DAVE GETTLEMAN: Obviously we had three picks, the 7th round is still going, I didn't trade back to we could get to this sooner. Elerson Smith who we took in the fourth round is a kid that played in northern Iowa, didn't play this fall obviously because of COVID. He didn't opt out. They just didn't play. And he played the Senior Bowl. He's long, he's athletic and we watched him on his Northern Iowa tape and what sold us on him is they played Iowa State and he must have played about 85, 90 snaps. He's a real tough kid, athletic, long, has some pass rush potential and he's instinctive so we really liked him. With the first sixth round pick, we took a running back out of Arizona, Gary Brightwell. He's a big kid and he's got a heavy body, he's a heavy body he'd runner, he's in the 215, 220 range and he really is a quality special teams player. So he's got dual value then.
Then our last pick was Rodarius Williams out of Oklahoma State. We had a solid value on him on the board. He's athletic. He's fast. He can carry the vertical. He plays our style. He's a press corner and we were just very pleased to see him there. So those are our last three.
Q. When you talked leading into the Draft and you also talked about free agency, I think Kevin said you wanted to be aggressive. Did that carry over into the Draft and maybe lead to some of the trades?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: I think it did. You know, we've had that mindset. And you know we just felt like, you know, it's all about calculated risk. You know, you go to Vegas, go to Atlantic City and some people are aggressive and some people aren't. It's just sometimes it's instinct. Sometimes it's just looking at the board and seeing where it's going to take you. You know, we felt we were aggressive in the off-season and in the roster building season -- there's no off-season here. We were aggressive in the roster building season in both free agency and the Draft.
Q. Didn't make any picks on the offensive line and really weren't aggressive in free agency, but do you think that position is good enough and why did you feel that way if so?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: Well, you know, first of all, you don't want it to be good enough, you want it to be good, plain and simple. It's really apparent that we have a little more confident in our offensive lineman players than you guys do. So I'm just going to say we're happy with the group that we have, obviously you're always trying to get better and you're not going to take a player just to take a player, you take a player because you think he's going to improve the value of your team. Right now our offensive line is what it is, the players are who they are and we're going to move forward.
Q. You've invested either draft picks or trades, why so many corners and does that mean somebody has to be the odd man out here?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: Well, first of all, as the media says, and as the public perception is, this is a passing league. So why not a lot of corners, okay. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you can never have too many good players at a position, and when everybody comes in, let the games begin.
Q. Did you realize you had to wait 80 picks?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: I knew it was going to be awhile, and I was going to have time to do a number of things, my taxes, etc., etc. It's a long wait, but listen, that's the way it is. That's the way it turned out.
Q. The perception, and you hear it already, that Joe in his second year, his influence is increasing, his fingerprints are all over some of the philosophical things with the trade that never happened before. Wondering what you think of that?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: I think that we have a great collaborative group going here. It's not about me. It's not about Joe. It's about the New York Football Giants.
Q. How much did his role change IN year two?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: We collaborate. We've been collaborating since he walked in the door. It's about the New York Giants.
Q. Elerson Smith, you said he's got some pass rush. He was a skinny kid who became a not-skinny kid, obviously, very long arms, big hands, things like that. You have a lot of guys, you drafted two of them, you have two guys coming back, X-man and Carter, where do you see that edge rush situation?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: Well, there's a lot of competition there. Listen, I've said this a million times; fundamentally the college kids are further behind than they used to be. So at the end of the day, it's about do they have the talent, the physical talent, the feel, the instinct, to develop pass rushers. Both of these kids do. Elerson definitely does. That's why we drafted him and at the end of the day, it's about competition. It's about competition. And we just feel like with those two draft picks, we've upgraded.
Q. The Giants have not done well in the last ten years, you haven't been here for all of that, with that third, fourth, fifth round stab at a pass rusher. Do you think with these two guys, one or two of them, you got it right?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: I all think I got it right. I just learn at the end of the day, we'll find -- listen, we'll know in three years whether we got this right. And that's what it is, okay. It's perception and it's what the media writes about players. We put a ton of time into this. We don't do this for a hobby, all right, and at the end of the day in three years we'll know if we're right or not.
Q. You were on ESPN earlier and said that you feel like you guys are close to being able to compete. What gives you the most optimism and how much of that is from guys you were able to pick up this weekend?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: I felt we've had a very good roster building season.
Q. Anyone in particular or any philosophical --
DAVE GETTLEMAN: We feel like we've added a strong group of players at a variety of positions. We've added play-makers. We've added pass rushers. We added corners. We feel good about what we've done.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports ....
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports