NY Giants Draft: Why their Draft Position Shouldn’t Matter

NY Giants 2nd Round Picks Since 2004.

• 2004: OG Chris Snee, Boston College, #34 Overall

• 2005: CB Corey Webster, LSU, #43 Overall

• 2006: WR Sinorice Moss, Miami (FL), #44 Overall

• 2007: WR Steve Smith, USC, #51 Overall

• 2008: CB Terrell Thomas, USC, #63 Overall

• 2009: LB Clint Sintim, Virginia, #45 Overall

• 2010: DT Linval Joseph, East Carolina, #46 Overall

• 2011: DT Marvin Austin, UNC, #52 Overall

• 2012: WR Rueben Randle, LSU, #63 Overall

• 2013: DT Johnathan Hankins, OSU, #49 Overall

• 2014:  C Weston Richburg, Colorado State, #43 Overall

• 2015: SS Landon Collins, Alabama, #33 Overall

• 2016: WR Sterling Shepard, Oklahoma, #40 Overall

• 2017: DT Dalvin Tomlinson, Alabama, #55 Overall

• 2018: OG Will Hernandez, UTEP, #34 Overall

• 2020: DB Xavier McKinney, Alabama, #36 Overall

2nd Round Analysis:

The second round is often the “sweet spot” in many drafts. Most years, several 1st round, Day 1 talents slip into the second round and smart teams scoop them up. This has been the case for much of the NY Giants second-round pick history since 2004.

Starting with 2004, the Giants found an absolute gem in Chris Snee. Tom Coughlin dug into his old stomping grounds at BC and selected Snee with the 2nd pick of the 2nd round. Little did Coughlin know at the time the significance Chris would play in his life. Snee anchored the Giants’ line for 10 years and supplied him with 2 Super Bowls, 4 Pro Bowls, and 3 All-Pro honors. Even more, Snee wound up marrying Tom’s daughter, Kate Coughlin, and the two now have four kids together. Snee is one of the best, most important, and biggest steals in Giants’ draft history.

In 2005, the team only had four picks. Despite the low number, all four were important to the team’s future.

At 43rd overall, Corey Webster was taken out of LSU. Webster went onto stay with NY for nine seasons. At that time, he was an essential player for the franchise. Corey made one of the biggest, signature plays of the 2007 season when he intercepted Brett Favre in overtime of the 2007 NFC Championship. It was Favre’s last pass as a Packer and Corey’s interception set up Lawrence Tynes’ game-winning field goal to make the Super Bowl. Webster won 2 rings with the Giants and racked up 20 interceptions as a long time starter and key player for the defense.

Sinorice Moss never lived up to his 2nd round billing in 2006. Moss was a Giant for four seasons, winning Super Bowl XLII in 2007 and playing as a backup receiver and key special teamer. Moss is the first 2nd round bust to appear on this list.

The team took back-to-back receivers in 2006 and 2007. Steve Smith from USC had an instant role as a rookie. Smith was a constant target during the 2007 playoffs and helped the team win their first championship in 17 years. In 2009, Smith had a career year, racking up 107 receptions 1220 yards, and seven touchdowns. The 107 receptions still stands as a Giants’ single-season record. He chose to sign with the archrival Eagles as part of the 2011 “Dream Team” assembled in Philadelphia. The Dream Team completely failed and Smith’s career ran out of steam two years later.

In 2008, the team chose its second consecutive USC Trojan with their 2nd round pick. Terrell Thomas was a very talented player for NY whose career got decimated by three torn ACL injuries. In fact, he became only the second NFL player ever to come back from three torn ACLs in the same knee behind linebacker Thomas Davis. Terrell, when on the field, was a very impressive player. He had five interceptions apiece in 2009 and 2010 along with 34 combined pass breakups. Thomas never got to reciprocate those two seasons after blowing his knee out consecutive years but he was still given a ring for Super Bowl XLVI despite missing the season with his knee injury. A classic what-if player, Thomas retired from football too early in 2015.

