Who Are The WORST Giants 1st Round Draft Picks of All Time?

03- William Joseph

But did include

14- OBJ

WTF???

followed by Eldridge Small and Larry Jacobson from last century

For taking him as high as we did... Didn't even play a down for the GMen. :P

In comment 15452351 JoeyBigBlue said:

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03- William Joseph But did include 14- OBJ WTF???

I included all the players who I thought might get votes, but also suggested you could pick any #1 not on the lists.

In comment 15452353 LTIsTheGreatest said:

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followed by Eldridge Small and Larry Jacobson from last century

FYI... All four of your picks are from last century.

...he was fumbler in college and he was fumbler here. Plus he was more of a track guy in college, he ran upright and some analysts thought that would set him up for injury... so yeah.

Also we needed OL and could (should) have drafted Cordy Glenn.

In the previous century I'd go with Cedric Scott. The Giants never scouted him, had no idea he was blind in one eye, got caught flat-footed when the Ravens picked Ogden. The Giants also wanted Simeon Rice so they picked Scott who for some reason they thought was the next best DE.

Why they didn't pick Willie Anderson I'll never know....

In comment 15452368 sb from NYT Forum said:

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...he was fumbler in college and he was fumbler here. Plus he was more of a track guy in college, he ran upright and some analysts thought that would set him up for injury... so yeah. Also we needed OL and could (should) have drafted Cordy Glenn. In the previous century I'd go with Cedric Scott. The Giants never scouted him, had no idea he was blind in one eye, got caught flat-footed when the Ravens picked Ogden. The Giants also wanted Simeon Rice so they picked Scott who for some reason they thought was the next best DE. Why they didn't pick Willie Anderson I'll never know....

Cedric JONES I mean. I guess my mind is repressing that pick.

In comment 15452355 RomanWH said:

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For taking him as high as we did... Didn't even play a down for the GMen. :P

Now that’s funny.

#1 is DeAndre Baker. #2 is Eli Apple. #3 is Ereck Flowers.

Honorable mentions: Dave Brown, Cedric Jones, Ron Dayne & William Joseph.

for horrendous Giants first round draft choices.

He's not the worst player they've picked, but Barkley is the worst pick they've made since I've been a fan.

who had short careers due to injury?
Fredrickson, Wilson, etc.

traded away -- two #1s for Tarkenton, another #1 for Craig effin' Morton? Also Giants spent a #1 on Joe Don Looney who lived up to his name, and then there was Francis Peay, an OT from Minnesota.

Wreck Flowers was horrific, why would the two be lumped together?

In comment 15452381 TLong said:

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who had short careers due to injury? Fredrickson, Wilson, etc.

Why list OBJ? He was great for most of his years here

is always going to be the QB. Dave Brown heads the list.

Also, there's bad and then there's BAD. Some guys could play but got hurt. Others never could play at all. Guys that couldn't play at all with NYG:

Dave Brown
Derek Brown
Thomas Lewis
Ereck Flowers (at tackle)
*David Wilson (he was a bad RB)

Guys that could play but suffered injury woes

Barkley (can still save his nyg career but clock is ticking)
Jarrod Bunch
*David Wilson (the rare breed who makes both lists)

Guys that were around average or never met expectations:

Ron Dayne
Cedric Jones
Daniel Jones (there's time, but like Barkley....)

many more...but there's different categories for this debate.

of poster and player. For me as a Giant fan for over 70 years Rocky Thompson is the worst #1 in history. He never mattered much on the field and the Giant fans and team was desperate to just try and get into the playoffs. No one else measures up to those timers and draft choice. We now have the luxury of 4 Superbowl wins and play offs fairly recently.

This does not mean that there are not bad #1's but none like poor Mr Thompson in his era and skill set.

In comment 15452351 JoeyBigBlue said:

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03- William Joseph But did include 14- OBJ WTF???

Joseph had to be one of the worst players I have ever seen since watching from the early 80's. He was a complete slob, lacking any physical or mental desire to play the game.

Derek Brown would have to be at the top of the list. Going back, Joe Don Looney was just an awful football player. I get that scouting was far more rudimentary then, but how anyone could have watched him play and thought he was worth a 1st round pick is beyond me.

Joe Don Looney
Cedric Jones
Ereck Flowers
Eli Apple

Baker has to be up there.

Who the hell was Thomas Lewis???
Followed closely by Derek Brown who was a huge disappointment after his career at ND.

derek brown the worst player

saquon, though a good payer, was a terrible pick at #2 overall in an era where you can land great backs in later rounds.

almost impossible to get that little production out of an NFL player, no less a first rounder...

just didn’t really want to play NFL football. Someone should give his story because i can’t physically key board for long.

in the 20th century, and put me down for David Wilson in the 21st century.

Brown was an awful player, we left a ton of future pro-bowlers on the board by taking him there, AND we used another pick on a tight end in the 3rd round.

David Wilson always struck me as a panic pick because the Bucs swooped in and took Doug Martin right before we were going to pick.

Nelson/Chubb would have been a great haul. Giants would be a playoff team.

Couldn't get playing time on 3 very bad NYG teams. Check out his career stats.
Linked - ( New Window )

Francis Peay OT 1966 Barf !!
Gordon King OT 1978 More Barf !!
John Hicks OG 1974 Barfing Some More !!

Tyronne Wheatley RB 1995 ..Butt Muscle injury.

Phillipi Sparks CB ..yes and after a bit..HE SUCKED !!

Thomas Lewis WR . GAG me with a Spoon !!

Eldrige Small WR ..Yep played Small.

Rocky Thompson WR/KR.. 1972 Bustoleum.. Just that 1 kick off return against the lions.

Joe Don Looney RB 1964 . Was kicked off his College team. Giants still drafted him in the 1st round. Was found dancing to the "Mashed Potatoes" with a transistor radio in Giants locker room , I think. Skipped practice at will.

Brian Williams OC 1989 .. Another one of Those Billy Price "Which Way did he Go Pass Blocking Centers" I felt for him with that eye injury.

Cedric Jones DE 1996.. How Come The Giants didn't watch "The Voyage Of Sinbad". The Dude
had 1 good eye when we drafted him. Scared The Patriots wanted him ?

Jarred Bunch 1991 ? We're still waiting for that Jerome Bettis Battering Ram Running game..

Ron Dayne RB 2000 .. Was better at Wisconsin.

Followed by Jarod Bunch who I still remember saying who the fuck drafts a FB in the 1st round.

Thomas Lewis - I had my newspaper with all the potential draft picks and I was ready, I think we picked 7th and I had a bunch of names I wanted, not because i really knew but because I had the newspaper and thats all I had to go on. I was so pissed, Lewis didnt even have a writeup, just a number and it was like a 3rd or 4th round grade.

Cedric jones - There were 4 blue chippers and we were 5th. Phillips was also there and for sure at that time RBs were worth it, he was going to the Ravens. We we got fucked and all 4 blue chips were gone and someone in the Giants Draft room must have said Jones and they sent in the card. I mean again not considered a top pick. then he had one eye and it got poked so we had strahan and a blind man on the other side. He wasnt a complete disaster but man I hated that pick. again not because I knew anything but because the paper I had didnt have him as a top 10 pick.

So many bad 1st round picks. So many.

So who is out best 1st round pick? We didnt technically draft Eli. OBJ was on pace for that but too small a sample. I cant really think of our best right now.

was a good running back, but got injured. For the most part it's impossible to predict career-ending injuries before they occur (understood some may disagree).

Drafting a quarterback at #6 who turns out to be an average quarterback with a long career is not a bad outcome. Disappointing, yes, but it's worse than some (Mahomes, P Manning, e.g.) but better than a heck of a lot others who never even become starters.

Do the Patriots regret passing 5 times on having drafted Tom Brady? Should they? You could argue they screwed up massively by not drafting the greatest quarterback of all time by not draft him in the 5th (or 4th, or 3rd, or 2nd, or even 1st round. You will always find hall of famers drafted after your team, but I'm sure even the team that draft him would admit they didn't know "that player" would turn out to be so good. So I don't like when teams are criticized for not drafting Player A when they could have had Player B. 20:20 hindsight is always perfect.

Him and Troy archer ( if no car accident) would be sick DTs

Have you ever went into a Gas Station's Mens Room and as soon as you walked in, YOU SAW A TURD STICKING UP OUT OF THE WATER IN THE TOILET BOWL ?? I said to myself, Nothing HUMAN Could have made THIS .. The I said to myself, wait a minute, THAT LOOKS LIKE ERECK FLOWERS !! HOW DID HE GET IN THERE ??

the worst draft pick at #1 was Tucker Fredrickson. He was not the worst player but when Butkus goes #3 and Sayers #4 he was the worst draft pick. Not worst player drafted.

but what concerns us presently is really the last six or seven drafts.
Saquon Barkley was a strategic mistake, but drafted by the right organistation, he merits a top ten pick.
But Eli Apple, currently ranked 78th among cornerbacks, was a dreadful pick. Has never come close to justifying going #10, regardless of maturity issues.

The #2 and #32 picks are in different worlds as far as expectations.

For similar reasons, I think the Giants’ best First-Round pick since Lawrence Taylor was… Hakeem Nicks.

If FMIC is right that Hakeem's leg issues pre-date the 2009 Draft, then picking him was essentially a gamble that paid off... until it didn't.

Flowers is up there. It made it fairly certain that Eli's last years would be a disaster.

The problem here is the alternative pick may have sucked worse. Rosen and Darnold would of been disasters as well...Barkley is teetering on disaster.

