NY Giants’ Draft: 3 worst draft picks of the Dave Gettleman era

1) Deandre Baker, 2019

The 2019 NFL Draft was the most anticipated event for Giants’ fans in decades. Fresh off the sting of trading star receiver, Odell Beckham Jr. – the team now possessed two first round picks.

The winds of change were blowing – the team was finally committing to a rebuild.

It would go on to be a rollercoaster night for the team – starting with the shocking selection of Daniel Jones sixth overall, then picking Dexter Lawrence with the 17th overall pick, and that’s when fans thought it was safe to try to get some sleep. Alas, they were wrong – as Gettleman would trade the 37th, 132nd and 147th overall picks to move up to 30th overall to select Georgia’s Deandre Baker.

The corner would be the first of his position selected – the Giants believed they made out like bandits. As it turns out, the Seattle Seahawks really stole draft picks from the Giants – Baker was an unmitigated disaster in New York.

Drafted to be the team’s future shutdown corner, he was anything but – the first round pick was consistently outmatched and outplayed by the opposition. He was even called out for his lack of effort on the field – coaches deeming his play ‘unacceptable’ at one point.

After one year of futility and an infamous stint on the commissioner’s exempt list, the Giants’ severed ties with their former first rounder – releasing him before his sophomore season. The team drafted Baker over some extraordinary talent, including Pro Bowl caliber players like A.J. Brown, DK Metcalf and Elgton Jenkins.

After preaching a culture change and only wanting players with a burning desire to win, the brash general manager drafted a player who was unmotivated, inauspicious and ended up making the franchise look bad both on and off the field. Obviously Gettleman slept through the scouting process on Baker, as he drafted a player who slept through team meetings.

Nothing stalls a rebuild worse than failed first round picks – if you look up failed first round picks in the dictionary, you might just see a picture of Baker.