Is Giants rookie Elerson Smith a Jason Taylor clone?

The New York Giants took a huge gamble on Northern Iowa linebacker/edge rusher Emerson Smith when they selected him in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL draft.

The 6-foot-7, 255-pound Smith was a dark horse in the draft due to his lack of reps at the college level. That didn’t scare off the Giants, who saw a load of potential in Smith, who many have given solid grades on.

This is some stunning analysis by Ourlads scout David Syvertsen who, full disclosure, also serves as the draft expert at The Giant Insider, where I also contribute. He called Smith a Jason Taylor clone, which is extremely high praise.

For those who may have forgotten, Taylor is a Hall of Famer and six-time Pro Bowler whose frame (6-foot-6, 245 pounds) was similar to that of Smith’s.

Smith has the length and the pass rush gene that teams crave, and the athleticism to become a solid DE/OLB. The comment that Smith has a higher upside than the Giants’ second-round steal, Azeez Ojulari of Georgia, who many experts see as a potential NFL Pro Bowler, is eye-opening.

Smith is seen as a bit of a project whose traits fit that of a 4-3 defensive end more than a 3-4 down lineman. At 6-foot-7, he doesn’t quite fit as a three-down outside linebacker, either.

Smith entered college at just 215 pounds and played very little football in his time at UNI. He redshirted his freshman year and then didn’t play any games the next season as a redshirt freshman. As a redshirt sophomore, Smith made only 19 tackles but 10.5 of those tackles went for a loss and 7.5 of them were sacks.

In his junior campaign, Smith recorded 63 total tackles with 14 sacks, 21.5 tackles for loss and five forced fumbles. He was named first team All-MVFC and also earned first team FCS All-American honors.

“I think there’s a lot of potential,” said Giants director of college scouting Chris Pettit. “The biggest thing with the smaller school guys, we always start at step one, do they dominate that level. They have to dominate that level of competition to get in the conversation.

“And the great thing about Elerson that, again, reference the Senior Bowl again, but we got to see him on the same playing field with guys from Power Five schools and the higher levels and he fit right in. He competed his butt off and looked the part. You got to compare apples-to-apples there. That was a great venue for us. There were times when he had to play a Division I team. He played Iowa State this year, played over 90 plays in that game and competed to the last whistle and it was really impressive to see. But I think there’s big upside there.”

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