In comment 15452455 Rudy5757 said:

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Followed by Jarod Bunch who I still remember saying who the fuck drafts a FB in the 1st round. Thomas Lewis - I had my newspaper with all the potential draft picks and I was ready, I think we picked 7th and I had a bunch of names I wanted, not because i really knew but because I had the newspaper and thats all I had to go on. I was so pissed, Lewis didnt even have a writeup, just a number and it was like a 3rd or 4th round grade. Cedric jones - There were 4 blue chippers and we were 5th. Phillips was also there and for sure at that time RBs were worth it, he was going to the Ravens. We we got fucked and all 4 blue chips were gone and someone in the Giants Draft room must have said Jones and they sent in the card. I mean again not considered a top pick. then he had one eye and it got poked so we had strahan and a blind man on the other side. He wasnt a complete disaster but man I hated that pick. again not because I knew anything but because the paper I had didnt have him as a top 10 pick. So many bad 1st round picks. So many. So who is out best 1st round pick? We didnt technically draft Eli. OBJ was on pace for that but too small a sample. I cant really think of our best right now.

I remember the Lewis pick well. But im pretty sure it was toward the end of Round 1. I was visiting NY/NJ at that time from FL with some friends...mostly to attend a couple of Devils Sabres playoff hockey games...but we were driving around the city during that draft, and my buddy was videotaping stuff from the back seat, and just happened to capture the moment we heard on WFAN that the Giants had selected Thomas Lewis...so my "who the F*&^ is Thomas Lewis??? From INDIANA????!!!!" Eventually transferred that tape to DVD so its here somewhere....on my permanent record, I guess.

Erik Flowers. It was hoped he would be manning the LT position today. Instead it led to Solder and having to use a high pick on Thomas. So a lot of money used on a terrible FA and a high pick that could have been used elsewhere.....perhaps Herbert.

Followed by Rocky Thompson and Thomas Lewis.

Tucker Fredrickson's career was destroyed by injury. Jim Brown said Fredrickson was going to be the next great running back.

Fredrickson wound up having a few good years, ran for 659 yds his rookie year, and he finished his career in 1971 with 2,209 yards and nine touchdowns rushing, plus 128 catches and another eight scores receiving.

If you mean in terms of who was the worst player, the least production, we got out of the 1st round pick, then Joe Don Looney is the worst running away.

In modern times, DeAndre Baker and Derek Brown would tie for that distinction.

In terms of damage to the franchise, Ereck Flowers and Saquon Barkley. Some of the other bad first round picks the team was able to recover from, but those two did irreparable harm to the direction of the franchise.

And for those saying Barkley isn't a bust AND want me to ignore the obvious roster building issues -

Take away Barkley's rookie year and tell me if he's what you wanted from a #2 overall pick, or even a first round pick. Barkley right now is trending toward being an outright bust.

after that is neck and neck between Derek Brown and Deandre Baker. Honorable mention is Eli Apple and his mother.

Why did football seem so much more exciting to me then? Watching this film of T.F. burst through a hole, shoulders squared, head down, no dancing around, reminds me of how I used to feel on Sun, afternoons
Tucker Frederickson - ( New Window )

I've been a GIANTS fan since 1955, so I've seen a ton of them come and go.

There are two guys who really stand out other than DeAndre Baker, who is definitely an all-time NYG first round bust.

One is HB Joe Don Looney back in 1964. He never played a down for the GIANTS. Probably the WORST ever first round pick EVER by the team.

The other is TE Derek Brown in 1992. LT hit him hard in the first practice and he never recovered from his introduction to pro football. Was on the team for five seasons, mostly sitting on the bench and taking first round money. He did catch a few passes here and there, but was never any kind of a threat in the passing game, wasn't a very good blocker, and actually contributed less than a myriad of rookie free agents did over the years.

Just for the record, the very promising careers of FB Tucker Fredrickson and FB Jarrod Bunch were ruined by injuries, so you can't hold that against them or the team for drafting them. Both of them would have been stars if they hadn't gotten seriously hurt.

WR/KR Rocky Thompson was waaay over-drafted in 1971, but actually contributed more than a number of other first round picks like RB David Wilson and QB Lee Grosscup in 1959 (ANYBODY remember him?) to name a couple of picks that didn't work out. Note that Wilson was discovered to have a previously unknown medical condition that ended his football career. Thompson has been unfairly vilified ever since.

RB Tyrone Wheatley was the victim of a head coach (Reeves) who didn't want him. George Adams was similarly over-drafted (for need) but did contribute some including a long TD against Dallas in a nationally-televised game.

Even G John Hicks, who turned out to be a MAJOR flop, had a relatively promising rookie year in 1974.

I'll go with Ereck Flowers. Utterly painful watching him play; seemed to let the pass rusher go by him and also seemed to attract penalties as dead meat does for flies.

Overdrafted. Is that wrong? From before my time.

Mentioned. A total waste. And taken at the 19 spot.

Butch Woolfolk RB WHAT !!

George Adams RB Right , other than That Dallas game.

Jeremy Schockey TE.. Loved his Warrior mentality, Hated his Temperment.

Dave Brown..Awful Choice. Wonder if Daniel Jones was warned not to wear nr. 17

David Wilson RB.. OMG !

Eli Apple CB.Pass Interference calls always VS. The Eagles.

Wheatley, Dayne, Wilson and Barkley in no particular order. Do not draft running backs in the first round. Ever. Under no circumstances.