Peter Schrager predicts defense for Giants at No. 11

We are officially less than three weeks away from the start of the 2021 NFL Draft.

Many draft experts have been releasing their predictions for the first round since the completion of the 2020 season. However, NFL Network's Peter Schrager has refrained from revealing his predictions.

That is until this week, when the "Good Morning Football" host finally published his first mock draft.

In his initial mock, Schrager predicts the Giants will select Penn State LB Micah Parsons with the 11th overall pick.

As Schrager writes, "The Giants have been aggressive and proactive in free agency, but they still have holes to fill. As much as giving Daniel Jones another weapon is a priority, Parsons fits what they need on defense and could be an immediate standout in both pass and run defense."

Parsons opted out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was nothing short of spectacular the year before.

In 13 games as a sophomore, Parsons registered 109 tackles (52 solo), five sacks, 14 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and five passes defensed.

The linebacker racked up numerous accolades that season, including Consensus All-American, First-Team All-Big Ten, Cotton Bowl Defensive MVP and the Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year Award, given to the Big Ten's top linebacker.

Parsons also put up some impressive numbers at Penn State's pro day a few weeks ago. The 21-year-old recorded an unofficial 40-yard dash time of just 4.39 seconds. To put that into perspective, the 40-yard dash record for a linebacker at the NFL Combine is 4.38 (Shaquem Griffin, 2018).

In addition to his strong 40-time, Parsons also bench pressed 225 pounds 19 times while his vertical was measured at 34 inches.

Parsons' first two seasons with the Nittany Lions overlapped with the final two that defensive line coach Sean Spencer spent at the school. Spencer was at Penn State for five years, serving the first three as defensive line coach before adding the titles of associate head coach and run game coordinator in 2018.

Giants add 3 coaches to Joe Judge's staff

The Giants today announced three additions to Joe Judge's coaching staff.

Russ Callaway is the team's new offensive quality control coach and Ryan Anderson and Carter Blount are defensive quality control coaches.

Callaway comes to the Giants from LSU, where he spent the 2020 season as a senior offensive analyst. He previously spent five seasons as the offensive coordinator at Samford University in Birmingham. In 2019, his final season in that position, the Bulldogs finished tied for second in the Southern Conference with a 32.2 points-per-game average.

One of Callaway's standout players at Samford was quarterback Devlin Hodges – currently with the Los Angeles Rams – who in 2018 earned the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in FCS football.

Callaway spent two years as the wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator at Murray State and began his coaching career as a defensive analyst at Alabama, where he worked with Judge in 2011.

Anderson was the safeties coach at Elon College in 2019-20. Prior to that, he was Hampton University's defensive coordinator in 2018, East Carolina's inside linebackers coach in 2016-17 and a defensive assistant at Vanderbilt from 2013-15.

Blount comes to the Giants from the University of Tennessee, where he was the special teams quality control analyst. He worked under head coach Jeremy Pruitt, who recently joined the Giants as a senior defensive assistant.

Blount was previously a special teams analyst at Alabama – where he worked with Judge in 2009 - and he also coached at LSU, Georgia, Birmingham-Southern and South Alabama.

The Draft Network's Kyle Crabbs on top prospects, Giants' possible plans

Kyle Crabbs, The Draft Network's Director of Scouting, chats with Giants.com's John Schmeelk about the upcoming NFL Draft and the Giants' potential plans.