Revealing Which Giants Made the NFL Top Draft Picks of All Time
Ever wonder what the ideal NFL draft would look like?
Veteran sportswriter Rick Gosselin did and researched the 259 greatest players ever drafted at each draft slot, an impressive list that dates back to 1942.
The great Lawrence Taylor is on the list as being the best-ever second overall pick chosen in the NFL draft. Who else from the Giants made the list? Let's find out.
No. 30. MLB Sam Huff, 1956. In his time, there was none better. The Giants built their defense around this Hall of Famer for the better part of his career (1956-1963).
Huff was traded in 1964 to Washington, a move that stunned and angered him and which was one he reportedly never forgave then-head coach Allie Sherman for initiating.
Huff, who at one point contemplated retiring after being traded, finished his career with Washington, playing for them during the 1964-1967 seasons and, after a hiatus in 1968, returning in 1969.
No. 100. TE Mark Bavaro, 1985. When talking about the franchise's top tight ends of all time, the soft-spoken Bavaro, who played the game with a vengeance, is right up there among the top.
The former Notre Dame standout was the very definition of an old school tight end who could block like a human brick wall and was dangerous with the ball in his hands.
A two-time Pro Bowler who was with the Giants for Super Bowls XXI and XXV, Bavaro's career was affected due to a degenerative knee condition that reportedly resulted from a torn ligament he suffered in his left knee during the 1989 season.
The Giants cut Bavaro in July 1991, a move that didn't sit well with team president Wellington Mara, who had been hospitalized at the time and who hadn't been in touch with general manager George Young regarding the affairs of the team during his hospitalization. Mara approved a one-year deal worth $310,000 for the tight end to remain with the team, and Bavaro was placed on the physically unable to perform list.
Bavaro played the 1992 season for the Cleveland Browns before finishing his career with the Philadelphia Eagles for the 1993-1994 seasons.
No. 105. ILB Harry Carson, 1976. Carson entered the NFL as a fourth-round draft pick who initially was a defensive lineman. Then Giants assistant coach Marty Schottenheimer saw in a young Carson the potential to move him to inside linebacker.
After spending extra time to help Carson make the conversion, the linebacker and Giants defensive captain rewarded Schottenheimer's faith in him with a Hall of Fame-worthy career that consisted of nine Pro Bowl berths and a Super Bowl championship in 1986.
No. 109. WR Don Maynard, 1957. Hall of Famer Don Maynard played just two seasons for the Giants. After a year in the CFL (1959), Maynard spent the bulk of his career with the Jets, with whom he won a Super Bowl III to cap the 1968 season.
No. 132. RB/KR Dave Meggett, 1989. Back in the day, Dave Meggett was a classic scatback player for the Giants who was also an electrifying return specialist.
Meggett, a fifth-round draft pick (No. 132 overall), was with the Giants from 1989-1994. He then went to New England from 1995-1997 to reunite with Bill Parcells when he was the head coach of the Patriots.
Meggett finished his NFL career with the Jets in 1998.
No. 184. DB Tom Landry, No. 1947. Long before the fedora-wearing Landry was patrolling the sidelines for the Dallas Cowboys as their first head coach in 1960 until 1988, Landry was a revered player-coach of the Giants defense.
Landry was drafted in 1947 by the Giants of the NFL and in 1948 by the New York Yankees of the All-America Football Conference. When the AAFC and Yankees folded, the Giants drafted Landry in a dispersal draft held for the former AAFC players. From 1954-1959, Landry's Giants defense was one of the top units in the sport.
Landry is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
No. 207. OLB Jessie Armstead, 1993. Armstead was the last of the eighth-round draft picks for the Giants, as in the 1994 calendar year, the league went from eight rounds to its current seven-round format. Armstead not only went on to become a defensive leader for the Giants, but he also earned five Pro Bowl berths and three All-Pro nods over his Giants career (1993-2001).
From 2002-2003, Armstead was a member of the Washington Football Team (where he played with future Giants defensive captain Antonio Pierce). Armstead signed with the Panthers in 2004 but didn't play any games for them.
