The 10 most important players on the New York Giants
1. WR Odell Beckham Jr. (48 points)
2. LT Ereck Flowers (38)
3. DE Jason Pierre-Paul (35)
4. S Landon Collins (30)
5. CB Janoris Jenkins (19)
6. DE Olivier Vernon (18)
7. DT Damon Harrison (17)
8. RB Paul Perkins (16)
9. WR Brandon Marshall (12)
10. CB Eli Apple (8)
It would appear, at least based on our voting, that the only thing preventing Odell Beckham Jr. from unanimous top billing is the omnipresent question of whether or not Eli Manning will have enough time to throw. Beckham ranked No. 1 on three of five ballots (Kaplan, Single, Vrentas); on the other two he landed second, behind only Flowers.
The only outlier in the Flowers debate came from Kaplan’s ballot, which skipped over the Giants’ presumed starting left tackle. There was very little love for the Giants’ O-line beyond Flowers—Weston Richburg and Bobby Hart ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, on the Vrentas ballot, but neither scored enough to make it into the top 10.
Vetting the Voters: Eric Single defends his third-place vote for Damon Harrison— Harrison isn’t the first or second name that gets mentioned from the Giants’ 2016 free agency shopping spree, but he became an integral part of Steve Spagnuolo’s defense faster than any of the other splashy signings. All the hulking nose tackle did in the first season of his five-year, $46.5 million deal was defend his title as Pro Football Focus’s top run-stuffer and vault the New York run defense from the bottom third of the league in yards per carry to the top two. For me, his steady play is the cornerstone of that unit, freeing up the Giants’ playmakers at every level to maximize their opportunities.
Other Giants receiving votes: C Weston Richburg, TE Evan Engram, LB Jonathan Casillas, RT Bobby Hart (six points); G Justin Pugh, DT Dalvin Tomlinson (four); WR Sterling Shepard (two).
