New York Giants take their chances in the NFL draft

For the past two weeks Wonder has been preaching value to us. It is not who you pick but where you pick them.

"These people (GM's) do not understand the draft," says Wonder. "You must pick players you like when appropriate, not just because you like them. Not picking for value is easily the most common draft mistake."

Well, Wonder approved of the pick of Mario Manningham. Not because of the player, but WHERE the Giants were able to land him. Manningham's former coach Lloyd Carr is never going to trash his player publicly, but he does support the idea that the Giants may have something here at the end of the third round.

The general philosophy of Ultimatenyg is play to win championships, not to beat some team during the season or just make the playoffs. In order to do that you are going to have to take chances. Take calculated risks. They may or may not work out. But at least put yourself in a position to enable something good to POSSIBLY happen. The Manningham pick is a perfect example of intelligent rolling of the dice. He may crap out. He may be a star. That is worth the risk at #95, the end of the third round. The fact that the Giants said they did their "homework" (due diligence) on him? All the better. The Seven P's: Prior Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. So the Giants checked him out, kicked the tires, and will give it a spin. If this is a bust, what have they lost? If they had brought in the same player with a much higher pick, the risks would have been far greater. The Giants did not allocate a huge amount of their draft on him, so the risk is certainly in line with the potential reward. Ronnie Barnes, the trainer for the Giants, says Terrell Thomas is in good health, but I think there might be more risk in that selection, given THREE previous injuries. Time will tell on all of these picks. Rookie minicamp is this week.