NY Giants Football: All-Decade team – Tackle
By Matt Clark
2. David Diehl
David Diehl was an excellent tackle during his prime. Unfortunately, at the start of this decade, he was reaching the end of his playing career and he would only start at tackle in 2010 and 2012 for the NY Giants.
Diehl was an absolute steal by Ernie Accorsi in the fifth round of the 2003 draft. The 6’5″, 304-pound lineman out of the University of Illinois would go on to have an extremely accomplished career with the Giants that would include being a two-time Super Bowl champion, a Pro Bowler in 2009 and named a second-team All-Pro in 2008.
He would start every game of his NFL career from his 2003 rookie season through 2010 when he was forced to miss time due to a torn hamstring and partially dislocated his hip. Diehl would serve as an example of durability and versatility for the Giants for the first seven years of his career.
During his career, he would never start less than nine games in a season, starting all 16 games in eight of his 11 seasons. As a result, when Diehl retired from the Giants, he was tied for 12th all-time in games played in Giants franchise history.
In all, Diehl would start 96 games at tackle and 69 games at guard, proving to be a valuable asset to head coach Tom Coughlin and the Giants. He would move to the right tackle position following the release of Rich Seubert and Shaun O’Hara and would play admirably.
He would play left tackle in 2010 and 2011 and right tackle in 2012. He would start 12 games in 2010, 16 games in 2011 and nine games in 2012. He would move to right guard in 2013 before suffering a thumb injury that would force him to retire in 2014.
David Diehl is undoubtedly one of the best players to play on the Giants offensive line in franchise history. His versatility and durability at multiple positions made him an extremely valuable asset. If it weren’t for the fact that Diehl was at the back end of his career, where he was dealing with multiple injuries, he would likely be higher on this list.