NFL Draft: David Diehl, Carl Banks, Victor Cruz weigh in on who Giants should take

David Diehl watches a replay from the bench during a game against the Ravens on Nov. 16, 2008. Credit: Newsday / David L. Pokress
A trio of Super Bowl-winning Giants weighed in on who they think the team should select with the No. 2 overall pick on Thursday night. Here is what David Diehl, Carl Banks and Victor Cruz said on episodes of MSG Network’s “People Talking Football” which originally aired on Wednesday night.
David Diehl
“When I sit here and look at the quarterbacks, I don’t see a single one of them that really separated themselves throughout the process between ending their year at school, to the combine, to the Senior Bowl, to where we are now. For me, if the Giants are sitting at that No. 2 pick like they are, and if I was a general manager, I would take Bradley Chubb. And the thing that I think about him and when I think about winning those two Super Bowls, as much as it kills me to say, defense wins championships. We were able to get after — in those playoff games and Super Bowl — our defensive lines were able to get after Tom Brady. It helped us so much offensively to where we can control the ground game, to where we can run the football and really manage the time of the game.”
Carl Banks
“I would say, because I have a quarterback that I believe in, I’m going to see how I can supplement that and I’m going to go running back, a transformational running back. Somebody who’s not just a guy. A guy that can say, I’m going to move the chains. I’m going to go runner, and if the runner’s not there, maybe we look at something else.”
Victor Cruz
“I think the biggest area that they lack is the consistency in the running game. Saquon Barkley provides that type of stability. I think he is a transcendent type of running back. He does a lot more than just carry the ball between tackles. He can catch out of the backfield, and he’s a home run threat at any given time. That’s where I think the Giants should go at No. 2 given that we all feel that they have confidence in Eli Manning moving forward because there’s some stud quarterbacks in this draft too.”
The episode featuring Diehl and former Jets center Nick Mangold will be re-airing on Thursday at 4 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. The episode with Cruz and Banks will re-air at 4:30 p.m. and 6:15 p.m.
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