Giants Open Rookie Camp With Pre-Made Celebrities

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It was the sports story of the year: Plucky George Mason University stunning the college basketball establishment and reaching the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. Less than two months later, George Mason power forward Jai Lewis has another improbable feat in mind: He wants to leave the hardwood behind and play tight end for the Giants.

First-round pick Matthias Kiwanuka is expected to add another pass rusher to a team that already has two great ones and second-round pick Sinorice Moss is expected to provide a downfield threat to a team that already excels at long passes, but when the Giants begin their three-day rookie mini-camp on Saturday, it’s Lewis, who didn’t even play college football, who will get the closest scrutiny.

Despite averaging 13.7 points and 7.8 rebounds as a senior at GMU, the 6-foot-7-inch Lewis, who was recruited as a football player by some major programs out of high school, was frequently told by scouts in both sports that his best chance to go pro was in the NFL. With that as a springboard, he’s decided he wants to play tight end, where he would follow in the footsteps of San Diego’s Antonio Gates and Detroit’s Marcus Pollard, both of whom played only basketball in college but now have successful NFL careers.

Lewis’s 290-pound frame, though, probably makes him a better fit at offensive tackle. He’s a long shot to make the team at either position, but if he shows promise and a good work ethic, the Giants will keep him around through August training camp and perhaps give him a spot on the practice squad during the regular season.

Unlike Lewis, Kiwanuka knows he has a roster spot assured. He also knows he won’t move ahead of starting defensive ends Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora on the depth chart. GM Ernie Accorsi likes to say a team can’t have too many pass rushers, and while that may be true, a team can devote too many of its resources to one position. The decision to draft the 6-foot-8-inch, 246-pound Kiwanuka out of Boston College in the first round meant the Giants didn’t address a much bigger need, at defensive tackle, until the fourth round.

That fourth-round pick, tackle Barry Cofield, has a better chance of cracking the starting lineup than Kiwanuka does. The 6-foot-4-inch, 305-pound Cofield will compete for the starting job that Kendrick Clancy vacated when he signed with the Arizona Cardinals as a free agent. Cofield currently projects as a backup to seven-year veteran Fred Robbins, but Cofield is quicker than Robbins and will be a better fit for the Giants’ defense if he can learn the playbook in the next four months.

The Giants only drafted two players on offense, but one of them, second-round pick Moss, has the organization giddy. The younger brother of Santana will enter training camp as the team’s third receiver, behind Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer, but he has a good chance of pushing Toomer out of the starting lineup. Moss’s remarkable speed will mesh well with an offense that relies heavily on the ability to stretch the field with the passing game.

The other offensive player the Giants selected, tackle Guy Whimper, was a versatile player at East Carolina – so versatile that he doesn’t have much experience at any one position. Whimper was an outside linebacker as a freshman, a defensive end as a sophomore, a tight end as a junior, and an offensive tackle as a senior. He thrived in that last role and the Giants were impressed enough to select him in the fourth round, but with only one year of experience on the line, this weekend’s camp will be the start of a long learning process. An undrafted rookie tackle, Washington’s Robin Meadow, might be more likely to play in 2006 because he has more experience and played against better opposition in college.

The Giants don’t expect to have any rookies in the starting lineup when they host the Indianapolis Colts in their season opener on September 10.The rookies will get their first chance to change those expectations this weekend.

Mr. Smith is a regular writer for FootballOutsiders.com.


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