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.