New York Giants: Top 10 First Round Draft Picks of All-Time

By Mike Luca | Mar 25, 2016

Dec 14, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning (10) greets New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham (13) after Beckham /

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5. Phil Simms, QB (1979, #7)

Eli Manning considerably stifles much of Simms’ franchise passing records, less notably in career sack rate (4.7 percent to 9.3) and somewhat surprisingly in interception ratio (1.48 to 1.27). Eli’s numbers naturally come from living in an pass-heavy era but Manning managed them in three fewer seasons than Simms.

PASSING YARDS:
1984 – 4044 (3rd in NFL)
1985 – 3829 (4th in NFL)
1986 – 3487 (8th in NFL)
1988 – 3359 (7th in NFL)
Career – 33462 (29th in NFL)

Simms still owns the superior winning percentage (0.600 in the regular season and postseason combined versus Manning’s 0.541) and quite possibly the crispest Super Bowl ever played by a quarterback with 22-of-25 completions.

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PASSING TOUCHDOWNS:
1984 – 22 (8th in NFL)
1985 – 22 (7th in NFL)
1986 – 21 (7th in NFL)
1987 – 17 (10th in NFL)
1988 – 21 (5th in NFL)
1993 – 15 (10th in NFL)
Career – 199 (41st in NFL)

Then again, while Simms did pioneer New York’s return to postseason glory for Super Bowl XXV, a broken foot allowed Jeff Hostetler to secure Simms’ second ring. Hostetler’s moderately primetime performance aside (20-of-32, 222 YDS, 1 TD, 0 INT), it shed light on the quarterback’s supporting talent being equally as accountable as Simms’ greatness (plus there’s this Scott Norwood gentleman).

PASSER RATING:
1987 – 90.0 (3rd in NFL)
1988 – 82.1 (9th in NFL)
1989 – 77.6 (10th in NFL)
1990 – 92.7 (4th in NFL)
1993 – 88.3 (4th in NFL)
Career – 78.5 (76th in NFL)

Through an NFL lens, Simms is elite within his chapter of the league’s epic tome and is a vital reason Giants fans have a noteworthy history to speak of within the Super Bowl era. He just falls a tier or two short because of some truly once-in-a-lifetime characters.

Next: THIS SPARTAN PLAYED HIS PART

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