New York Giants: Who Really Should Take The Fall For Drafting?

The New York Giants are about to end their second consecutive losing season after winning it all in 2011. New York has not gotten to root for its beloved Big Blue in the playoffs for three straight seasons. The rapid decline of the team is largely due to a lack of talent at key positions. Tom Coughlin will likely take the fall for the failures of the GMEN, though there may be another man responsible for all this. General manager Jerry Reese is that man.

The Giants have not drafted well in the past few years. Jerry Reese‘s highlights do include Jason Pierre-Paul and Odell Beckham Jr over that time slot. This is what he has done well, as I break down the Giants draft history, we will see what he has not done well. The Giants have a handful of position groups that are terrible including the offensive line, the linebackers, and most of the secondary.

The best teams don’t have to rebuild, rather they continually build their team bit by bit each year in the draft. These teams develop their young players and put them in the starting lineup as soon as they are ready. When so many pieces of your team are failing at once, you have been failing in the draft the whole time.

Sep 8, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; New York Giants defensive end

(90) against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

In 2010 the Giants drafted Pierre-Paul with the 15th overall selection. This was a good selection as he was integral in the 2011 Super Bowl run and has had 36.5 sacks in his career. In round 2 the Giants selected a decent defensive lineman in Linval Joseph.

There were better players available including Daryl Washington, and Sean Lee who went on to be Pro Bowl linebackers. In the third round the Giants chose Chad Jones who ended up playing in 0 games with the Giants.

The Giants could have taken Donald Butler (LB), Eric Decker (WR) or Emmanuel Sanders (WR) all of whom became starters.

In 2011 the Giants spent their first pick on Prince Amukamara, a cornerback from Nebraska. Injuries have prevented this draft selection from being a star. In the second round the Giants drafted Marvin Austin who is now a member of the Denver Broncos and only has 20 tackles in his career.

Stephen Paea was drafted the pick after Austin at the same position by the Chicago Bears. Paea has 78 career tackles and 10 sacks in his career. The most productive pick was Jerrel Jernigan an under achiever receiver from LSU. Torrey Smith and DeMarco Murray were still on the board when the Giants drafted Marvin Austin… is that not an epic fail?

You can’t completely blame the coaching staff, when the general manager has passed up on much more talented players than the ones he actually drafted.

In 2012 the Giants made a good draft selection in David Wilson; though injuries have already brought his career to a tragic end. Rueben Randle is the only other decent player from this draft for the Giants and its not like Randle is a star.

In 2013 the Giants actually drafted decently. Justin Pugh is still developing as an offensive lineman and has shown promise. Johnathan Hankins and Damontre Moore are sturdy on the defensive line. The Giants also drafted a backup quarterback in Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib.

It’s impossible to knock the Giants for drafting Beckham though the team had much more pressing needs. Zack Martin would have helped the offensive line. C.J. Mosley would have helped the linebacker group and Kyle Fuller would have been great for the secondary. The 2014 NFL Draft was actually quite solid however if we are being fair.

Over the past 5 years the Giants have not drafted well. The Giants may need to move on from Coughlin just to get a fresh start and a new direction. This being said it is absolutely unfair to criticize the coaching staff without mentioning the amount of talent they had to work with.

Hopefully in the 2015 NFL Draft, the Giants get it right and make decisions that actually make much more sense for the benefit of the team.