In the 2018 NFL Draft, the Giants drafted three players that participated in the Senior Bowl: second round pick Will Hernandez, third rounder B.J. Hill and fourth round pick (and Senior Bowl MVP) Kyle Lauletta. The Giants front office and coaching staff will have their eyes peeled for intriguing line prospects at this year's Senior Bowl.
"I am always going to keep working on those lines, on those groups," General Manager Dave Gettleman said at his season ending press conference. "You cannot have enough hog mollies, you can't, because people get hurt. You can't have enough."
Reese's Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy said on Monday night that the people he talked to around the league are "the most fired up about the offensive line group."
Hernandez stood out at last year's game because of his good play, but also his attitude and nasty streak that was obvious during practice sessions. This year's group includes players who hope to play with the same spirit Hernandez did last season.
"I'm a guy that is going to help create the foundation of a nasty culture on the offensive line," Kansas State's Dalton Risner said. "I want to bury guys in the dirt on every single play. I hope scouts watch my games and say, 'what was up Dalton Risner's butt that game?' Like he had something wrong with him. But no, that's just a switch I flip when I get on the field. In a perfect world, that's what a team should believe they are getting in Dalton Risner."
Locker room culture is an important component of what Gettleman tried to improve with the Giants last season, and adding more players with similar attitudes will only contribute to that process. Risner, like Wisconsin guards Michael Deiter and Ben Benzshawel, is fortunate to come from a pro-style system where there isn't much of a transition from his college system to the pros.
"It's big time, coming from Wisconsin and running the pro-style offense," Benzshawel said. "So there are different names for plays, but it has made the transition that much smoother compared to guys that haven't run the combination we have."
"The scheme has helped a ton," Deiter said. "The stuff that I've seen is different verbiage, but it is the same scheme. That's comforting to not have to say 'what is that, I've never see that before.'"
NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah released the fourth edition of his top 50 prospect rankings.


