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John Mara wondered out loud this afternoon why it took three years for the Giants to find out wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan could play.

(Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)

EAST RUTHERFORD - Giants co-owner John Mara admitted this afternoon during his annual post-season news conference that the team has missed on several mid-round draft picks and wondered out loud why it took the organization three seasons to find out that Jerrel Jernigan could play.

But while he questioned the team’s draft process, he pledged his full support for general manager Jerry Reese and his college scouting department.

From 2008 to 2010, only one player drafted in the third-round or lower (Andre Brown) remains with the Giants.

Conversely, eight of Seattle's 11 defensive starters were third-round picks or later when Seattle played the Giants on Dec. 15 at MetLife Stadium.

Seattle (13-3) is the No. 1 seed in the NFC. The Giants, who lacked depth this season in large part because their mid-round picks have failed to develop, finished 7-9.

Jernigan, a third-round pick out of Troy, had emerged as the poster boy for the Giants’ collection of mid-round busts. Then, he got extensive playing time in the place of the injured Victor Cruz over the final three games and was impressive.

“I read some stories about how some of our draft picks haven’t panned out,” Mara said. “If you look at it and compare it to most other teams, I still think we have a system and as good a group of people here as anybody.

“But we have missed on some guys. We’ve had some bad luck with second- and third-round picks being hurt; a first-round pick in the person of Kenny Phillips (knee), who we thought would be a Pro Bowl safety for us for years. We have missed on some, no question about it.

“There are a few cases where we took a chance, knowing we were taking a chance, knowing if we hit on this guy maybe we would knock it out of the park and if we missed, we missed. And we missed entirely. That’s going to happen. There’s no question over the past few years we’ve missed on some of them for whatever reason.”

The Giants thought they had missed on Jernigan until he had 19 catches for 237 yards and two touchdowns and scored on a 49-yard end around over the final three games.

“I’m not sure why it took us three years to find out Jerrel Jernigan can play,” Mara said. “We finally put him in the game and he starts making plays. Sometimes you have to put young players in the game and give them a chance to fail or succeed. That’s true not only with him but other guys, too.”

Both Mara and Reese said that the team had personnel issues. They said the evaluation process on players has to improve.

Both, however, said they don’t plan on making any major changes in the scouting department. Questions about the scouting department clearly struck a nerve with the pair.

"We have really good personnel people in our building," Reese said. "We've drafted well enough to a couple Super Bowls but if we had drafted better, maybe we would have won four Super Bowls, who knows?"

Reese pointed to 2007 when he was running the draft and that draft class was hailed as one of the best in the team’s history. It included Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, Jay Alfred, Zak DeOssie, Kevin Boss and Ahmad Bradshaw.

“I think we have as good a group of scouts as any team in the league,” Mara said. “We’ve taken some calculated risk on players. But that’s not necessarily a function of the scouts. That’s as much on me as anybody else.”

Mara said he has complete confidence in Reese.

“I totally believe in him that he’s the right guy,” Mara said. “I’ve spent enough time around him to know that’s he’s the right guy. He’s not afraid to make tough decisions. He knows what the risks are.

“He’s a very competent guy. Nobody works harder than he does. I still trust his evaluation skills. Yes, I’m convinced he’s the right guy.”