Talk about time management.
It may be a minicamp week for the New York Giants but it also happens to be the week of the NFL Draft, making for a very crowded calendar for the team’s coaching staff and management. It makes for a very different week for new head coach Pat Shurmur to get a first glimpse of what he’s got and perhaps envision what he could have in just a few days’ time.
The Giants hold the No. 2 pick in the draft, giving them plenty of options. They could take a replacement for quarterback Eli Manning, draft a running back to compliment the passing attack or potentially trade pick and accrue multiple picks over the draft’s first two days. There is plenty for general manager Dave Gettleman and Shurmur to mull.
Or, perhaps, Shurmur will just focus on what he’s got now until he turns his attention to the draft fully on Thursday night.
“Yeah, there’s a draft, huh? Well, there’s been a lot of work done behind the scenes and certainly many, many hours putting the board together. It’s been a great experience for me, working with and [assistant general manager] Kevin [Abrams] and all of the scouts and really all of the player evaluation people. Whether you’re on the college end or the pro end, there’s a lot to the process,” Shurmur said on Tuesday.
“And being a part of it, I’ve been really impressed with how well they all work together. So, that’s been going on for a very long time and it intensifies as you get towards the draft. We’ve done a lot of work through, really, last night. There’s work to be done today when we get off the field and really, you work right up until when you make those picks. So, we’ll just work around playing football.”
Shurmur answered other questions, including on the future of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. — “he’s a part of our team and a very valued member of our team.”
He was open on other issues such as depth and the roster ahead of Thursday’s first round but Shurmur seemed to focus on first evaluating what he currently has in his locker room before thinking about what he might add over the three day period that is the NFL Draft.
“Out here, it’s very simple: we’re working with all the players we have with the idea that they’re all going to be here. We know the math is such where we’re going to have 53 of them,” Shurmur said. “So, you’re trying to work with the players, get them as good as they can be and with every player, you’re sort of seeing, ‘Okay, this is how he would fit for us.’ And so, I think that’s part of what’s going on these next three days.”
