Giants had Sammy Watkins ranked ahead of Odell Beckham

The New York Giants look like geniuses for selecting Odell Beckham Jr. at No. 12 overall in the 2014 draft.

Beckham put up best rookie season by a wide receiver since Randy Moss and was the most productive receiver in the league over the second half of the season. His 91 catches, 1,302 yards and 12 touchdowns are stats that could blow you away.

Even the Giants will admit that even they were a little surprised by how good Beckham turned out to be (regardless of whether Tom Coughlin wants him to tone things down).

Giants GM Jerry Reese joined WFAN’s Mike Francesa on the radio Wednesday for an interview and talked about the team’s draft. Francesa praised Reese for the Beckham pick and asked him to elaborate on the team’s first-round pick.

“We really liked [Beckham] and we had him ranked up there really high,” Reese said. “I can tell you this: we had him ranked inside our top 10 picks. We liked (Mike) Evans, we felt like (Sammy) Watkins would be gone, (Zack) Martin was there, he was a guy that we liked as well. But we took the best player on our board at the time, and it was Beckham. We thought he could be a game-changing type of player and he’s been that for us.”

The Cowboys ended up taking Martin a few picks later.

“We liked (Martin) as well. We had those guys ranked close together. We would have been happy taking him if he was the best player up there available, but anytime, I am speaking for myself, not just for our personnel department and our organization, anytime there is dynamic playmaker and a guard, I am taking the playmaker.”

Reese saying they felt like Watkins would be gone seems to indicate they preferred the Clemson product, who was drafted fourth overall by the Bills. Francesa later followed up on that point and Reese said they had Watkins ranked higher.

“We did not have Beckham ahead of (Sammy) Watkins,” Reese admitted.

Well, at least Reese isn’t that much of a genius. Still, we give him and his staff plenty of credit for taking Beckham when they had so many other players to choose from.

From Beckham to Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, Reese sure knows how to scout his wide receivers.