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Many pundits believe the New York Giants’ losing ways have been proliferated by poor drafting and point to the 2018 NFL draft as the linchpin of that argument.
The Giants held the second overall selection in the draft that year, which was being touted as having one of the best quarterback classes in years. The Giants kew that Eli Manning only had a year or two of productivity left and were in position to take Manning’s successor.
They did not.
The Cleveland Browns selected Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield — the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner — with the first pick. The Giants then grabbed Penn State running back Saquon Barkley with the second pick, passing on several quarterbacks, including USC’s Sam Darnold, Josh Allen of Wyoming, UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Lamar Jackson of Louisville.
We now know how all of that worked out. Allen and Jackson are superstars while the others have bounced around the league. Barkley’s career has hit the skids due to injuries after a breakout rookie season.
Bleacher Report recently revised that draft and assigned Giants and then general manager Dave Gettleman a C- grade. Barkley is the only player from that draft class that is still the Giants.
“The idea of taking the best available player sounds good until it leads to taking a running back No. 2 overall when the team needs a quarterback,” writes BR’s Ian Wharton. “Imagine where the New York Giants could be today had they drafted and developed either Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson rather than Saquon Barkley.”
Water under the bridge. The Giants took a quarterback the next season in the first round, Duke’s Daniel Jones, who the jury is still out on. Had the Giants hit on Jones, few would be so critical of their 2018 draft performance.
The other players taken in 2018 are: UTEP OG Will Hernandez (No. 34 overall), Georgia LB Lorenzo Carter (No. 66 overall), NC State DT B.J. Hill (No. 69 overall), Richmond QB Kyle Lauletta (No. 108 overall), Miami DT R.J. McIntosh (No. 139 overall).
All five of these players are still in the league with other teams after up-and-down careers with the Giants. Wharton pretty much acknowledged that in his closing statement.
“We aren’t going to punish the Giants for their decision to draft Barkley at No. 2 since he was a star for two years. The rest of this draft class was a mediocre group who underachieved after a coaching change, though,” he wrote.
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