NFL Draft Rumors: Giants Eyeing Cornerback in Round 1?

It's anyone's guess right now as to what New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen will do with his first pick in this year's draft, but according to one NFL insider, the consensus of the team's draft war room is that it has one position in mind.

That position, according to Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network, is cornerback, who adds that the team is anticipating that its top targets will likely be gone before they get a chance to go on the clock.

Pauline adds:

I’m told that there is a faction of people in the building who want a receiver, either (Zay) Flowers or Jordan Addison. Historically, the team likes players out of Boston College. Yet, there is also a faction who believe the Giants need a pure No. 1 wideout, and while Flowers and Addison are good receivers, they would just be adding to the list of bodies the team has at the position, and it would be a lot of redundancy. In other words, they do not view either player as true No. 1 receivers for their team.

Pauline further reports that the Giants like cornerback DJ Turner out of Michigan and center John Michael Schmitz out of Minnesota, but it's unclear if they will take either in the first round.

But if Darius Rush is sitting there in the second round and the Giants haven't addressed corner, Pauline believes that could be the pick.

Pat's Perspectives 

While the popular opinion seems to be that it will be a receiver for the Giants in the first round, I truly believe that if they are serious about closing the gap with Dallas and the Eagles, they MUST beef up their cornerback position.

We saw last year how the offensive scheme worked around the fact that the Giants didn't have a legitimate No. 1 receiver on the field, yet they were still able to optimize the contributions of those they did have on the field. If the Giants don't feel that there is a legitimate game-changing No. 1 receiver in this year's class that's within their reach, they absolutely should not reach for someone in the role.

Such was not the case at cornerback, where injuries dented the depth and game-changing plays were about as rare as a rainbow. The NFC East proved itself to be a division of speed, and unless the Giants add some speed to the back end of their defense, catching up to the Eagles and Cowboys is going to be quite the challenge in what's a passing league.

• Get the latest breaking news and analysis on the New York Giants
• Follow and like us on Facebook
• Submit your questions for our mailbag
• Check out the Giants Country YouTube Channel.
• Subscribe and like the LockedOn Giants YouTube Channel
• Sign up for our FREE message board forums
• Get your Giants tickets from SI Tickets!