Ex-NFL GM urges John Harbaugh to pick “safest player in the draft” for Giants

John Harbaugh is just days away from his first draft as the New York Giants coach and the dynamics around it are fast changing. After trading Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for the No. 10 pick, the Giants are set to have two first-round picks in Pittsburgh.

As the draft approaches, Steve Keim urges Harbaugh and the Giants to go for the best players available while making their pick instead of focusing on addressing needs. On Tuesday, the former Arizona Cardinals general manager offered an insight into how volatile a team’s position needs can be in the NFL on “The Herd.”

“I obviously preached that for years,” Keim said. “Yet at the same time, when need comes into play, it’s a tough struggle. Yet at the same time, needs come and go. You know, in May and August and September, your needs are constantly changing. So you’ve got to take the best player available.

“A guy like Caleb Downs, in my opinion, is the best, safest player in the draft. I play with his dad at NC State. He’s a tremendous talent. And not only that, he’s cerebral. He’s a tremendous playmaker. So guys like that, to me, are guys that are in an unusual position, but you take.”

Without a doubt, there are a host of needs the Giants have to address ahead of John Harbaugh’s first season. That has further been complicated with the departure of Lawrence, changing the outlook of the team’s draft board. Nonetheless, Keim believes drafting the best available talent is the way to go.

Colin Cowherd describes how John Harbaugh needs to approach the draft

With three picks in the first 40, John Harbaugh and the New York Giants’ front office have a lot to decide during the draft proceedings in Pittsburgh. During Tuesday’s episode of “The Herd,” Colin Cowherd explains how the Giants need to approach their draft decisions.

“They got two picks in the top ten,” Cowherd said. “The first one, No. 5, just go get the best player available. But I said I would make the second pick, I would go either get, if I could move down two or three slots, get the tackle from Georgia or the interior O-lineman of Penn State.”

“Because I’m not taking a receiver from Arizona State that has had a hamstring, a torn ACL, broken a collar, but that’s way too risky. Nabers is hurt. If you had two picks in the first round, the first one, top five, just take the best dude on the board.”

Quite a number of projections have the Giants selecting Caleb Downs with the No. 5 pick and going for Jordyn Tyson at No. 10. However, despite the high reward it could bring for John Harbaugh’s team, Cowherd believes there’s a lot of risk associated with the Arizona State wide receiver.