Ranking the Most Underrated New York Giants Defensive Acquisitions Since 2000
The NFL draft has two parts: the draft itself and the post-draft scramble to sign free agents. And in terms of underrated players plucked for the defensive side of the ball, the Giants have done pretty well in that area over the last 20 years.
Two weeks ago, I looked at the players acquired on the offensive side of the ball. This week, it's the defense's turn.
No. 7. ILB Mark Herzlich (Undrafted, 2011)
Mark Herzlich had a lot going for him while at Boston College, including some early talk of him being the next NFL impact linebacker. But an unexpected diagnosis of Ewing's sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer, changed all that and forced the rising defender to undergo surgery, chemo, and radiation to save his life.
Herzlich's college career was cut short, and there was no hearing his name called at the NFL draft, but that didn't matter as his comeback story was one of the most inspiring ever authored by a professional athlete. Given a clean bill of health, he worked himself back in playing shape and was signed by the Giants as an undrafted free agent.
Herzlich, a champion off the field who worked tirelessly to promote different causes and bring awareness to social issues, worked himself into a core special teamer and was a player whose contributions helped the 2011 Giants win a Super Bowl. He retired from the game in 2017 after posting 173 career tackles.
No. 6. DT Dalvin Tomlinson (Round 2, 2017)
For years the Giants have known that you can rarely go wrong with picking a player from Nick Saban's program at the University of Alabama, and defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson was certainly no exception.
Drafted in the second round (No. 55 overall)--for reference, Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was plucked seven spots later--Tomlinson wasn't a flashy player who you noticed, but that was more or less by design.
He gave the Giants four seasons a tough, old-school style of football, particularly in run support where he seemed to effortlessly create congestion along the interior lanes.
Voted a team captain last year, Tomlinson, who has never missed an NFL start, was also a champion in the community and a well-respected member of the team. Unfortunately, the Giants weren't able to retain him when he hit free agency, and he will now continue his solid NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings.
No. 5. DT Barry Cofield (Round 4, 2006)
This Northwestern linebacker was a fourth-round selection and earned a starting spot on the Giants’ defensive line right away.
Cofield played five seasons in New York, including their 2007 championship season, before signing with Washington in 2010. Before then, he pretty much started the trend of tough, hard-nosed play by the young interior defensive linemen drafted by the team.
Cofield, 6'4", 303 pounds, was a lot more than just a run-stuffer. He also had some pass-rush ability as he was so quick off the snap that often he caught opposing offensive linemen out of position when they tried to block him.
Cofield finished his NFL career with an impressive 310 tackles, 19.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and 26 pass breakups--not bad for a guy many thought would be just a two-down run stuffer.
No 4. LB Chase Blackburn (Undrafted 2005)
Chase Blackburn's name needs to be among the chapters if you're writing a book about the greatest undrafted free agents of all time.
Blackburn, a versatile linebacker who could play inside or outside, went undrafted out of Akron, Ohio, and was one of those players who, when his name showed up on the Giants training camp roster in 2005, people were asking, "Who's that?"
It didn't take too long for Blackburn to answer. An intellectually gifted player with a high football IQ, Blackburn made most of his NFL living as a core special teams player, a role for which he even was voted a team captain.
But Blackburn's biggest career moment came not on special teams as it did on defense during the 2011 Super Bowl championship season. In the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVI, with New England leading by two points, Blackburn intercepted a deep throw by Tom Brady that, had it been caught, might very well have changed the outcome of the game.
Instead, the Giants got new life and were able to engineer their second Super Bowl victory over Brady and the Patriots in a game many people thought the Giants had no business winning.
Not bad, considering Blackburn, who today is the special teams coordinator for the Carolina Panthers, had been sitting on his couch for most of the 2011 season after failing to find a new team in free agency.
That he was able to step in when called back and play as though he never left was a testament to his football IQ and attention to detail.
No 3. S James Butler (Undrafted 2005)
Butler went undrafted out of Georgia Tech in 2005. Within two years, he was a starter on the 2007 Giants defense, which crushed the Patriots for its first of two Super Bowls in the Tom Coughlin-Eli Manning era.
Butler, who was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2014, quickly earned a reputation for being a smart and savvy defensive back whom then defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo appointed as the "quarterback" of the defensive backfield.
In Super Bowl XLII, butler finished with a team-leading 11 defensive tackles against the Patriots.
Spagnuolo relied so heavily on Butler that it was little surprise that when he accepted the head coach position with the St. Louis Rams following the 2008 season, he brought Butler with him due to his knowledge of the defensive concepts and his leadership.
No. 2. DE Osi Umenyiora (Round 2, 2003)
Besides having a knack for finding undrafted free agent gems, the Giants also have a knack for finding small school prospects who blossom into big-time players.
Such was the case with defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who played his college ball at Troy University but whose quick first step and raw talent intrigued the Giants enough to select him in the second round.
Umenyiora, who accumulated 75 sacks in his Giants career (fourth-most in franchise history behind only Michael Strahan, Lawrence Taylor, and Leonard Marshall), often credits Strahan for teaching him the ways of life in the NFL, which contributed to his success.
But as Umenyiora, a two-time Pro Bowler, and second-team All-Pro, gained confidence in what he was doing, he was standing on his own two feet in no time. He became a critical defensive contributor to the team's last two Super Bowl championships.
No. 1. DE Justin Tuck (Round 3, 2005)
Talk about the ultimate all-time steal of the draft--the Giants snagged Notre Dame defensive end Justin Tuck in the third-round.
Tuck came into East Rutherford with a chip on his shoulder after falling so far in the draft due to a nagging knee injury suffered in his junior season.
Determined to prove the critics wrong about his draft stock, Tuck adopted a "take no prisoners" attitude and soon made a case for more and more playing time.
Tuck, Umenyiora, Strahan, and youngster Mathias Kiwanuka gave the Giants one of their deepest pass-rushing groups in recent memory, a group that in later years would lose Strahan to retirement but see the addition of Jason Pierre-Paul for the team's second Super Bowl (XLVI) of the Coughlin-Manning era.
As for Tuck, he was a two-time Pro Bowl selection and a two-time Super Bowl champion. In 2008, the giants' first season after Strahan's retirement, Tuck took up the future Hall of Famer's mantle by recording a career-high 12 sacks as he continued to reward the Giants' faith in selecting him despite earlier injury concerns.
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