2011 NFL Draft: Giants Scouts Leaving Nothing to Chance

The Giants have been known to leave no stone unturned when scouting players. Their specialty is finding diamonds in the rough—usually players that fell under the radar due to injury.

This week, the Blue sent a contingency of scouts and coaches to Villanova’s pro day mainly to check out offensive lineman Ben Ijalana, who was not present at the combine or the Senior Bowl due to a sports hernia.

Ijalana is 6’4″, 320 pounds and has been compared by more than one scout to Jets’ 2010 second-round selection Vlad Ducasse, who played at UMass. However, he’s not first-round material, maybe not even second round, if the comparisons are accurate…

The Giants have also shown some interest in Alabama QB Greg McElroy, who is making the rounds after only one team—the Seattle Seahawks—attended his individual pro day.

McElroy also did not participate in drills at the Tide’s pro day or the combine after breaking a bone in his throwing hand in the Senior Bowl. McElroy is not a big-time prospect by any means, but he is an intelligent player that the Giants may want to bring in as a backup.

The third off-the-beaten-path player the Giants have scouted is Virginia CB Ras-I Dowling. According to SNY contributor Mike Garafolo:

"...Dowling was a first-round talent until an injury-plagued 2010 season lowered his stock a bit. In recent years, the Giants have jumped on a few talented players who slipped because of injury concerns…Dowling apparently performed well at his workout, running in the 4.3s, vertical jumping 38″ and chalking up 19 reps on the bench..."

No shock the Giants are looking at corners. That is exactly what they should be doing. Their secondary was exposed multiple times last year—especially against top QBs. In my book, CBs are like relief pitchers in baseball—you can’t have enough good ones.