In the 2000 NFL Draft, the New York Giants held the 11th overall selection by virtue of their 7-9 record and third place finish in 1999.
General manager Ernie Accorsi went for the fool’s gold in Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne, the Heisman Trophy winner. Dayne would join Tiki Barber in the Giants’ backfield, creating the “Thunder and Lightning” duo that didn’t quite live up to the hype even though the Giants would win the NFC in 2000.
Dayne played four seasons for the Giants, rushing fro a grand total of 2,067 yards and 16 touchdowns before finishing his career in Houston and Denver. He was out of the NFL by 2008.
If the Giants had a chance to re-draft that first round, what would they do? Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report believes they would have taken Shaun O’Hara, offensive lineman out of Rutgers.
What actually happened: Drafted RB Ron Dayne
Where [O’Hara] was actually picked: He wasn’t
And yet another player from that 2007 Giants Super Bowl team goes off the board, but this one wasn’t even drafted in real life.
Selecting Dayne was obviously a mistake—the Heisman Trophy winner never even had an 800-yard season in the NFL—while interior offensive lineman Shaun O’Hara spent nine seasons as a stellar starter in Cleveland and with the G-Men.
The three-time Pro Bowler was a late bloomer who earned most of his accolades after turning 30. He was a key member of that ’07 Super Bowl winner and was a second-team All-Pro in 2008.
He beats out Shaun Ellis and Adalius Thomas, partly because the fit is too perfect but also because the Giants’ defensive front was in great shape at the time.
O’Hara wasn’t on many team’s boards in 2000. He was a walk-on at Rutgers and wasn’t seen as any more than a free agent who has an outside shot at making some team’s roster. Of course, he fooled everyone. His grit and intelligence wasn’t accounted for by many scouts and he became one of the best centers in the league.
The new Cleveland Browns inked O’Hara to a UDFA deal and he went on to start in 38 of his 54 games there. In March of 2004, Accorsi signed him to a three-year, $5.4 million contract with the Giants to play center. It worked out pretty well…
So who else could the Giants have snagged instead of Dayne that year? Seven of the next eight picks went on to be Pro Bowlers: Shaun Ellis, John Abraham, Bubba Franks, Deltha O’Neal, Julian Peterson, Sebastian Janikowski and Shaun Alexander. The other player picked in that span was Chad Pennington.
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