Throughout the illustrious history of the NY Giants organization, there are many players that didn’t get to enjoy winning a Super Bowl with the team; here are the top five.
The NY Giants are certainly looked at as one of the blue blood (no pun intended) franchises of the NFL. Over time, they’ve amassed numerous ‘NFL Championships’ (pre-Super Bowl era) and four official Lombardi Super Bowl trophies.
The team has done a good job of staggering those Super Bowl wins to let fans of two different generations enjoy multiple Super Bowls, as Big Blue won paired Super Bowls in 1986/1990 and in the 2007/2011.
For the purposes of this article, we’re going to focus only on official Super Bowl wins, with the official Super Bowl era starting in 1967.
It’s not likely we’d be leaving many off this list if we used that whole time frame too, either, as the NY Giants famously struggled through the ‘wilderness years’ of the ’70s, not making a single playoff appearance from 1963 all the way until 1981.
Since then, the NY Giants have put together a high level of success, enjoying a consistent level of playoff appearances while winning the aforementioned four Super Bowls – up until the rut we’re now currently stuck in, that is.
However, during that time, many truly great players never won a Super Bowl with Big Blue, even while some played their entire careers with the team during the golden eras.
For fans that allegiances to the Giants span decades, I apologize if I left anyone out in the lean years of a long time ago, as I was born in the early ’90s and did my best to scour the record books.
In no particular order, here are the top five NY Giants to never win a Super Bowl with the team.
1. RB Tiki Barber
Although you’d never know it now, Tiki Barber was once a beloved member of the NY Giants. Drafted in the second round of the 1997 draft out of Virginia, he was expected to be little more than a decent back, or maybe even a rotational guy — he turned out to be much, much more.
After putting up moderate results during the early portions of his career, Tiki began to explode later in his career as he made three straight All-Pro teams between 2004-2006, which just so happened to be the last three years of his career.
Fans and analysts were shocked at the time, but as Tiki explained at the time (something he’d change his tune on later) in October of the 2006 season, “His body just couldn’t take it anymore” at age 31.
NY Giants fans were split down the middle on the issue; some supported the decision because they loved Tiki so much, while some thought he was selling his team short by giving up prime years when the team was loaded with potential.
Here’s where things get interesting.
After constantly mentioning during his career that winning a Super Bowl was his main goal, the NY Giants just so happened to make it to the Super Bowl the following year after he retired – something that shocked many who thought they wouldn’t stand a chance without him.
Instead of sitting on the side and rooting his franchise on, Tiki took a bitter approach and chose to blast quarterback Eli Manning just about the first chance he got when the next NFL season started.
Most NY Giants fans had forgiven him for stating that Tom Coughlin was “outcoached” by Andy Reid in the team’s 2005 playoff loss to the Eagles, but criticizing the easy-going team leader, Eli Manning, was too much for his teammates to bare.
It became a rallying cry for the team during their Super Bowl run, as Tiki had said Eli “wasn’t a leader”, “held the team back”, and that he “likely would have had a Super Bowl with a different QB.”
Tiki doubled-down on those remarks during Super Bowl week, only firing up the team more. So, as the old saying goes, sometimes ‘addition by subtraction’ actually is a real thing.
Tiki did end up playing in one Super Bowl with Big Blue, but unfortunately, the team came out on the wrong end of a brutal loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
So even though Barber owns an abundance of NY Giants team records including most career rushing yards, most rushing yards in a season, most yards from scrimmage in a season and most career yards from scrimmage, he won’t be remembered as fondly due to his off the field antics.
Too bad for Tiki, but he brought being on this list – and being hated by many NY Giants fans – all on himself.
2. LB Jessie Armstead
A truly beloved member of the NY Giants, Jessie Armstead was just more unlucky than anything to not win a super bowl with Big Blue.
Drafted in the 8th round of the 1993 draft, Armstead came in when expectations were high for the team coming off two recent Super Bowls. However, the team fizzled off a bit in the ’90s, and Armstead failed to win a Lombardi with the Giants before his exit in 2001 after an amazing nine-year career with the team.
A true rags-to-riches story, no one was anticipating that the former Miami Hurricane would do the types of things he did in the NFL as an 8th round pick. Yet, Armstead was a force at the linebacker position for the NY Giants, racking up 31.5 sacks, 12 picks, and two touchdowns during his time with Big Blue.
He was a true do-it-all linebacker that gave it his all every snap and was a total fan favorite. He did at least get to play in one Super Bowl, although again, it was a very one-sided loss against the historically great 2000 Baltimore Ravens.
During his time with the NY Giants, Armstead made five Pro Bowls and four All-Pro teams, showing just how lethal of a player he was.
Of all the great NY Giants to never win a Super Bowl with the team, this one is right up there at the top as the hardest to swallow.
3. WR Odell Beckham
Well, if the mention of Tiki Barber hasn’t already gotten your blood boiling, maybe Odell Beckham’s name will. However, I feel it’s totally unfair to hate Odell or diminish what he did with the team, as he did many spectacular things with the NY Giants and always left it all of the field and had a burning desire to win.
