Nicks heating up as the season approaches

As the National Football League draws closer and closer I found a piece about last this year’s first round pick by the New York Giants, Hakeem Nicks. And while he is mentioned in two sentences and it does not sound like he is doing as well as the Heel fans and the Giants thought he would. To be fair, it also sounds like he is breaking out of the slump and getting into ”the zone” as the season arrives. The article/blog is from the Daily News, entitled Giants offense goes deep on D, has all the feeling that this year New York might let Eli Manning stretch the defense more than it ever did before.

This should be welcome news for Nicks, who might not have the breakaway speed, but loves an open field enviroment to play in. Unfortunately, Ralph Vacchiano, the author of this article, begins like this when talking about the ex Tar Heel:

Hey, Hakeem Nicks is here. The first-round pick has been quiet all summer,

Hakeem Nicks

That does not sound like a seal of approval, not one that is going to make the Giants’ fans forget about their departed wide receivers anyways. Yes, let’s always remember that he is a rookie in the toughest league to be in, and that there will always be a learning curve. And that curve exist from the top player in a draft all the way to the ones in the seventh round. Hakeem Nicks is not immuned from this, and no one expected him to be. On the other hand, with a team looking for a receiver with their top pick in the draft shouldn’t he be stepping up? I would have to say the answer to that should be a definite yes. 

Mr. Vacchiano goes on to say:

but not today. He made a Willie Mays-style catch on a deep pass from Carr. A few plays later he made a nice turning catch on a pass from Woodson. And then he made a great leaping catch on a pass from Rhett Bomar.

Hakeem Nicks

That should be a positive sign. I would be a bit more optimistic if not for the fact that this seems to be the first time that the ex wide out from Chapel Hill has had a decent work out/practice, or at least one that is worth to be mentioning. Again, we can talk all we want about young players needing time to adjust to the next level, but when you have lost your best players at that position I am sure that the team goes for a player in the first round that can come in and contribute from the get go. Not replace the lost players, but give enough to help out the team. On the other hand no one should panic, not the Giants, not Nicks, not the fans. There are still many practices and plenty of pre season games for the ex Heel to get into gear and be for the Giants what he was for North Carolina.

I am definitely going to watch this story as it develops, since it is going to be one of the stories for a team that has just made their quarterback very rich in a year where he lost his two weapons. As I do with every other Heel, I wish all the best for Hakeem Nicks as he works more and more in order to be as much of a force in the NFL that he was in college.

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