The Giants will likely have a few different potential routes to take with the 11th overall pick of the upcoming draft, with a wide receiver upgrade looking like a viable option to help bolster the help around Daniel Jones.
New York has said it will stick with Jones at quarterback, and time will tell if the former sixth overall pick turns into a bust, but for now, Big Blue will look to avoid repeating the history of these five draft busts:
Jarrod Bunch
A fullback in the first round sounds like lunacy now, but in 1991, the Giants thought they had their replacement for Maurice Carthon when they took Bunch with the 27th overall pick. How did it go? Bunch logged just 629 yards in four seasons, his final NFL campaign coming with the Raiders in 1994. He was out of the league at 26 years old.
Among the players that New York passed on to take Bunch? Brett Favre. Ouch.
Ron Dayne
Another fullback type, Dayne was expected to be the Giants’ bruiser alongside Tiki Barber when he was taken 11th overall in the 2000 draft, but instead, the Wisconsin product turned in five forgettable seasons.
Dayne compiled 2,067 rushing yards with Big Blue, but after logging 228 rushes as a rookie, he barely eclipsed that mark over his next four years with New York, and was never active for the entire 2003 season due to inefficiency. He went on to play two more seasons with the Texans before his career ended at age 29.
Cedric Jones
This top-five pick certainly never panned out, with Jones lasting just five seasons in the NFL before he was out of the league at 26 years old. Jones was taken fifth overall by the Giants in 1996 after defensive end Simeon Rice came off the board at third overall, serving as the team’s backup plan. Well, vision problems limited Jones to playing only on the right side of the line of scrimmage, and didn’t become a regular starter until his fourth season in the NFL. He didn’t record a sack until his third year with the Giants, and finished his forgettable career with 15.0 sacks.
Derek Brown
The Giants were in need of a tight end in 1992, and Brown was coming off a successful career at Notre Dame, a factory for NFL tight ends. Perfect fit, right? Not quite.
The 14th selection in the ’92 draft, Brown caught just 11 passes in three seasons with the Giants, making seven starts as a rookie and not making another for the rest of his Big Blue tenure. He went on to play two seasons with the Jaguars afterward, and by his age 29 season, his career was done.
Ereck Flowers
The Giants had high hopes for Flowers when he was drafted ninth overall in 2015 to protect Eli Manning, but instead, he became a gaping hole in the offensive line.
Flowers struggled in his first three seasons with New York and was eventually moved over to right tackle after the Giants acquired Nate Solder, and as a result, Flowers held out to protest the positional change. He eventually took the field and was benched by the third week of the season. By 2018, he was cut and signed by Washington.