New York Giants: Their best players since 1970

Giants With Four Pro Bowl Appearances

Eli Manning, Chris Snee, Jeremy Shockey  and Dave Jennings.

Manning’s career is still ongoing but in his 15 years as the Giants’ quarterback he’s broken just about every franchise passing mark there is to break. His 232 games played are the most of any player at any position in Giants’ history. He is only one of five players to win multiple Super Bowl MVP awards (Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Bart Starr are the others). Eli is at the end of his string here with the Giants with many ushering him out the door after several disappointing seasons, but they’ll miss him when he’s gone.

Snee was initially thought to be a nepotism pick when they took him in the second round of the 2004 NFL Draft. They could not have been more wrong. So what he was Tom Coughlin’s son-in-law? That narrative was sent to the back burner once Snee took the field as he became one of the NFL’s top guards over the next decade, getting himself named to four Pro Bowls while anchoring the Giants’ record-setting offensive line that brought them two Super Bowl championships.

Say what you want about Shockey, but the tight end out of Miami was a handful for defenses to deal with when he first broke into the league in 2002 (just ask Philadelphia Eagles’ Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins). Shockey made first team All-Pro as a rookie and played in four Pro Bowls as a Giant. Unfortunately, his multi-million-dollar talent was attached to an immature psyche which led to Giants’ demise. Too bad, because he could have been Gronk before Gronk.

For those old enough to remember Jennings, he was to the NFC what Ray Guy, the Oakland Raiders’ Hall of Fame punter, was to the AFC. The Giants of the 1970s and early 1980s were all defense and no offense. There’s no stats but take it from this writer, the Giants – if they didn’t set records for three-and-outs during that period, they came pretty damned close. The fans would actually cheer when the Giants failed on third downs so that their best player – Jennings – could get a chance to get on the field. Sad, but true.