The NY Giants have historically had plenty of success, winning four Super Bowls since the merger, while also ranking 11th in all-time win percentage. Despite this, recent seasons have not been too kind to the storied franchise.
However, the Giants are looking good for the future, with a strong 2023 NFL Draft class having people excited about what's to come. When taking a look at the Giants first-rounders from the past decade or so, there have been some big-time hits, and unfortunately some terrible misses.
In this piece, we will be grading all of the Giants first-round picks they've made since 2013 in order to showcase the value of drafting in this league:
NY Giants 2013 first-round pick: Justin Pugh, B
The 2013 NFL Draft is one of the most infamous draft classes the league has ever seen. Despite this, the Giants managed to select one of the few players taken in the first round who are still in the league. Justin Pugh may not be a superstar, but he's consistently been one of the more solid guards in the NFL since he was drafted.
Pugh was originally drafted as a tackle, and during his time at the position, he was rather solid. However, in the 2015 season, Pugh was moved to left guard, where he would have his best seasons in the league. The Giants managed to get themselves an incredibly consistent lineman to kick off their post-Super Bowl rebuild and while it didn't have an impact on their ability to win, Pugh definitely did more good than bad.
Despite this, Pugh would only last five seasons with New York because of everyone's favorite general manager, Dave Gettleman. In the 2018 offseason, both Pugh and Weston Richburg were set to be free agents. Instead of keeping two solid offensive linemen to build the team around, Gettleman let both of them walk in order to free up cap space to sign Nate Solder to the biggest offensive lineman contract ever at the time.
Since leaving, Pugh was a serviceable guard for the Cardinals and he even hinted at making a return to New York this offseason. He's currently a free agent. It's up in the air who he'll play with next season - Pugh continues to recover from his torn ACL.