4 first-round mistakes that continue to haunt the Giants

3. OL Ereck Flowers

The Giants have always emphasized improving their offensive line, especially in the early rounds of the NFL Draft. The team has used three of their last 12 first-round picks on an offensive lineman; however, one of those picks has proven to succeed, another has failed miserably, and we are still waiting for the other to develop, but he hasn't lived up to the expectations at this point.

If you haven't guessed already, the lineman to fail miserably with the Giants is former tackle Ereck Flowers, who was taken with the No. 9 overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Miami. The 6-6 lineman spent three seasons with the G-Men. He was highly criticized during his tenure in New York for not meeting the standards expected from him at the professional level.

Flowers gave up 169 total pressures with the Giants, which was the most of any tackle in the NFL at that time. The lineman's poor performance and numerous penalties caused Pro Football Focus to rate him the 54th-best tackle in the league. Yeah, not great.

In 2018, former teammate and now NFL analyst Geoff Schwartz ripped Flowers for his effort on tape and accused the Giants tackle of quitting on the team, missing multiple blocks, and having poor technique. It was a short time after the Giants organization released Flowers.

Not only did Flowers whiff on three different defenders on that play that Schwartz broke down, but the Giants' scouting department whiffed on talent when they chose the tackle at No. 9. The Giants would pass on several other linemen in that draft class who would go on to become Pro Bowlers, including Andrus Peat, D.J. Humphries, Laken Tomlinson, Mitch Morse, Ali Marpet, and Trent Brown.