Giants raise eyebrows with selection of Youngstown State defensive end Avery Moss in fifth round of NFL Draft
The New York Giants have shied away from controversial draft picks for the most part. Their selection of Youngstown State defensive end Avery Moss in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft will raise more than a few eyebrows.
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Moss, the 167th overall selection, originally played at Nebraska. He was charged with public indecency in 2014 for exposing himself to a student/worker at a convienence store. Moss pled no contest to the charges. He was then suspended from the university for one year, though Moss said the suspension stemmed from him entering a campus residence hall that he was forbidden to be in.
During the suspension, Moss worked at a car dealership. Nebraska didn’t want him after the suspension was up and he was told to find another college. Moss transferred to Youngstown State.
On the field, Moss is an athletic pass rusher who can get to the quarterback. He has very good quickness off the ball. He needs to work on run coverage and there’s the off-the-field issues on his resume.
Moss, for his part, is not hiding from his past.
“I definitely learned from everything,” Moss said on a conference call. “I attended counseling from that incident and am two years graduated from that. It was a blessing not only to have this chance to be a New York Giant and play for the National Football League, but it’s a blessing just to get a second chance to play the game at another university. I felt like I was at my lowest in 2014 when I was dismissed.”
Moss said he was lost in life when he was at Nebraska. He’s found religion to be a source of comfort and strength. Moss insists his troublemaking is behind him.
The Giants cannot afford another public relations nightmare. The team found itself in the news for the wrong reasons when it was discovered they knew of former kicker Josh Brown’s arrest on domestic violence. His subsequent release from the team did not nothing to affect the backlash.
Giants general manager Jerry Reese says the team did their due diligence.
“He has had some issues and we think he’s well past those things,” Reese said in his post-draft press conference. “We’ll definitely keep an eye on that and if he needs any help in respect to that, we’ll definitely be there to help him. He’s a really well-spoken young man that has been through some things. We think he has everything together now.”
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