Nice analysis. The Giants drafting is a sore spot for me as well. And for a much longer time frame.

My biggest problem with the OBJ pick was the player selected next: Aaron Donald who I desperately wanted the Giants to take. But Jerry Reese had a type. He hit on Jean Pierre Paul, an athletic freak with limited football experience and then fell in love with that sort of player, even to go so far as describing a later pick as "the JPP of tight ends" (Evan Engram). Aaron Donald didn't check the combine warrior boxes. He was just damned good at football.

This current iteration has no identity. The Giants of my youth were always known for having a great defense, even when they weren't a good team. The 15 years of lousy football teams would play close games until the exhausted defense finally gave way in the second half. The great 80s teams and the Coughlin teams also featured defense. Eli may have won the Super Bowl MVPs but they should have gone to Justin Tuck and Michael Strahan, or the DL collectively as in the year when Randy White and Harvey Martin were co-MVPs for Dallas. But the defense since Coughlin got fired has never been that good. Defense wins championships. Thus it has always been, and it's still true today. Offense wins fantasy football. Defense wins on the field. Until the Giants have another great defense, they will continue to lose whomever is taking the snaps.