Clint Sintim is one of the biggest busts in recent Giants history. Taken 45th overall, Sintim was touted for his athleticism and speed to run sideline-to-sideline. The only issue was that he simply wasn’t a good enough NFL player and never found his footing in the league. His career ended quickly after only two seasons.

Linval Joseph is another very talented Giants player from the 2nd round. Joseph gave the Giants four strong seasons, being a massive presence in the middle of the Giants defensive line. Joseph won a ring in 2011 and was a very sound, trustful player for NY. He left the team, as expected, as a free agent getting a huge deal with the Vikings in Free Agency. Although it never worked out long-term, Joseph was a damn good player in New York for four years and helped contribute to a championship.

Rueben Randle at #63 overall was a good pick on the surface. Looking back, it’s disappointing to see how Randle’s career completely evaporated. Randle played four seasons with NY after their second Super Bowl in 2011. He was expected to replace Mario Manningham and form a potent trio with Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz but that never materialized as all three fizzled out. Randle’s issue was never talent as displayed by his 2,346 yards and 17 touchdowns over a three-year span. He always struggled with running routes, his focus and concentration lacked, and he displayed a poor attitude with puzzling body language a frequent theme. Nobody ever gave him another look after his rookie contract.

Johnathan Hankins was the third 2nd round defensive tackle taken by the Giants in four seasons. Hankins was a solid player out of Ohio State and at #49 overall, appeared to be a good draft value. He racked up seven sacks in his second season, but never reciprocated those numbers again. The team couldn’t reach terms with Hankins after his solid 2016 season and he went to Indianapolis to join the Colts.

In 2014, the team chose Weston Richburg from Colorado State to follow in Shaun O’Hara’s steps to snap the ball to Eli Manning at a high level. The 43rd overall player was a solid center who simply got a bigger deal and better off from San Francisco in free agency. Richburg was the center of some high-end Giants’ offenses of the mid-2010s with the team scoring and playing more efficient football on offense.

In 2015, Jerry Reese couldn’t pass up on the obvious talent of the All-American Landon Collins, the safety from Alabama. Reese made a huge splash and moved up to the top pick of the 2nd round to lock in his guy from Bama and the move did pay some dividends. Collins was a team captain, A three-time Pro Bowler, 1 All-Pro, 4-time NFC defensive player of the week, and earned one defensive player of the month award. Collins helped revitalize a lifeless Giants’ defense in 2015. In Landon’s breakout 2016 season, Collins racked up 5 interceptions, one pick-six, 4 sacks, and 125 tackles. It was a dominant, unique, and fun season watching Collins make impact plays and crushing tackles basically every week. Collins was one of the team’s best players in his four years in NY before coming to an ugly end in 2019 where he ended up signing with the division rival Washington Football Team.

The Giants got a good player in Sterling Shepard from Oklahoma at 40th overall. Shep has gone onto be a part of the only Giants playoff team since 2011, has signed an extension with the team, and has been a model teammate and citizen. Sterling has been a key cog in the offense since his rookie year but has never lived up to his rookie year stats. It’s an interesting paradox as he seemed to grown and greatly mature as a man and a player, but has never put it together again like his rookie year. Injuries have played a major role in that but he’s also just struggled to make a huge impact on the field as well. The team’s longest-tenured player, Shep is under contract for two more years and figures to be a mainstay until then.

Dalvin Tomlinson came to New York following the Giants’ rich history of 2nd round defensive tackles. Tomlinson, the 55th overall pick from Alabama, has been a starter for four years and never missed a game. Tomlinson is a classic Alabama player, with a great attitude, a hard worker, and a very smart person. Dalvin is entering free agency this season and will likely get a hefty raise.

Will Hernandez was the 34th pick in 2018. He was taken by Dave Gettleman and was immediately touted as a 1st round talent. The UTEP product from El Paso, Hernandez came as a mauling, road grading guard. He started every game his first three years until he contracted COVID-19 this season after Week 7. From there, Hernandez was forced to miss his first career game and Shane Lemieux replaced him in the starting lineup. Since recovering, Hernandez never got his starting job back and is now a full-time backup seeing very limited snaps each week. He will need to fight for his job back in an upcoming pivotal offseason and training camp competition.