Giants General Manager Jerry Reese has caught some heat in recent years, partly because the Giants haven’t made the playoffs in four seasons and partly because with Tom Coughlin gone he’s the next logical target.
But Reese got a little defensive when asked about drafting Eli Apple with the 10th overall pick, since some considered him a bit of a reach and their previously identified targets Leonard Floyd and Jack Conklin were off the board thanks to teams trading in front of him.
Via James Kratch of NJ.com, Reese’s criticized his critics during an appearance on WFAN, saying they obviously weren’t qualified opinions.
“When somebody doesn’t know what they’re talking about, it’s easy to depict it that way,” Reese said. “Because they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Reese has the luxury of declaring that only he could possibly know the contents of the Giants draft board, though there were numerous reports linking them with Floyd and the top three tackles leading up to the draft. But he said that Apple was the top player left on their board (keeping alive the streak of every G.M. ever saying that), at least among players that didn’t have “circumstances or issues.” That would seem to cover Laremy Tunsil and Myles Jack.
“We thought those [targeted] guys were good players. We went through a lot of different scenarios, and we clearly had went through this scenario, that Apple could be the player that we would pick,” Reese said. “We were very happy that he was available when we picked there at No. 10. We absolutely had gone over this scenario many times.
“Obviously, not the [specific] situation that came up during the draft, but we thought some of the players might have been gone anyway. He was right in our window, where we had him ranked on our board, and he was an easy pick for us.”
Reese insisted that Apple was good value, because at 20 years old he’s still growing as a player, and that the Giants needed more help at the position, even after dropping the cash bomb on Janoris Jenkins in free agency.
While it’s true that many corners of the Internet are full of people who claim expertise they do not have, Reese’s own record of late invites criticism, which even his boss has noticed in pointing out how important this draft was.
