started all 16 games. Zeitler's 18 consecutive starts gives him the Giants' second-longest active streak, behind Dalvin Tomlinson's 64.
Zeitler joined the Giants in a trade with the Cleveland Browns, along with a fifth-round draft choice, for linebacker Olivier Vernon and a fourth-round draft selection on March 13, 2019. He previously played five seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals and two for the Browns.
Zeitler was the Giants' oldest fulltime starter last season, a designation that might have belonged to tackle Nate Solder had he not opted out of the season due to COVID-19 concerns. Solder turns 33 next month.
The Giants were the only NFL team to start the same offensive line combination in each of their last nine games of the 2020 season. In addition to Zeitler and the 28-year-old Fleming, the group included two rookies, left tackle Andrew Thomas and left guard Shane Lemieux (the team's first and fifth-round draft choices last year) and center Nick Gates, who played every offensive snap after starting three games in 2019, his first season of action (he spent 2018 on injured reserve). Thomas, Lemieux and Gates are 21, 23 and 25 respectively.
CBS Sports' Joel Corry on potential Giants plans this offseason
Joel Corry of CBS Sports joins Giants.com to talk about Leonard Williams receiving the franchise tag and other potential plans for the Giants this offseason.
Check out the video below to watch Corry's full conversation with Giants.com's John Schmeelk.
