In the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft, the New York Giants selected edge rusher Mathias Kiwanuka out of Boston College.
Although Kiwi never developed into the next Michael Strahan or Osi Umenyiora, he had a solid and productive career with the Giants highlighted by two Super Bowl titles.
However, in a 2006 re-draft courtesy of Bleacher Report, the Giants pass on Kiwanuka, who falls out of the first round, to select Georgia cornerback Tim Jennings.
The New York Giants might not want to mess with what helped them win the Super Bowl 21 months after this draft took place, but Kiwanuka was generally overshadowed by Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan that season.
By instead taking cornerback Tim Jennings, they likely would still win championships in 2007 and 2011 and would have increased their chances of winning in other seasons.
The former Georgia cornerback was a Pro Bowler with the Bears in 2012 and 2013. In those two seasons alone, he intercepted 13 passes and scored three touchdowns, and he was also a quality starter in the years that directly preceded and followed that hot stretch. He would have upgraded the secondary on a 10-win team in 2010, and he would have been by far the best cover man on another winning team trying to defend a title in 2012.
The argument that the Giants would have been better with Jennings than Kiwanuka is flawed given that Jennings didn’t really reach his potential until 2012, which came after the Giants won their two most recent titles. He also would not have supplanted Corey Webster, who turned his career around beginning during their 2007 championship run.
By the time Jennings turned things on in 2012, earning an All-Pro nod and his first Pro Bowl appearance, the Giants were already on the downward slope and would not again reach the playoffs until 2016 — the year after Jennings retired.
Would Jennings have pushed any of those Giants teams over the top from 2012 through 2015? It’s possible, but highly unlikely. However, eliminating Kiwi from the equation certainly would have damaged their championship chances in 2007 and 2011, so there’s no sense in re-writing this history.
With Kiwi will on the board, that’s exactly who the Giants should have taken in this re-draft.
[lawrence-related id=651766,651768,651739]