{"id":19133,"date":"2017-04-25T13:01:08","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T17:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=19133"},"modified":"2017-04-25T13:01:08","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T17:01:08","slug":"who-to-pick-at-no-23-foster-cunningham-or-davis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2017\/04\/25\/who-to-pick-at-no-23-foster-cunningham-or-davis\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Should the New York Giants Draft at No. 23? Reuben Foster, Zach Cunningham or Jarrad Davis?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the second installment of who the New York Giants should take with the 23rd<\/span><\/sup> pick in this year’s draft. In the\u00a0first article offensive tackle prospects for the Giants were discussed. In this article the linebackers are handled.<\/p>\n

Who\u00a0Should\u00a0the New York Giants\u00a0Draft at No. 23? Reuben Foster, Zach Cunningham or Jarrad Davis?<\/h2>\n

It seems like every year\u00a0the G-Men\u00a0go into the draft needing a linebacker, but they never draft one. Could this year be different? There are three linebackers being discussed as potential prospects for the Giants. Alabama\u2019s Reuben Foster<\/strong>, Vanderbilt\u2019s Zach Cunningham<\/strong> and Florida\u2019s Jarrad Davis<\/strong>. Below four categories are looked at\u00a0to determine which linebacker is the best fit for the Giants. First, their basics, which includes their height, weight, athletic ability and accolades\u00a0are discussed. Their ability against the run is discussed next, followed by their ability on third down. Lastly, their\u00a0intangibles, overall grade and scheme fit are looked at.<\/p>\n

Basics<\/h3>\n

Reuben Foster<\/h4>\n

Foster\u00a0seems to be the most popular.\u00a0He is\u00a06\u20190 and weighs 229 pounds. Overall, he\u2019s a little small. As for his athletic ability, no information can be derived from the Combine since\u00a0Foster\u00a0was sent home from the Combine in March. He was\u00a0asked to leave the Combine\u00a0after getting into an argument with the hospital staff in Indianapolis. Either way, he wouldn\u2019t have been working out due to his right shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

On film\u00a0Foster is\u00a0an excellent athlete. He has great agility, good speed, is coordinated\u00a0and his\u00a0explosiveness\u00a0is great for a linebacker. He\u2019s everything you\u2019d want in a three down linebacker. Unfortunately for Foster, he\u2019s had a bad string of injuries. He had a knee injury in December, a hand injury in January and a shoulder injury in March. Not good. What is good is his production. He won the Butkus Award this year,\u00a0which is\u00a0given to the nation\u2019s \u201cbest\u201d linebacker. He was also First Team All-American and First\u00a0Team All-SEC.<\/p>\n

Zach Cunningham<\/h4>\n

Cunningham\u2019s athletic ability is very similar to Reuben Foster\u2019s. On film he showed the same kind of agility, explosiveness and acceleration. However, Foster was a bit better. Unlike Foster though, there are Combine numbers in addition to film for Cunningham.<\/p>\n

Cunningham placed in the top 10 in linebackers in both the 40-yard dash and the 3-Cone drill; the two drills meant to measure speed and agility. Although Foster is a bit more athletic, Cunningham is much bigger. He\u00a0is 6\u20193 and weighs 234 pounds. Cunningham was a Butkus Award finalist this year and was also\u00a0First Team All-American and\u00a0First Team All-SEC. He also added another First\u00a0Team All-SEC in 2015.<\/p>\n

Jarrad Davis<\/h4>\n

Davis, like Foster, also did not\u00a0participate in\u00a0the Combine. Davis sat out due to an ankle injury, but he\u00a0performed well\u00a0at his pro day. However, pro day numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt. On film\u00a0Davis matched Cunningham in terms of acceleration, explosiveness and speed. Cunningham and Foster are more agile, but Davis is still pretty good in that area. Like Foster, Davis has been banged up a bit and his injuries may be more long term.\u00a0Davis missed almost all of 2014 with a knee injury and he missed significant time this year with an ankle injury. He was also a Butkus Award finalist and was still\u00a0Second Team All-SEC even with his injuries.<\/p>\n

