Monday Morning Quarterback conducted an All-Time NFL Draft and Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor topped the list:
More than 23,000 men have played professional football at the highest level. None did it better than Giants legend Lawrence Taylor.
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At least, that's according to Monday Morning Quarterback’s All-Time NFL Draft.
As millions of fans prepare for their fantasy football drafts, Peter King held the ultimate one for MMQB. The NFL columnist assembled a 12-man panel of personnel experts, football historians, and longtime writers to stage the All-Time NFL Draft, drawing from the pool of every player in pro football history. Three hundred players were chosen in this draft over the course of 25 rounds, and 14 of them played at some point for the New York Giants, including 12 Pro Football Hall of Famers and seven members of the franchise's Ring of Honor.
Here is a look at the former Giants, along with their selection numbers and when they played for the team:
- LB Lawrence Taylor (1981-93)
- RB Jim Thorpe (1925)
- OT Roosevelt Brown (1953-65)
- DT Arnie Weinmeister (1950-53)
- S Emlen Tunnell (1948-58)
- DE Michael Strahan (1993-2007)
- C Mel Hein (1931-45)
- DE Andy Robustelli (1956-64)
- RB Hugh McElhenny (1963)
- Morten Andersen (2001)
- RB Larry Csonka (1976-78)
- LB Harry Carson (1976-88)
- K John Carney (2008)
- P Sean Landeta (1985-93, 2006)
"For me, Lawrence Taylor was a no-brainer with the No. 1 overall pick," said Joel Bussert, who held the No. 1 on the panel and recently retired after a 40-year career running the player personnel department of the NFL. "When you talk about the greatest defensive player in history, it's almost always LT. There are far more names thrown out for the greatest offensive player. I thought there was a fair chance that at the top of the second round I would still get an all-world QB, and fortunately Roger Staubach was there. That worked out pretty well. I got Bruce Smith in the third round, which surprised me."
The following people made up the panel:
• Ernie Accorsi, former GM of the Colts, Browns and Giants (Ring of Honor).
• Gil Brandt, father of modern football scouting. Has worked in NFL for the past 58 years.
• Joel Bussert, for 40 years the NFL's vice president of player personnel.
• Dan Fouts, Hall of Fame quarterback, current Pro Football Hall of Fame voter.
• Rick Gosselin, longtime pro football columnist, and king of the mock draft.
• Joe Horrigan, Pro Football Hall of Fame executive vice president and chief archivist.
• Peter King, 33-year pro football writer, editor-in-chief of The MMQB and Hall of Fame voter.
• Bob McGinn, who just finished a 38-year run covering the Green Bay Packers.
• Bill Polian, six-time Executive of the Year and a Pro Football Hall of Fame GM.
• John Turney, editor of Pro Football Journal and respected football historian.
• Ron Wolf, architect of three NFL playoff teams, and Pro Football Hall of Fame GM.
• John Wooten, 10-year NFL guard, 23-year NFL scout, head of The Fritz Pollard Alliance.
For the 25-round draft, each team fielded an 11-man offense, 11-man defense, a kicker, punter and wild card player—"either a special-teamer or another favorite of the drafter."
"[It's] a project that's been a long time coming," King wrote. "The executive editor of The MMQB, Mark Mravic, suggested a couple of years ago that we do an all-time draft of pro football players. How cool would it be, he thought, if we got smart football people together and conducted a draft from the pool of every one of the more than 23,000 men who have played in the NFL, AFL and All-America Football Conference? How cool would it be if we made teams with Joe Montana throwing to Don Hutson, or with Von Miller chasing down Jim Brown from behind? Pretty cool."
