New York Giants Mailbag: The "Best and Worst" Edition

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(From Charlie H.) Hi Pat, what are your thoughts on Jaylon Smith? Although injured before being drafted by Dallas, he rose to the Pro Bowl just two years ago. He then had another injury, and his play declined a little, but I thought Dallas let him go because of the cap after drafting Parsons, not because of the level of play. He is a high character and a team player. He looked good last year with the Giants. So why is he now looked at as mediocre? Isn’t there a chance he returns to pro-bowl level?

Hi Charlie. I liked what I saw from Jaylon Smith last year. He was physical, did a nice job of filling holes, and played a solid downhill game that helped improve the run defense. I've often said if there was a way to merge the talents of Smith and Tae Crowder into one player, the Giants would have themselves the complete inside linebacker. That said, I'd love to see him back, but I suspect the Giants will move on from him.

(From Chris F.) Who are the worst Giants draft picks? Who do you think that the Giants will select with the 5th and 7th pick overall in the 2022 NFL Draft?

What's up, Chris? Thanks for your patience and for allowing me to come back to this question. Right now, I don't have a strong feeling about which way the Giants will go at 5 and 7 next month--would think an offensive tackle for sure, but I think as we get a little closer to the draft, I'll have a better feel for how I think it might play out.

Okay, best and worst Giants draft picks... I went back ten years in Giants draft history for this exercise (to 2012). I tried to avoid the obvious, e.g., naming a first-round pick as the best and a seventh-rounder as the worst. This is what I came up with...

2012: DT Markus Kuhn (best), RB David Wilson (worst). The Giants got a lot more out of Kuhn than I thought they would, so I'm giving him the nod. As for Wilson, I felt bad that he got hurt and his career ended prematurely, but I always felt that was a knee-jerk reaction after the Bucs drafted Doug Martin, a guy I truly believe the Giants were eying.

2013: DT Jonathan Hankins (best), QB Ryan Nassib (worst). Hankins was a solid run-stopper, and I hated that they couldn't keep him. The Giants traded up to get Nassib, who never played any significant snaps. I understood wanting to have a developmental quarterback on the roster, but I couldn't get past that they traded up to get one when they still had Eli Manning playing decently on the roster.

2014: WR Odell Beckham, Jr (best), DB Bennett Jackson (worst). Beckham probably needs no explanation (though in retrospect, I wish they had taken Aaron Donald, who went one pick later to the Rams, instead). Jackson had some injury issues and never really got on the field much for the Giants, but he found some success in his post-Giants career with other teams.

2015: S Landon Collins (best), OT Ereck Flowers (worst). Actually, it's a toss-up regarding the worst pick for this one. I'm going with Flowers because he was overdrafted, he came in with a surliness about him and was just a colossal bust for the Giants.

2016: WR Sterling Shepard (best), CB Eli Apple (worst). I nailed the Shepard pick as I thought he represented great value, and I remember falling in love with his film. Also, with Victor Cruz on his last legs at the time, Shepard filled a need, and he went on to become a solid core player for this team. I disliked the Apple pick--I had him as a second-round prospect. Again, I thought the Giants panicked in taking him after losing out on Leonard Floyd and Jack Conklin. I refuse to believe that there wasn't a huge drop-off in grades from Floyd and Conklin to Apple.

2017: DT Dalvin Tomlinson (best), QB Davis Webb (worst). Tomlinson turned into a pretty good player for them, and I hated to see him go (he was also super smart--arguably the smarted defensive lineman they had, IMO). While I liked Webb as a prospect (his football IQ is off the charts), I would have preferred it if they hadn't taken him in the third round, as I think that you need your picks from rounds one through three to contribute in some way during their rookie year--and not necessarily behind the scenes as Webb did.

2018: OLB Lorenzo Carter (best), RB Saquon Barkey (worst). Let me make something clear. I love Barkley as a player. He's dynamic, he's got talent, and he can do things that not many of his peers can do (when he's healthy, that is). That said, while I understood why they went with a running back at that time--they were trying to take some of the onus off Eli Manning, I felt they should have traded down or went offensive line with their first pick, as a better offensive line would have helped Manning a lot more than a running back.

2019: DL Dexter Lawrence II (best), CB DeAndre Baker (worst). If it's not obvious by now, I appreciate the big guys on defense who can muck up the running lanes. As for the worst pick, this was a toss-up, but I'm going with Baker for the simple reason--and I know this is hindsight--that they traded up to get him thinking that if they put him in that locker room, the veterans would help hi work out any work-ethic issues he had. That he didn't work out set this team back and is a big reason (along with Eli Apple not working out) why they had to take fliers on James Bradberry and Adoree' Jackson.

2020: OT Andrew Thomas and S Xavier McKinney (best), OT Matt Peart (worst). I could have flipped a coin to pick one of Thomas or McKinney, but I like both and think they will be core pieces to this new foundation for years to come. Peart, I thought, was raw coming out of UConn, and while there were glimpses of his talent and what he could be, he never was able to take that step. He dealt with a back injury last year, which cut into his training, but even when he got healthy, I thought it spoke volumes that he couldn't unseat Nate Solder for that starting right tackle job.

2021: OLB Azeez Ojulari (best), WR Kadarius Toney (worst). I'm probably going to catch flack for picking Toney for "worst" (and let's be real here, folks--the last three draft classes are still trying to lay down roots, so it's kind of unfair to make a definitive judgment on them). That said, I think I had a second-round grade on Toney, and I wanted an offensive line or edge rusher at No. 11. I'm glad the Giants got the extra draft pick in the first round due to their trade down, but I need to see a lot more from Toney. Hopefully, if he stays healthy, he'll show it.

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