New York Giants: Top 10 Defensive Linemen Of All Time

Aug 3, 2014; Canton, OH, USA; Michael Strahan (right) shakes hands with New York Giants cornerback Walter Thurmond III (24) before the 2014 Hall of Fame game against the Buffalo Bills at Fawcett Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

A cornerstone of one of the NFL’s oldest franchises—the New York Giants’ defensive line. From 1925 to today, countless greats have worn Giant blue, many of them lineup up along the front four.

I compiled a list of the top ten defensive linemen to ever wear don a Giant uniform, and it was a pretty difficult list to put together. Part of it was the research—there are a lot of greats I needed to read up on and compare to some of the more recent Giant stars.

But then there’s also considering the way the game’s changed over years. Sacks didn’t become an official stat until 1982, and even more important, today’s NFL throws a lot more than the NFL in the 1950s. For example, Y.A. Tittle—arguably the best Giants QB not named Manning—attempted 367 passes in 1963. That’s a single-season career-high. Eli Manning has 235 attempts through six games this year. And Manning’s career single-season-high? 601 in 2014. That’s a huge difference.

Why is this important? Well, nowadays, defensive ends—and tackles for that matter—are very much evaluated by how they produce as pass rushers, and there are many defensive linemen who are pass-rushing specialists, a Jason Babin-type. In the days where Andy Robustelli played, linemen were evaluated on their run-stopping prowess and how they mauled their way to defend the edge and keep running backs from breaking for big gains. It’s just a different game and that has to be considered.

So, I considered them, and I’ve made a top ten list of Giants’ defensive linemen, which I share with you here:

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