NFC Notes: Giants, Lions, Saints

Giants

The Giants hired new Assistant GM Brandon Brown from the Eagles, a New York native who is willing to take on the challenge of returning the team to its former glory.

“The greatest thing about coming back to this area is the sense of responsibility,” Brown said on Giants Huddle: Front Office Edition. “This is one of the flagship franchises in the league. The biggest thing coming back to this area is knowing that the fan base holds you accountable, and it means so much more than just football. A lot of people depend on this. I just feel like being a part of this organization, I don’t want to let anybody down. I know we have a collective effort in getting back to where we all want to be — where the fan base wants to be and where the organization wants to be. Pushing the needle. The biggest quote I like to use is ‘When everyone knows what we know, what we know is no longer important.’ You always want to be pushing the envelope forward and not be reactive to what’s going on. Whether it’s involving the scheme, whether it’s involving the player usage, whether it’s involving where to find players. That’s a process I put into practice in Philadelphia, was football players come from every walk of life. That was shown through finding players in Canada, finding players who played rugby, finding players that came from small schools. It doesn’t matter. If you have the developmental mindset and the developmental physical traits, and you have the aptitude to learn, then it’s our job in terms of personnel and coaching and player development to get you onto the right onboarding process and that maximizes you as you’re going on in your role and eventually on game day.”

Lions

Daniel Jeremiah does not expect the Lions to draft an offensive lineman with the No. 2 pick after selecting T Penei Sewell last year. He goes on to say that the team could end up going with S Kyle Hamilton if DE Aidan Hutchinson is picked first overall.

“If Hutchinson’s off the board and he’s gone, if he goes one, I would have no issues whatsoever with them taking Kyle Hamilton and saying this is a plug-and-play guy who’s going to give them something they desperately need, and that’s somebody that can make a play,” Jeremiah said, via Dave Birkett of The Detroit Free Press. “In a different draft, where maybe you had some guys at a different level of grades, then you could say, ‘OK, well, I’ll lean towards the edge rusher, positional value, all that stuff.’ But I think Kyle Hamilton stacks up really well with everybody in this draft.”

Saints

• Tensions seem to be over between the Saints and WR Michael Thomas, as the team restructured his deal recently which backs up reports they have no intentions of trading him. Thomas also tweeted on Sunday: “A fresh start isn’t a new place, it’s a mindset.”