Ability vs. the Run<\/h3>\n

Reuben Foster<\/h4>\n

Starting with Foster, his ability against the run was pretty solid in college. According to ProFootballFocus\u2019 Run Stop % statistic, he\u2019s the best of the three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Player<\/td>\nTeam<\/td>\nPos.<\/td>\nComb. Tkl<\/td>\nTFL<\/td>\nSacks<\/td>\nQBH<\/td>\nPBUs<\/td>\nINTs<\/td>\nRun Stop %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Foster, Reuben<\/td>\nAlabama<\/td>\nILB<\/td>\n115<\/td>\n13.0<\/td>\n5.0<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n16.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cunningham, Zach<\/td>\nVanderbilt<\/td>\nILB<\/td>\n125<\/td>\n16.5<\/td>\n0.0<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n14.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Davis, Jarrad<\/td>\nFlorida<\/td>\nOLB<\/td>\n60<\/td>\n6.0<\/td>\n2.0<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n8.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

And ProFootballFocus was probably correct there. Foster\u2019s ability to read plays and diagnosis them was excellent in 2016. Even when he didn\u2019t diagnosis it at the rate he usually does, his acceleration and explosiveness allowed him to fill the hole before the ball carrier could do anything.\u00a0Foster did have some trouble shedding blocks, but his athletic ability and mental ability allowed him to react to the play before the lineman could even get there. He\u2019s also a tackling machine who can lay the wood.<\/p>\n

Zach Cunningham<\/h4>\n

ProFootballFocus is also probably correct that Cunningham is second best in this\u00a0category out of these three players. However,\u00a0the gap probably isn’t\u00a0that close. Like Foster,\u00a0Cunningham fills the hole well and he has some issues with shedding blocks.\u00a0The biggest issue with him though is, that for a linebacker with 125 tackles, he\u2019s that good of a tackler. On film\u00a0it’s easy to see that Cunningham\u00a0relied on gang tackling a lot because he tackled too high. He did have some clutch tackles on film, but you\u2019d expect him to be better than what he was.<\/p>\n

Jarrad Davis<\/h4>\n

Davis, like Foster and Cunningham, was also good at filling the hole and had issues with shedding blocks. However, he was not nearly\u00a0as good at filling the hole\u00a0as were Cunningham and Foster. Davis\u2019 real strength was stopping the run play going away from him. His athletic ability and his motor allowed him to be a beast on those plays.<\/p>\n

Ability on\u00a0Third Down<\/h3>\n

Jarrad Davis<\/h4>\n

The same athletic ability that allowed Davis to be so good at stopping run plays going away from him, allowed him to be a real asset on third\u00a0down. He\u2019s a good blitzer but where he shines is in coverage. On film\u00a0Davis was able to hang deep with tight ends, swatting passes away like he was a defensive back. In zone coverage he did a fantastic job reading the quarterbacks eyes and undercutting passes. That\u2019s why\u00a0Davis has more pass break ups last year than both Cunningham and Foster while playing less games than them.<\/p>\n

Zach Cunningham<\/h4>\n

Cunningham is not a good pass rusher and he had zero sacks in 2016.\u00a0He is good in coverage. He looks fluid in his coverage drops and his awareness is pretty good overall, but he’s not as good as is Davis. He can\u2019t hang deep with tight-ends like Davis. He\u2019s more of a traditional coverage linebacker in that he\u2019s fine in coverage when it comes to underneath and short passes.<\/p>\n

Reuben Foster<\/h4>\n

Foster, in an attempt to overshadow Davis, not only hung with tight-ends but also covered receivers at times. He was phenomenal in man coverage and was disciplined in zone coverage. He could cover both running backs and tight ends\u00a0with no issues, as well as receivers on short routes, but a team, including Giants shouldn’t expect him to excel at\u00a0 covering receivers going deep.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/h3>\n

The Giants have a decent outside linebacker in Devon Kennard<\/strong> <\/a>and that\u2019s about it. For the Giants to use a first-round pick on a linebacker it\u2019s going to have to be for an inside linebacker. Of the three linebackers in question, only Foster and Cunningham are really inside linebackers in a 4-3 scheme. Of those two, Foster is clearly the better player. However, his off the field issues are a serious problem.\u00a0He failed drug test, was dismissed from the Combine and has a\u00a0recent injury history.<\/p>\n

Those things can’t be ignored,\u00a0but are they enough to warrant picking Cunningham over him? No, they are not. Foster is in a league of his own when it comes to linebackers in this class. If all three are available for the Giants at 23, then Foster will have to be the pick if the Giants are going to go linebacker. However, the Giants are not known for taking players with character issues and it appears the Giants prefer Jarrad Davis.<\/p>\n

Main Photo<\/p>\n

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Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n