New York Giants

Giants liked Scherff but never expected to get him at No. 9

Published May. 1, 2015 10:46 a.m. ET

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Entering Thursday night's draft, many expected that the New York Giants would make Iowa offensive lineman Brandon Scherff their No. 9 overall selection. When the Washington Redskins selected Scherff with the No. 5 overall selection, it left many fans scrambling through their cheat sheets. Scherff's selection didn't surprise the Giants. As vice president of player personnel Marc Ross admitted, they planned for this probability the entire time.

“We thought there was a chance he (Scherff) would go before us, maybe a pick or two, but not where he went,’’ said Marc Ross, the Giants’ vice president of player evaluation, in his post-draft press conference. “We felt really strongly going into it he probably would go ahead of us.’’

Just because they didn't expect to get Scherff at No. 9 doesn't mean they weren't as high on him as had been reported before the draft. Giants general manager Jerry Reese was effusive in his praise for their actual first-round selection Ereck Flowers, but he also heaped the same praise on Scherff.

“We liked both of those guys. I can tell you that,’’ general manager Jerry Reese said of Flowers and Scherff. “We liked both of them, and we thought they would both be terrific players.’’

One thing we know that the Giants did get from Flowers that they wouldn't have gotten from Scherff is his dominating size. Flowers tips the scales at 330 pounds and stands tall at 6-foot-6.

“He is a battleship, an aircraft carrier or however you want to describe him,’’ Tom Coughlin said in his post-draft press conference.

“Obviously he’s a gigantic human being,’’ is how Reese described Flowers in his post-draft press conference.

If Scherff was still on the board when the Giants selected at No. 9, we will never know which offensive line prospect they would have selected. Either way, it seems like the Giants got a prospect who they rated very highly on their big board overall.

(h/t New York Post)

Photo Credit: Phil Sears/USA TODAY Sports