The New York Giants 2019 training camp will get underway in a little more than two weeks.
Looking ahead to the coming season, there is a definite question regarding the Giants’ defense and pass rush in particular. How will the Giants rush the passer in 2019? Will they have a “natural” pass rush or will James Bettcher have to scheme pressure?
We have speculated plenty about that over the last few months, but one way or another we’ll be getting our answers soon. So instead I wanted to take a minute to look back and see who Big Blue View thinks should be on Mt. Passrushmore.
Now, to make this just a bit more interesting, we’ll put Lawrence Taylor and Michael Strahan off to the side. They should be on every list of the Giants’ top pass rushers, and on most (if not all) lists of the NFL’s best pass rushers. So to create four open spots, let’s all agree that LT and Stray are the best pass rushers in Giants’ history and true giants in the NFL’s history.
To make things a bit easier, here are the Giants to rack up 20 or more sacks. This won’t be a perfect list — after all, sacks only became an official stat in 1982 and there will be more than a few good defenders left off — but this is just for fun so we can make do.
Leonard Marshall (DL, 1983-1992) - 79.5 sacks
Osi Umenyiora (DE, 2003 - 2012) - 75.0 sacks
Keith Hamilton (DT, 1992 - 2003) - 63.0 sacks
Justin Tuck (DE, 2005 - 2013) - 60.5 sacks
Jason Pierre-Paul (DE, 2011 - 2017) - 58.5 sacks
George Martin (DE, 1975 - 1988) - 46.0 sacks*
Mathias Kiwanuka (DE, 2006 - 2014) - 38.5 sacks
Carl Banks (OLB, 1984 - 1992) - 36.0 sacks
Jessie Armstead (LB, 1993 - 2001) - 30.5 sacks
Erik Howard (DT, 1986 - 1994) - 30.5 sacks
Fred Robbins (DT, 2004 - 2009) - 25.0 sacks
Robert Harris (DT, 1995 - 1999) - 24.0 sacks
Olivier Vernon (EDGE, 2016 - 2018) 22.0 sacks
So Giants’ fans, who is in your top four? Do you credit Fred Robbins because he got his sacks from the defensive tackle position, or how about George Martin because sacks weren’t recorded for half of his Giants’ career?