5 NY Giants draft picks the team gave up on too soon

1. DL Linval Joseph

Alas, one of the biggest examples, literally and figuratively, of the Giants giving up on a player too soon is defensive lineman Linval Joseph. The Giants drafted Joseph out of East Carolina in 2010, during the second round of the NFL Draft. Joseph proved his worth immediately, becoming a key cog and helping the Giants win the Super Bowl during the 2011 campaign.

After four seasons with New York, the Giants opted to allow Joseph to hit the open market, where he signed a modest $31.5 million contract. However, he truly began to become the star defender he would be over the next couple of seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, while the Giants searched for help along their porous defensive line.

The Giants defense was terrible for many of the seasons immediately after Joseph left, squandering some serious offensive talent, and the end of Manning’s best seasons. Joseph wouldn’t have changed everything, but it’s hard to say he wouldn’t have made a difference.

In the end, Joseph is still playing to this day, even if he’s not the same player he was in Minnesota for six seasons. If those were played in New York, he would’ve been one of the best Giants in recent memory, so it was a huge whiff by Jerry Reese allowing Joseph to leave.