Four former members of the New York Giants, including one draft pick, have been named to Pro Football Focus’ All-Decade Top 101.
On Thursday, Pro Football Focus released their top 101 players of the past decade. Three former New members of the York Giants made the list, but it may not be in the order you would think.
Damon “Snacks” Harrison came in at No. 56 overall and you could argue that he was the best of the big-name free agents that were acquired in the 2016 free agency spending spree:
56. DI DAMON HARRISON SR.
In a different era of the game, Damon Harrison would go down as one of the greatest players to ever play. In today’s NFL, he will be remembered as the best run defender of his era, at a time where the run game became progressively less important year by year. Harrison earned a PFF run-defense grade above 90.0 for five of his six first seasons as a starter, and he topped 40 run stops four consecutive seasons, a mark only a couple of other players have ever managed from the defensive line. Harrison was an immovable force against the run and changed the way teams attacked on the ground, but never managed more than 22 total pressures over a season, despite rushing the passer at least 300 times for three straight years.
Snacks was with the New York Jets for four years before coming over to the crosstown rival Giants during the 2016 offseason. Snacks spent the last season and a half with the Detroit Lions after he was reluctantly traded from the Giants to the Lions during the 2018 season.
Just five spots later came wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who many have either forgotten was a member of the Giants or hope to forget that he was. Regardless, Marshall was an elite receiver for the better part of the last decade which helped land him at number 61 on the list:
61. WRÂ BRANDON MARSHALL
One of the most physically gifted receivers of his generation, Brandon Marshall’s best years came over the past decade. The player dubbed “baby T.O.” — in reference to Terrell Owens — shared many of the same characteristics. Like T.O., drops were always his biggest issue, and he accrued 84 of them over the nine years he played in the last decade. But he also broke 81 tackles and was one of the most physically imposing receivers in the league. Even late in his career, he was able to go toe-to-toe with physically dominant cornerbacks like Richard Sherman and catch almost 100 yards’ worth of passes and score a touchdown.
Marshall’s time with the Giants was extremely short-lived and was a major bust of a free agent signing.
Recently, Marshall said in an interview that the Giants are not a well-run organization. However, it should be noted that most former members of the organization do not share that thought.
The only player who made the list that the Giants drafted was wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who checked in at No. 91.
Beckham spent the first five years of his career with the Giants before being shipped off to the Cleveland Browns last offseason. From a talent perspective, he could be considered the best receiver to made the list.
Beckham’s time with the Giants, let alone his time in the league, has been controversial to say the least. Even the trade that sent him to the Browns was considered highly controversial, and there are still Giants fans who express disappointment over his departure.
91. WRÂ ODELL BECKHAM JR.
There are few more-talented receivers in NFL history than OBJ. The start of his career showed the kind of impact he could have, but injuries have begun to derail that impact, whether it was missing time in New York or battling through pain only to look like a shadow of himself in his first season with the Cleveland Browns. He has broken 20 or more tackles in a season twice in his career while notching double-digit totals in every healthy season. OBJ is one of the most dynamic receivers in the league after the catch, and you only have to watch his pregame warm-up routine to see his natural catching ability. The receiving talent pool in the NFL has never been deeper, but even so, OBJ has the potential to be as good as any.
One thing there is no debating is Beckham’s talent. Beckham gave Giants fans some of the most exciting plays in recent memory and he certainly belongs on the list regardless of how you feel about him.
Finally, there was a bit of an outlier.
Although he only spent three months with the Giants and did not see the field in either the preseason or regular season, New York did sign edge rusher Cameron Wake as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2005. He checked in at No. 41 overall.
41. EDGE CAMERON WAKE
Cameron Wake’s NFL beginnings seem hard to believe, given what he became — one of the top pure pass-rushers of his generation. Only Von Miller has a higher PFF pass-rush grade than Wake among edge rushers over the past decade, and only Miller surpassed the 600 total pressures that Wake amassed to go with his incredibly impressive 16.5% pressure rate. Wake was one of the most devastating speed-rushers the league has ever seen, and because his NFL career took some time to get going, the decade captured pretty much the entirety of his elite-level play.
The Giants’ current roster is full of youngsters with a bunch of potential. Hopefully, 10 years from now when PFF comes out with this list for 2020 decade we are talking about more current and former Giants — possibly even Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley.
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