Number 58 and the New York Giants Player Who Wore It Best

Only three players in Giatns frnachise history wore No. 58 but were not linebackers.

New York Giants linebacker Carl Banks | RVR Photos-Imagn Images

We’re now 58 days away from the New York Giants’ opening kickoff against the Washington Commanders. To count down the days until then, we look at the best players to wear the corresponding number for the Giants.

Who Wore No. 58 in at Least One Regular Season Game*

LB Mike Ciccolella (1966-68), LB Jim Files (1970-73), LB Jimmy Gunn (1975), LB John Tate (1976), C/G Keith Eck (1979), LB Mike Whittington (1980-83), C/G Jim Clack (1981), LB Carl Banks (1984-92), LB Pete Shufelt (1994), LB Doug Colman (1996-98), LB Micheal Barrow (2000-03), LB Reggie Torbor (2004), LB Antonio Pierce (2005-09), LB Gerris Wilkinson (2010), LB Mark Herzlich (2011-14), DE Owamagbe Odighizuwa (2015-16), LB Tae Davis (2018-19), LS Casey Kreiter (2020-22), LB Elerson Smith (2021), LB Bobby Okereke (2023-25)

*Jersey numbers per Pro Football Reference.

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Which Giants Player Wore It Best?

Jan 25, 1987; Pasadena, CA, USA; New York Giants defensive tackle Jim Burt (64), linebackers Carl Banks (58), and Lawrence Taylor (56) tackle a Denver Broncos player during Super Bowl XXI at the Rose Bowl. The Giants won 39-20. | Dick Raphael-Imagn Images

With all due respect to Antonio Pierce, who would be a close second in our pick for the Giant who wore No. 58 best, we have to go with another linebacker who played a generation prior.

Linebacker Carl Banks, the Giants’ first-round pick in 1984, might have been the team’s best linebacker of the 1980s had the New Orleans Saints not selected running back George Rogers over Lawrence Taylor in the 1981 draft.

Banks, it can be argued, was a very close second to Taylor in terms of impact made on the Giants defense. Banks was the third overall pick in the 1984 draft out of Michigan State University and developed into one of the premier run-stoppers of his era. 

Named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team in 1984, Banks contributed to the Giants’ first two Super Bowl championships in 1986 and 1990. In Super Bowl XXI, he finished with a team-leading 14 tackles, 10 of which were solo, four tackles for loss, and one pass breakup in what was arguably an MVP-level performance. 

One of the biggest plays made by Banks in that game came in the second quarter, on Denver’s first possession. 

On that drive, Denver made it down to the Giants’ 2-yard line and was threatening to increase their 10-7 lead over the Giants. But on 3rd-and-2, Banks made a huge stop on Broncos running back Sammy Winder, who lost four yards on the play.

That play was later named No. 38 on the NFL’s Top 50 Clutch Super Bowl Plays. As a postscript, Banks’s stop of Winder set up a 23-yard field goal attempt by kicker Rich Karlis that sailed wide right.

Banks’s most productive season for the Giants–and again he had many–came in 1987, a year in which he posted 101 tackles and 9.0 sacks. That season, he earned a Pro Bowl berth and was also named a first-team All-Pro. 

Banks spent nine of his 12-year career with the Giants before moving on to spend two years with Washington and one with Cleveland, the latter in 1995, where he was reunited with former Giants defensive coordinator Bill Belichick, who was in his final season as the Browns' head coach. 

Banks, who was named No. 17 on the Giants’ Top 100 Players in franchise history and who is a member of the Team’s Ring of Honor, posted consecutive seasons with 100+ tackles as a Giant (1986 and 1987). He finished his career with 860 tackles, 39.5 sacks, 

Who’s Wearing It Now?

New York Giants LB Bobby Okereke | Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

Linebacker Bobby Okereke has been wearing No. 58 since signing with the Giants as a free agent in 2023. Okereke, like Banks, has been an impact player on defense. In his first season in Blue, Okereke recorded a team-leading 149 tackles, just two shy of tying his career best set the year prior. That tackle total marked the third straight season Okereke topped the century mark.

He came close to making it four straight years last season, finishing with 93 tackles in a year in which he was forced to miss the last five games of the season due to a disc issue in his back. 

Although Okereke started shaky in the new defensive scheme brought over by new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, Okereke, whose tackles generally came within the box, did manage to record double-digit tackles in two of what would be his final five games last season.   

Okereke is looking to return strong from his injury, as he gets ready to lead the Giants' defense for a third season.