ESPN Names Eight NY Giants to All-Time Draft Picks List

When you come into the NFL and force some of the most brilliant coaches of your era such as San Francisco’s Bill Walsh and Washington’s Joe Gibbs to come up with new ways to slow you down (ways that still exist in the game today), you better believe you’re worthy of being included on a list such as this. 

Taylor finished second in franchise history in sacks, but considering that sacks weren’t counted as an official sack until 1982, it’s fair to wonder how close Taylor might have come to being the franchise leader in that stat.

No. 40: DE Michael Strahan (1993)

A Hall of Fame defensive end who is currently the Giants’ franchise sack leader and who shares the single-season sack record with T.J. Watt of the Steelers, it’s hard to believe that Strahan was actually a second-round pick, let alone that the Giants were lucky enough to get him. 

The Giants, remember, had no first-round pick in 1993 after using their first-round pick the year prior on quarterback Dave Brown in the Supplemental Draft. 

No. 56: DE Osi Umenyiora (2003)

Umenyiora, who at one point was thought to be the successor to Strahan, actually didn’t have to worry about living in Strahan’s shadow. Finishing fourth on the Giants’ all-time sack list with 75. 

Umenyiora came from Troy, a smaller school program that was the only school to offer him a scholarship. 

Umenyiora, who wasn’t even invited to the combine in 2003, holds the Giants’ single-game franchise record for most sacks (six), which he set against the Eagles in 2007. His six sacks in that Week 4 game gave the Giants 12 through four games, tying the NFL record. 

No. 105: MLB Harry Carson (1976)

Carson, the team’s defensive captain for ten seasons, is proof positive that you don’t have to be a first-round pick to be Hall of Fame worthy. 

Carson led the Giants in tackles in five seasons and was part of the famed “Crunch Bunch” consisting of Lawrence Taylor, Brian Kelley, and Brad Van Pelt. 

He was also part of the famed “Big Blue Wrecking Crew,” headlined by linebackers Taylor, Carl Banks, and Gary Reasons, as well as defensive linemen George Martin, Jim Burt, and Leonard Marshall. 

The inventor of the Gatorade celebratory shower, Carson was converted from defensive end to linebacker by then Giants linebackers coach Marty Schottenheimer, whom Carson credited for the success he would go on to enjoy in his 13-year NFL career (all with the Giants).

Carson, named to the 1976 All-Rookie Team, went on to earn nine Pro Bowls. He became the first inside linebacker to play in a 3-4 scheme inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  

No. 160: OL David Diehl (2003) 

Diehl was the very definition of Mr. Versatility when it came to playing on the offensive line. 

Diehl anchored all but the center spot for the Giants during his career, landing at left tackle in 2007 when the team won the first of two Super Bowls in the Eli Manning-Tom Coughlin era. 

Diehl played his entire 11-year career with the Giants, earning a Pro Bowl berth in 2009 and being named a second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press in 2008, the year in which he was part of an offensive line that blocked for the league’s No. 1 rushing unit.

No. 207: LB Jessie Armstead (1993)

Armstead proved to be an outstanding value for the Giants, earning five Pro Bowl berths during his 11-year career (nine seasons with the Giants, two with Washington).

Armstead made all five of his Pro Bowls as a Giant. He finished his career with 971 career tackles, 40 sacks, 66 tackles for loss, and 17 pass breakups. He also posted five straight seasons with 100+ tackles in a Giants uniform.

Little known fact: Before the Giants would crush the Minnesota Vikings 41-0 in the 2000 NFC championship game, Armstead was so sure the Giants would win, before the game, he predicted a 31-17 Giants victory, writing down the score on a piece of paper that he hid under the postgame podium. 

After the game, the paper was revealed for the media to see as the Giants celebrated their third Super Bowl berth in their locker room down the hallway in the old Giants Stadium. 

Unfortunately, the Giants would go on to lose Super Bowl XXXV, a game in which Armstead had a Pick-6 that was called back due to a holding penalty; the Giants ultimately lost the game to the Baltimore Ravens 34-4.

No. 211: WR David Tyree (2003)

Tyree will forever be known for the “Helmet Catch” during the Giants' stunning upset of the undefeated New England Patriots in 2007. 

Before he made that life-changing play, Tyree was quite the special-teams ace for the Giants, earning his lone Pro Bowl berth in 2005 for his special-teams play after finishing third on the team that season with 16 special-teams tackles (13 solos) and a blocked kick.

No. 221: G Billy Ard (1981)

A small group of supporters, led by Wake Forest offensive lineman Billy Ard’s father, Bill, Sr., who was a Giants season ticket holder since 1964, gathered in the balcony at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan in 1981 for that year’s draft, bearing a sign urging the Giants to “Let Ard be your guard.” 

The Giants took their advice, and Ard, drafted with the team’s third choice in the eighth round, became a starter midway through his rookie season, going on to become a key part of the famed “Surbanites” offensive line that helped the team win its first-ever Super Bowl championship in 1986.

Ard played eight of his 11 years with the Giants, starting 106 of the 113 games he played for Big Blue. He finished his 11-year career with the Packers in 1991.

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