E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of only three sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls. Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

WILL DARIUS POWE EMERGE AS A SURPRISE
ON THE ROSTER AS A GIANTS' WIDE RECEIVER?

By Dave Klein
It is not commonplace for NFL teams to find a gold nugget on their roster, especially one who was not drafted out of college.

But the Giants might have made just such a discovery with wide receiver/H-back Darius Powe, who is 6-3, 220 and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.49. The fact that he attended the University of California and caught passes from the NFL's top overall selection, quarterback Jared Goff, makes him slightly more interesting.

So the Giants signed him as an undrafted free agent and tossed him in the stew pot with several other hopeful but unheralded wide receivers such as K.J. Maye, the Frenchman Anthony Dable, Tavaress King, Roger Lewis, Kadron Boone and Donte Foster.

Having acquired normally unavailable scouting reports from a firm that does these things for the NFL, E-GIANTS can offer a perspective on this over-sized, quick athlete who is clearly not ready for the wars this year but could emerge as a surprise during the season.

He is definitely a candidate for head coach Ben McAdoo's practice squad at the moment.

"Powe has a solidly built frame," the report reads, "with room to carry at least another 15 pounds with no loss in quickness." (Does that sound like a tight end in the making to you?). "Right now he looks like a sprinter or a small forward with minimal body fat and a wide wing span of 79 ¼ inches. He has good thickness in his calves and thighs and has done 17 reps at the 225-pound bench press."

One of the reasons, perhaps the main reasons that he was ignored in the draft is that he has spent most of his college career in a backup role. "But he was the best athlete on his team and one of the best in the Pac-10 Conference. He has the ideal size for today's NFL receiver with long arms and legs and is a valid deep threat."

The report continues with information of an ever-improving player in terms of technique. "He runs with a fluid stride and unlike most tall receivers he has learned to stay lower in his pads to generate better hip snap when trying to elude [a defender]. He has well above average flexibility going for the high passes and demonstrates an improving change of direction agility and body control. He has the skills to develop but will need patient coaching skills to each him the intricacies of the game. He has large hands to make the ‘touch' catches but must learn to be more aware to the closing defender."

Powe showed some of these qualities with the rookies at the OTA sessions and will get his chance, starting Tuesday, to mix it up with the veterans at McAdoo's mandatory minicamp. "He started to develop a good feel for when he needs to use his hands to get off the press coverage," the report continues. "He has good explosion off the line of scrimmage and reached top speed quickly."

Initial impressions seem to argue that he would be more fitted to a slot position than as a deep threat, but he builds to top speed so quickly that he can be a valid target deep. But among the areas he must continue to work is ball concentration and focus. "There were times when he would drop the ball after fighting for it in a crowd," the report added.

"But during his senior season he showed improvement there, and learned more about how to use his size to get a push off the defender. He has good leaping ability (a 34 ½-inch vertical jump) and he is blessed with natural, instinctive ability. All he needs is more reps to get comfortable in adjusting to make the tough catch."

It should be noted that Powe is considered a good blocker but needs to work on improving his blocking strength. He is said to have made progress with hand placement and "punching" in order to eliminate the defender in the second level.

Powe received All-Pac 12 second-team honors from The NFL Draft Report. He ran 2.64 in the 10-yard dash, 6.94 in the three-cone drill and has nine-inch hands.

In 2015, Powe caught seven passes for 74 yards against Stanford, six for 79 against Washington and caught 47 passes for 560 yards and eight touchdowns during the season.

"If the draft was another round longer, we would have taken him," said a scout for a team in the NFC East. Maybe a golden opportunity has been lost, you know?

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