Big man Mekhi Becton likes the idea of playing in Big Town with the Giants
Louisville offensive lineman Mekhi Becton speaks during a press conference at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis on Feb. 26, 2020. Credit: AP/Michael Conroy
INDIANAPOLIS – The offensive line prospects shuffled into the room in single file on Wednesday. If the NFL Combine is a circus, these were the elephants on parade. Big, burly, lumbering beasts who one day soon will be doing the heavy lifting for their future pro team.
Even among that floor-buckling display of massiveness, though, there was one player who seemed to dwarf the rest.
“I love being the biggest,” Mekhi Becton said. “I love intimidating guys.”
At just a quarter-inch shy of 6-8 and weighing in at 364 pounds for this gathering of scouts and executives, Louisville’s Becton certainly won’t be overlooked. And he promised to put on a show of athleticism when he takes the field for his drills on Friday night, ready to “shock a lot of people.”
But does bigger necessarily mean better? In this case it certainly doesn’t hurt, which is why the Giants will be considering him with the fourth pick in April’s draft. It’s also why NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah thinks the team would be crazy to ignore Becton or trade a pick with him on the board.
“To me, Mekhi Becton is a freak,” Jeremiah said late last week. “I’m not in the business of trading off freaks at a need position… You just don’t see guys like that come around very often. I know trade-back options exist. I know you can take a defensive playmaker. To me, I’m not trading off that pick. I’m sitting there right there taking Mekhi Becton.”
Louisville offensive lineman Mekhi Becton on Oct. 26, 2019. Credit: AP/Timothy D. Easley
Drafting Becton likely would mean moving Nate Solder from left tackle to the right side, something the veteran said he’d be open to if the team needs it. Ideally, then, the Giants wouldn’t have to think about the position for a decade. They haven’t had that type of player since Jumbo Elliott.
Jeremiah said he thinks Becton is “a better version of Bryant McKinnie” who can “be that guy for the next 10 to 12 years to protect your franchise quarterback.” He’s young and lacks some polish, but Jeremiah gushed: “He’s so big, so long, so athletic, even when he is not perfect, it doesn’t matter because nobody can get through him.”
Jeremiah isn’t the only one who thinks the Giants should draft Becton. Becton thinks that, too. His eyes lit up when asked about the prospect of playing in New York.
“I like how grimy you guys are,” said Becton, who grew up in Virginia. “I love the New York griminess… New York is tough. I love New York. It’s real tough.”
Throw on video of Becton, who turns 21 a week before the draft, and those qualities show up quickly. When he’s not devouring defenders by running them out of the frame, he’s flattening them under his immensity. He plays like a supersized version of Colts guard Quenton Nelson.
“It’s fun taking a man out of a play and taking him where I want him to go,” Becton said. “I feel like I’m the most dominant tackle in this draft. You wouldn’t go wrong picking me.”
Not only would he protect the franchise quarterback, imagine what he could do for the franchise running back and the offensive coordinator who loves keeping the ball on the ground.
“It doesn’t matter what you run,” he said when asked which scheme he would fit into best, “as long as you run behind me.”
Maybe it’ll be that simple for the Giants. Their “open for business” status on the fourth overall pick, their search for a defensive playmaker, the possibility of selecting a linebacker in the first round for the first time since 1984? All of that can be put on one side of a scale. Put Becton on the other and see which way it tilts. Becton, as you may have guessed, doesn’t spend a lot of time in the air when he’s on a seesaw.
He’ll be at the draft in Las Vegas in April, he said. He does not expect to be waiting around a long time before hearing his name called. Then he’ll be ferried across the water to the stage as part of the spectacle that the league has planned for the Class of 2020.
“They’ll need an extra large [boat] for me,” he said.
Perhaps a Giant-sized one.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