Were there stupid little drama issues such as kicking nets and fighting with other (teams’) players? Sure. But he was a model teammate and by all accounts was loved in the locker room, right up until he gave that ill-fated interview with Josina Anderon and Lil’ Wayne; even then, many teammates still supported him.
Some may criticize his place on this list due to the fact he only played five seasons with the NY Giants – one of them mired by injury – but those five years were so fantastic that his spot here is well deserved.
Odell’s explosion onto the New York scene after being drafted in the first round of the 2014 draft was something few saw coming, but man, it was beautiful; he truly took New York City by storm. Beckham was a highly-touted prospect to be sure, but no one predicted the likes of which he’d terrorize opposing defenses.
Odell set just about every NFL receiving record you could set in the first three years of a career, including receptions, yards, and touchdowns. He was a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro during his time with the NY Giants.
Injuries were a problem, as Odell only played in 59 of a possible 80 games with the NY Giants, but again, those 59 games were spectacular.
Beckham won the NFL Rookie of the Year Award despite missing the first four games of the season, putting up a ridiculous 91-1305-12 (receptions, yards, TD’s) in just 12 games.
He continues that success when he wasn’t injured, piling up 390 receptions for 5,467 yards and a mind-numbing 44 touchdowns in those 59 games.
So while the perceived ‘drama’ Odell brought to the table aggravated many fans, he brought excitement to an era of NY Giants football that was otherwise pretty blah.
I may be in the minority, but it upsets me that he’ll be more remembered for one infamous boat picture and a foolish (on his part) interview rather than all the heart he played with and staggering numbers he put up.
NY Giants fans will get their chance to show their appreciation, or hate when he comes back to Metlife to take on Big Blue in Week 15 of this season.
4. LB Brad Van Pelt
Linebacker Brad Van Pelt is another esteemed member of the NY Giants organization that you really just have to feel for not winning the big one. Drafted during the ‘wilderness years’ in the ’70s when the team was an unmitigated disaster, Van Pelt did all he could to help Big Blue win football games – he was just on horrific teams.
At least he is recognized as a famed member of the ‘crunch bunch’ along with linebackers Brian Kelly, Harry Carson, and Lawrence Taylor, but Carl Banks ended up being drafted right after Van Pelt left the NY Giants and took up his spot in the group.
Unfortunately, that’s just when the NY Giants began their ascension into NFL glory. Widely recognized as a team leader, Van Pelt made five Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team during his time with Big Blue and was one of the hardest working members of the team.
Over 11 years with Big Blue, he put up 20.5 sacks (unofficially), 18 interceptions, and 13 fumble recoveries, showing he was all over the place making plays.
Van Pelt bounced around the league until 1986 with the Raiders and Browns before retiring, but how nice would it have been if he played out his whole career with Big Blue and went out on top with a Super Bowl?
For his efforts, Van Pelt was inducted into the NY Giants Ring of Honor, very deservingly so.
5. QB Fran Tarkenton
Much like Odell Beckham, Fran Tarkenton only played with the NY Giants for a short while. Yet, what he did in such a dull era of Big Blue football definitely deserves him being on this list.
Not only is Tarkenton one of the best NY Giants to never win a Super Bowl, but he’s also widely regarded as one of the best NFL players ever to never win the big dance, as he never was able to during his 13 years in Minnesota, either.
Tarkenton originally came to the NY Giants in a trade that many questioned around the league due to his immense talent, but rumor had it the Vikings didn’t like his wild, out of control style and didn’t think it could lead to a Super Bowl win as it was so unconventional at the time; in the end, they were right – technically speaking – but it wasn’t because of his play, but rather that he was stuck on a ton of bad football teams.
Tarkenton came over to Big Blue in that trade in 1967 and promptly made three straight Pro Bowls, bringing excitement back into the franchise. In his best season – 1970 – he put up 2,777 passing yards on a 56% completion rate, to go along with 19 passing touchdowns against 12 interceptions — just unheard of numbers in that era.
Oh, he also chipped in 236 rushing yards and two more TD’s on the ground in an era where almost no QB’s were running. In fact, Tarkenton put up 1,126 rushing yards and 10 rushing TD’s in his four years with the NY Giants which were just silly numbers for a QB back then.
The NY Giants put together a 33-36 record during Tarkenton’s four years with the team, which may seem mediocre, but compared to what had been going on and what was to come, that was the best football NY Giants fans would see for quite some time.
That was especially true his fabled 1970 season when the team got off to an 0-3 start before rattling off 9/10, wins all on the back of Tarkenton, before coming up just short of winning the NFC East in Week 14 against the Rams.
The Vikings obviously realized the mistake they made letting Tarkenton go and traded back for him in 1972, which was a mistake for the NY Giants who would fall back deep into NFL irrelevancy. Tarkenton still never reached his ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl with the much better Vikings teams of the mid-’70s, but he’s an NFL legend nonetheless.
Who knows what would have happened if the NY Giants held on to Tark’ instead of trading him back, we may have missed – or shortened – the wilderness years altogether.