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 five sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
The Giants, in the last several years, have made some outstanding first round draft selections.

Let's see, there was Jeremy Shockey in 2002, Will Allen in 2001, Luke Petitgout in 1999, Ike Hilliard in 1997.

Come on, while the jury is still out on Allen, it was a good pick.

They have also come up with some embarrassments, or have you mercifully forgotten such as Tyrone Wheatley in 1995, Cedric Jones in 1996, Ron Dayne in 2000?

And William Joseph in 2003?

Which way will he go? Is he going to snap out of his coma and begin playing defensive tackle the way the Giants thought he would when they plucked him out of that treasure trove of talent known as Hurricane University? Or will he go the way of the bad first round picks, all reputation and no substance, all money and no performance?

Defensive line coach Mike Waufle is doing what he has to do - he is defending Joseph. "He was as good as a rookie last year," he said the other day, one of those magical days when the media was allowed to speak to the assistant coaches. "He didn't play much in his rookie year, then he got hurt, then he found a new staff and a new system. I think it was a tribute to the kid that he played as well as he did last season."

To that end, it should be noted that the 6-6, 315-pounder, the 25th overall selection in the 2003 draft, started four of 15 games last year, missing the 16th and final one with a knee injury. This was the year in which he tore a pectoral muscle in the spring, had surgery, missed a lot of summer camp and still managed to somehow get through Camp (Tom) Coughlin without quitting.

He started those four games at right and left defensive tackle, and for the final game of the season, the Jan. 2 victory against Dallas, he was scheduled to be used -- experimentally -- at defensive end. Alas, the injury put a crimp in that, but the possibility still exists and while Waufle wouldn’t absolutely comment on it, he did allow that some truth existed in the rumor.

Joseph had 25 tackles and two sacks in 2004, and while some of you out there might expect more from a first round pick, a dollop of patience is now required. He did have the preseason injury. He did have a new position coach and a new system to learn. He did manage to keep his weight down, and if you think 315 is down you didn’t see him a year earlier.

It was the unkindest cut of all when an assistant coach on another team, back there in 2003 when a guy complained that Joseph wasn't exactly making moves that would take him to Canton, where the Pro Football Hall of Fame lives, said: "You know, the Giants may be doing it wrong. Why not just tell him that the guys in the other backfield are carrying pizza that were meant for him?"

Anyway, we know have William Joseph apparently alternating starting opportunities at left defensive tackle with Kendrick Clancy, a 6-1, 305-pound Unrestricted Free Agent signed from the Pittsburgh Steelers' roster. Clancy is, as several of the defensive assistants noted, "the perfect nose tackle size." But are the Giants going to utilize a 3-4 alignment that would place a premium on having a quality nose tackle? Nobody is saying.

"Right now," says Coughlin, "there are no such plans."

Those words "right now" might lead some to become suspicious, you know? Because "right now" nobody has put on pads and nobody has hit guys who play for other teams and nobody has really decided what the situation is with the defensive ends on the Giants’ roster. Currently, the two starters are Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora and the backups may well be two drafted rookies - third rounder Justin Tuck and sixth rounder Eric Moore.

Is everybody happy? Wouldn't it be far simpler if William Joseph attacked the ball and the backfield like a man possessed? Isn’t that what first round picks who play defensive tackle normally do? Oh, sure, they need some time to acclimate to the professional world (even if they attended Hurricane U., one assumes). But William has had his two years of learning. Now is the time to act, big fella.

"Right now, all William has to do is just keep progressing," said defensive coordinator Tim Lewis. "He has all the tools. He has athletic ability, he has strength, he has size, he has speed. He has all those things. He just needs to do it on a consistent basis and that is what we’re looking for him to do."

He scowled at the media in his best Coughlin impression. "I read, I can't remember who it was, that one of you guys wrote something about William. That he went with the first group one day and the third the next day or something like that. That is not necessarily so. We are just looking for people who play well together."

Hey, coach, this isn't Day Care or a community sandbox. Play well together?

If one of them played like a first round draft pick, he'd pick up the other three (or two) and suddenly they'd play well together. You know, one other thing that teams never do - they never admit when a first round decision was a bad one. They just go along with the player for a few years and then one day you wake up and he's not there any more.

It is possible that this is the year William Joseph decides whether he becomes visible or invisible, you know?

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

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