No. 211. WR/ST David Tyree, 2003. A sixth-round draft choice whose only Pro Bowl berth came in 2005 (and was for his special teams play), Tyree is best known for the "helmet catch" made in Super Bowl XLII that helped the Giants upset the undefeated New England Patriots.
Honorable Mentions
There are a few players on Gosselin's list who, at some point in their respective careers made a stop with the Giants after being drafted by another team.
The first is quarterback Fran Tarkenton, the 29th overall pick in the 1961 draft by the Minnesota Vikings, also made the list. Tarkenton played for the Vikings through the 1966 season. He was traded to the Giants in 1967, for whom he played through the 1971 season.
As a member of the Giants, Tarkenton helped lead the 1970 team to its first winning season since 1963 when the club went 11-3 (New York would have just one more winning season, that in 1972 when they went 8-6) over the stretch known as the Wilderness Years.
Tarkenton was traded back to the Vikings following the 1971 season and finished his Hall of Fame career where he started.
Hall of Fame kicker Morten Anderson drafted 86th overall by the New Orleans Saints, spent the 2001 season with the Giants. Anderson is the NFL’s second all-time leading scorer with 2,544 points and is second in field goals (565).
Running back Herschel Walker, famously at the center of a historical trade between the Cowboys and Vikings in which Dallas received eight draft picks, was with the Giants for the 1995 season.
Fullback Alex Webster, who spent the 1955-1964 seasons with the Giants as a player and then served as a coach during the 1969-1973 campaigns, was initially drafted No. 123 overall in 1954 by Washington.
Quarterback Charlie Conerly also makes this list. While Conerly played his entire career with the Giants (1948-1961), he was drafted No. 127 overall by the Washington Football Team in 1945.
Return specialist Brian Mitchell, drafted No. 130 overall by Washington in 1990, spent the final year of his NFL career (2003) with the Giants. Mitchell, a member of Washington’s Super Bowl XXVI championship team, was voted to a Pro Bowl in 1995 and was voted as a first-team All-Pro that same season.
Defensive end Jack Gregory, who played for the Giants during the 1972-1978 seasons, was pick No. 139 overall in the 1966 draft, selected by the Cleveland Browns. Gregory was a two-time Pro Bowler who recorded
Running back Dorsey Levens was the 149th overall draft pick in 1994 by the Green Bay Packers. A Pro Bowler (1997) and Super Bowl champion (XXXI), Levens was with the Giants for the 2003 season, having sandwiched that stint around two stints with the Eagles (2002 and 2004) after his career with the Packers ended in 2001.
Return specialist Dwayne Harris was the 176th overall pick in 2011, drafted by Dallas. Harris joined the Giants as a free agent after the 2014 season and was with New York from 2015-2017, earning a Pro Bowl berth as a member of the Giants in 2016.
He was a salary-cap cut by the Giants, but he continued his career with the Oakland Raiders, Houston Texans, and, most recently, the Chicago Bears in 2020.
Defensive end Andy Robustelli, a Hall of Famer and seven-time Pro Bowler, was drafted No. 228 overall by the Los Angeles Rams in 1951. Robustelli was traded to the Giants in 1956, contributing to the team's championship season.
His last year as an active player was 1964. In 1973, Robustelli moved to the Giants front office, where, in 1973, he became the Director of Football Operations, a position he held until 1978.
Defensive back Otto Schnellbacher was the 231st overall pick in the 1947 draft by the Chicago Cardinals. The two-time Pro Bowler and 1951 interception leader finished his career with the Giants, playing in the 1950 and 1951 seasons.
Schnellbacher finished with 34 career interceptions, including two seasons (1948 with the New York Yankees and 1951 with the Giants) in which he recorded 11 picks.
Inside linebacker Carlton Bailey will best be known for his contributions to the Buffalo Bills, who picked him No. 235 overall in the 1983 draft.
Bailey also had a two-year stay with the Giants, in 1993 (when he recorded a career-high 136 tackles) and in 1994.
Defensive back Reyna Thompson, who famously contributed on the Giants' 1990 Super Bowl championship team (XXV), was pick No. 247 overall for the Miami Dolphins in 1986.
Better known for his special teams prowess, Thompson, who joined the Giants in 1989, played in New York through the 1992 season before finishing his career in 1993 with Bill Parcells in New England.
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