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The New York Giants have been on the cusp of really breaking out in the regular season for several years now. They've made it into the playoffs, and have done serious damage on the virtue of a weak NFC East. But in 2012, the Washington Redskins charged forward and took the division under rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III.
Late season surges to earn a winning record may not be enough to take the division anymore, which means the Giants really needed to focus on improvement this offseason, so the Redskins don't create a gap between them. As the Giants fell just short last season, they are picking at No. 19 in the first round of the draft.
Matthew Fairburn of SB Nation released his latest mock draft on Monday and he has the Giants landing Tank Carradine, the defensive end out of Florida State, with that No. 19 pick:
Tank Carradine plans to run through a workout for scouts before the draft. That should solidify him as a top-20 pick. We've slotted Carradine to the Giants since the combine and workout won't change it now.
Carradine has been the pick for New York for some time now and it's easy to see why. The Giants value a strong defensive line and prefer to have multiple starters for the same position to keep a steady rotation. Carradine would immediately be a huge part of that rotation, which already includes Jason Pierre Paul, one of the top pass rushers in the NFL.
You can find Carradine's scouting report here. As it's a three round mock draft, it's also worth noting that LSU linebacker Kevin Minter was picked to go to the Giants at No. 49, and Oregon offensive lineman Kyle Long went to them at No. 79, the third-round pick.
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