In Bleacher Report’s 2010 NFL re-draft, the New York Giants select DE Everson Griffen with Jason Pierre-Paul already off the board.
At the 2010 NFL Draft, the New York Giants were coming off an 8-8 campaign in 2009 and were retooling their roster to make another Super Bowl run, which they did in 2011.
They held the 15th overall selection in the draft and were still trying o find a viable replacement for Michael Strahan, who retired after the Giants’ remarkable upset of the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII in 2007.
They chose South Florida defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, a raw but insanely gifted athlete, with the 15th pick. JPP, as he would come to be known, would make an immediate impact on the Giants’ defense and became an All-Pro in 2011 when he recorded 16.5 sacks.
Along with Justin Tuck, JPP became one of the leaders on the Giant defense that defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. He continued to excel for the next several seasons.
Then, in the summer of 2015, things changed. JPP suffered a severe hand injury as the result of a July 4 fireworks accident and lost partial use of his right hand. He played the second half of that season with his had in a club-like bandage and a protective glove. He wasn’t the same player.
The Giants still believed, however. General manager Jerry Reese signed JPP to a four-year, $62 million deal in March of 2017. Most fans a experts panned the move.
When Reese was fired later that year, incoming general manager Dave Gettleman evaluated the situation and decided to trade Pierre-Paul and his huge cap hit. He traded JPP to Tampa Bay for a third round pick and an exchange of fourth rounders.
In his re-draft of the 2010 NFL Draft, Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport has JPP going off the board to Jacksonville at No. 10 and the Giants taking USC defensive lineman Everyone Griffen at 15. Griffen, incidentally, was taken in Round 4 by Minnesota.
Everson Griffen hasn’t had the monstrous years Jason Pierre-Paul has occasionally produced. He hasn’t been quite as consistent over the past decade as Carlos Dunlap. And at the moment, he’s still looking for work.
But over 10 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Griffen piled up 74.5 sacks. He’s had three seasons with 10 or more sacks, has made four Pro Bowls (including last year) and sits fourth in franchise history in sacks, trailing just Hall of Famers John Randle and Chris Doleman and Jared Allen
As plan B’s go, it’s a pretty danged good one.
Griffen would have been a nice pick for the Giants, sure, but JPP brought the excitement, intrigue and a Super Bowl to New York.
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