American Football

Center Joe Tippmann to the Giants in Daniel Jeremiah mock draft

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NFL Combine
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The Giants finally get a long-term solution at center in Jeremiah’s third mock draft

The New York Giants have already been busy as the 2023 league year opens. They’ve addressed Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley’s free agency, they added much-needed run defense in Bobby Okereke and Rakeem Nunez-Roches, and added receiving weapons with Darren Waller and Paris Campbell.

But so far the Giants haven’t done anything about their offensive line, except let Nick Gates and Jon Feliciano leave for other teams.

Daniel Jeremiah addressed that concern in his mock draft 3.0 and gave the Giants the center they’re lacking.

25. New York Giants
Joe Tippmann, iOL, Wisconsin

The Giants did a nice job adding some much-needed speed to the skill positions in free agency. Tippman would team up with two young, talented offensive tackles to protect Daniel Jones for the foreseeable future.

Raptor’s thoughts

There are a lot of different ways the Giants could go with this pick. The way Jeremiah’s board fell, they could look at TCU wide receiver Quentin Johnston, they could look at K-State cornerback Julius Brents, they could look at one of the (many) edge defenders, and all of the off-ball linebackers are still on the board.

Instead, the Giants finally plug a hole that’s existed since they let Weston Richburg walk in free agency, traded away Brett Jones, and opted to try and convert Jon Halapio to center. I’ve been calling for them to draft a long-term answer at center for pretty much as long, so I can hardly fault Jeremiah for drafting one here.

The Giants currently only have one option for center (Ben Bredeson) after letting Jon Feliciano walk in free agency. They have options for guards, but as of now, it’s just Bredeson at center.

There are a few good options at center, and Tippmann has steadily been rising up draft boards throughout the draft process. Tippmann is a very tall center at 6-foot-6, and that can be an issue if he isn’t careful about his pad level. However, he’s also a very good athlete for the position and has impressive play strength.

John Michael Schmitz is the other likely option for center early in the draft. Tippmann is the better athlete, but Schmitz is a well-rounded and dependable player. The Giants probably couldn’t go wrong either way.

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