The NFL offseason is a relatively dry time for content and that leads to a number of odd projects and fantasy scenarios.
Peter King of NBC Sports recently took on one of those exercises and compiled an All-Time 53-Man roster. What makes this roster unique is that it’s not made up of the best players of all time but rather, the best team players of all time.
King broke things down by position and his depth guys were true depth guys. His special teams players were true special teams players.
And in total, eight former members of the New York Giants were among the 53.
FB Maurice Carthon (starter)
Maurice Carthon is an interesting choice at fullback when you consider other players like Lorenzo Neal, Larry Csonka, and Mike Alstott.
Here’s what King had to say:
Came to the Giants the first year I covered them, 1985, from the USFL’s Trump-owned New Jersey Generals. What an amazing year. He started 19 games for the Generals, including a playoff game, then 18, including two playoff games, for the Giants, in a 10-month span. Three weeks off between seasons. A rock-solid blocker and totally unselfish, two crucial traits for a fullback.
DE Michael Strahan (reserve)
Bruce Smith and Reggie White earned the bookend starting jobs for King but Michael Strahan still made the cut.
Here’s what King had to say:
As for Strahan, he’s one of the few great players in my years who was better in his thirties than twenties. He had 67.5 sacks in his first five years of his thirties and led the league three times in tackles for loss as a thirty-something. Took pride in run defense too.
LB Lawrence Taylor (starter)
Lawrence Taylor is the greatest of all time. What else needs to be said?
Here’s what King had to say:
Covered LT for four years. Crazy man. In 1988, two months after a four-game drug suspension, Taylor put on a one-man defensive show with a torn deltoid muscle and one arm harnessed to the side. He sacked Bobby Hebert three times, hit him four more times, and led a 13-12 Giants win. We surrounded the wincing Taylor at his locker post-game. He was asked how much the harness and torn muscle affected him. “Well,” he said, “it slows down my backswing.” The way he lived his life, I’m slightly surprised Taylor’s still with us at age 65 — which he got to Sunday.
ST: Reyna Thompson, David Tyree, Brian Mitchell
Three former Giants special teamers on here? Three? Who saw that coming? Reyna Thompson and Brian Mitchell are somewhat obvious, but David Tyree is a surprise.
Here’s what King had to say:
[Steve] Tasker and Thompson are the best gunners I ever saw. I remember the late Bills special-teams coach Bruce DeHaven giving me an old VHS tape with 10 plays on it. “In 10 of our biggest wins over the years,” DeHaven said, “Steve made what me and Marv [Levy] thought were the biggest single plays of the games. Here are those plays.” Slater was so good, and such a wonderful team guy, for so long. Mitchell had 1,070 returns in the career I thought was the most versatile I’ve witnessed. Best play: a 2002 fake punt coached by Eagles special-teams coordinator John Harbaugh … Mitchell threw a 57-yard TD pass to Brian Dawkins. Finally, Tyree was great as a special-teamer and heroic in the game that chopped down the 18-0 Patriots. Did you know the last ball he ever caught in the NFL was the Velcro Helmet Catch?
TE Mark Bavaro (bench)
Mark Bavaro isn’t discussed among the NFL’s best tight ends of all time…but he should be.
Here’s what King had to say:
Watch this from Dec. 1, 1985, Monday night, Giants-Niners at Candlestick, Al Michaels and Frank Gifford in the booth.
WR Chris Hogan (bench)
Did you remember Chris Hogan was actually a Giant for a moment in 2011?
Here’s what King had to say:
One story that will stick with me forever is asking Tom Brady after the Atlanta Super Bowl comeback why, over and over with the Super Bowl on the line, he threw comebacks and out-routes to two bottom-of-the-roster guys, Hogan and rookie Malcolm Mitchell. “It’s 110 practices,” Brady said, and he talked about how much he trusted Hogan and Mitchell to be in precisely the perfect spot, so he’d throw to a spot and be sure they’d be there. That’s football. Great football, anyway.
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