50. Tytus Howard, OT
School: Alabama State | Year: Senior (RS)

49. Trayvon Mullen, CB
School: Clemson | Year: Junior

48. Julian Love, CB
School: Notre Dame | Year: Junior

47. Jaylon Ferguson, Edge
School: Louisiana Tech | Year: Senior (RS)

46. Miles Sanders, RB
School: Penn State | Year: Junior

45. L.J. Collier, Edge
School: TCU | Year: Senior (RS)

44. Kaleb McGary, OT
School: Washington | Year: Senior (RS)

43. David Montgomery, RB
School: Iowa State | Year: Junior

42. Taylor Rapp, S
School: Washington | Year: Junior

41. Deebo Samuel, WR
School: South Carolina | Year: Senior (RS)

40. Dalton Risner, OT
School: Kansas State | Year: Senior (RS)

39. Erik McCoy, C
School: Texas A&M | Year: Junior (RS)

38. Riley Ridley, WR
School: Georgia | Year: Junior

37. N'Keal Harry, WR
School: Arizona State | Year: Junior

36. A.J. Brown, WR
School: Mississippi | Year: Junior

35. Jerry Tillery, DT
School: Notre Dame | Year: Senior

34. Daniel Jones, QB
School: Duke | Year: Junior (RS)

33. Nasir Adderley, S
School: Delaware | Year: Senior

32. Greedy Williams, CB
School: LSU | Year: Sophomore (RS)

31. Deandre Baker, CB
School: Georgia | Year: Senior

30. Cody Ford, OT
School: Oklahoma | Year: Junior (RS)

29. Rock Ya-Sin, CB
School: Temple | Year: Senior

28. Irv Smith Jr., TE
School: Alabama | Year: Junior

27. Brian Burns, Edge
School: Florida State | Year: Junior

26. Byron Murphy, CB
School: Washington | Year: Sophomore (RS)

25. Dexter Lawrence, DT
School: Clemson | Year: Junior

24. Drew Lock, QB
School: Missouri | Year: Senior

23. Johnathan Abram, S
School: Mississippi State | Year: Senior

22. Clelin Ferrell, Edge
School: Clemson | Year: Junior (RS)

21. Dwayne Haskins, QB
School: Ohio State | Year: Sophomore (RS)

20. Jonah Williams, OG
School: Alabama | Year: Junior

19. D.K. Metcalf, WR
School: Mississippi | Year: Sophomore (RS)

18. Garrett Bradbury, C
School: N.C. State | Year: Senior (RS)

17. Jeffery Simmons, DT
School: Mississippi State | Year: Junior

16. Marquise Brown, WR
School: Oklahoma | Year: Junior

15. Noah Fant, TE
School: Iowa | Year: Junior

14. Jawaan Taylor, OT
School: Florida | Year: Junior

13. Andre Dillard, OT
School: Washington State | Year: Senior (RS)

12. Montez Sweat, Edge
School: Mississippi State | Year: Senior

11. Kyler Murray, QB
School: Oklahoma | Year: Junior (RS)

10. Rashan Gary, Edge
School: Michigan | Year: Junior

9. Devin Bush, LB
School: Michigan | Year: Junior

8. Josh Jacobs, RB
School: Alabama | Year: Junior

7. Christian Wilkins, DT
School: Clemson | Year: Senior

6. Devin White, LB
School: LSU | Year: Junior

5. T.J. Hockenson, TE
School: Iowa | Year: Sophomore (RS)

4. Ed Oliver, DT
School: Houston | Year: Junior

3. Josh Allen, Edge
School: Kentucky | Year: Senior

2. Quinnen Williams, DT
School: Alabama | Year: Sophomore (RS)

1. Nick Bosa, Edge
School: Ohio State | Year: Junior
Many of the offensive linemen in Mobile do not have that type of advantage. Washington State threw the ball 628 times and ran it just 264 times last season. The majority of those runs came from shotgun. Left tackle Andre Dillard, perhaps the highest-rated lineman by draft analysts at the Senior Bowl, rarely played in a three-point stance.
He will be coached this week by San Francisco's Kyle Shanahan, who relies on the running game and play action that requires offensive linemen to fire off the ball to set up the passing game.
"Yeah, it's going to take some work and that's not just All-Star games where you have to do that. When you draft offensive linemen, it takes time to change them."
Dillard knows that teams will be watching him closely to see how he adjusts to traditional NFL needs at the position, and he's been working on those things.
"Working on being out of the three-point stance because I have never done it in my life, working on my run sets and different run techniques," Dillard said.
There are also some smaller school offensive linemen in attendance, like Alabama State's Tytus Howard and Northern Illinois' Max Scharping.
"I'm a small-school guy, and there are a lot of big-time players here," Howard told the Montgomery Advertiser. "So I've got a chip on my shoulder to prove that I can play with the best of the best."
Those chances come when the players line up for one-on-one drills with players from Power 5 conferences.
"Everyone said that's one of the big parts of the week and we are all here for that and that's the best place to showcase your athletic traits," Scharping said. "That's what we're all excited for."
It's no different for players from bigger conferences.
"It tells you where you stack up," Benzschawel said. "You can prove a lot if you play well this week, and if you do well, you can climb draft boards and if you don't, it's the opposite. You are going against the best competition in the country and if you don't bring your 'a-game', you won't have a great time."
Other players, like Risner and Deiter, want to prove they can be multi-faceted players.
"I think I proved it in college," Risner said. "I played center my redshirt freshman year, left tackle in high school, right tackle for three years at K-State. The NFL believes you have the inside three guys and you have tackles. To be able to play center and go out to right tackle, it is a huge jump. I think I'm able to have the strength to play inside. When you are 6-4 or 6-5, you can be a tackle at that height but you can also go in there and play center or guard."
"(I want to show) I'm versatile," Deiter said. "I can play some guard and then go in there and play center. Show that I can do both, interview well, and show them I'm a leader."
Of course, playing multiple positions means having to learn even more of a new scheme in what is already an extraordinarily short amount of time.
"I'm trying to learn a new playbook right now and I'm focusing on right tackle, but if coach throws me in at right guard or left guard, I have to be prepared to know what they are doing," Risner said. "With football, if you're smart enough, you know how plays mesh together. If I'm playing right tackle, I know what my right guard is doing, and that's going to help me. Football is 50 percent mental and I'm battling the mental part right now."
The players have just four days to digest a playbook and get ready to play in a game that will go a long way towards determining their draft status. Every aspect of their game -- toughness, intelligence, leadership, technique and effort -- will be judged closely by hundreds of NFL evaluators to see who rises to the challenge.