Dave Gettleman is not one to name names this time of year, lest the Giants become linked to the player and hints into the team’s thinking in the NFL Draft leak out.
Gettleman was asked specifically last week about Isaiah Simmons, the do-everything Clemson linebacker, and responded in generalities and non-specifics, never referring to Simmons by name.
He did mention one member of Joe Judge’s coaching staff, though, and that is telling.
“If you think about it, we hired Burton Burns,” Gettleman said. “Joe hired Burton to coach the running backs and he’s been at Alabama, so just think about all of the insight we get into the ‘Bama kids.”
Yeah, just think about it.
Burns, 67, was Alabama’s running backs coach for a decade (2007-2017) and spent the past two years in an administrative role at the school. From 2009 through 2011, Judge worked on special teams for Nick Saban, meaning Judge and Burns were together for three years in Tuscaloosa.
If there is any inside information to be gleaned out of any school heading into this draft, Alabama is good place to start. There were three Crimson Tide players taken in the first round of the 2019 draft, four apiece in 2018 and 2017. Alabama in 2018 had an incredible 12 players taken in the draft – an SEC record – and had 10 players selected in 2019.
Judge dipped liberally into the college game as he assembled his coaching staff. Derek Dooley, Judge’s senior offensive assistant, was Missouri’s offensive coordinator. Inside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer was the special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Tennessee. Defensive line coach Sean Spencer filled the same role at Penn State. Defensive quality control coach Michael Treier coached safeties at Marshall. In addition, outside linebackers coach Bret Bielma was the Arkansas head coach from 2013-17 and thus was on the recruiting trail and could have crossed paths with many of the players in this year’s draft.
Burton BurnsGetty Images“Obviously a number of our coaches are coming directly from the Southeastern Conference,” Gettleman said. “So, you’ve got great contacts. It’s very helpful, it gives you insight, all of the information. Our college scouts do a great job of digging out information, so between the information the college scouts have, and Burton, and fellas like that that we’ve hired that are coming from college, it sure really gives us a good in.”
Given Judge’s connection with Saban and Burns’ on-campus observations, the Giants will know all there is to know about the Alabama prospects. This is critically important, this year above all others, given the lack of Pro Days and the inability to get the players into the Giants’ facility for a comprehensive visit and medical check.
The Giants are expected to have keen interest in offensive tackle Jedrick Wills but he is not the only Alabama player whose name will ring out Thursday night. Four of them will go in the first round – Wills, receivers Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Safety Xavier McKinney is also likely to get taken in the first round and if not will definitely come off the board in Round Two. The second day of the draft should also be the time for cornerback Trevon Diggs and edge rusher Terrell Lewis.
McKinney and Lewis could especially interest the Giants and there will be no shortage of opinions from those who worked with them at Alabama or coached against them in college and now are employed by the Giants.
“I’ll tell you what, it’s been a great asset for us,” Judge said of the college experience of the assistants on his staff. “One of the things you forget about in this whole process of the guys that we have that have just come from colleges in the last couple of years or maybe just from this last year is maybe they haven’t coached them directly, but they recruited them and they have personal relationships with these players.
“You find out a lot about a player from a coach who’s spent a lot of time meeting him and his family. The homework that they’ve done over the course of really a year-plus when they’re recruiting in college is more beneficial than you spending an afternoon at a pro day with him. It’s been a great resource for us. We have tremendous guys on our staff who… Look, they were great recruiters in college. That’s not going to mean anything in the NFL, but we can use what they’ve learned in the past on a specific player to tie into what we see as a whole person.”
