Why did the New York Giants draft Darius Alexander?

Joe Schoen talks about need to add defensive line depth

New York Giants GM Joe Schoen knew entering the offseason that he had to rebuild the depth of the team’s defensive front seven, particularly the interior defensive line.

Schoen drafted Abdul Carter No. 3 overall to add a dynamic pass rusher on the edge. In free agency, he added players liks Chauncey Golston, Roy Robertson-Harris and Jeremiah Ledbetter.

The coup de grace to the interior defensive line rebuild came Friday night when the Giants added defensive tackle Darius Alexander with the first pick of Round 3, No. 65 overall.

“it was important, and we didn’t come into today saying, hey, we have to have a 3 technique, but we went with the board. We went with how we saw it,” Schoen said Friday night. “But it was important. Not just stopping the run but getting after the passer. We talked about identity a little bit last night with Carter. Again, I like what we’ve done on defense.

“Late in the season when injuries occurred, outside backer and inside we had some guys in there that were battling and did a really good job for us, but we just thought upgrading the depth, adding some youth would be really beneficial.”

The Giants now have a troika of dynamic edge defenders and the most depth they have had on the interior defensive line in recent memory.

“There’s a lot of depth there. I’m excited about the group,” Schoen said. “We’ve got to do a better job stopping the run this year, and I think we helped that with some of the depth. If we can get to third down we’ve got a lot of options in terms of where guys can line up in terms of versatility. (Defensive lineman) Chauncey (Golston) has got some versatility. Darius has got some versatility. Obviously with (linebacker Abdul) Carter, there’s some versatile pieces in there that can move around, and that can be difficult for offenses.”

The Giants under Schoen have always placed importance on the college All-Star games. The drafting of Alexander followed that patter.

“We felt we needed to add some youth to the defensive line, and this kid is just under 6’4”, 315 pounds, 34-inch arms and freaky athletic,” Schoen said. “Down at the Senior Bowl and he had a really good week, and (defensive line coach) Dre Patterson, thinks the world of him … a high ceiling for this player.”