When the New York Giants selected Ereck Flowers in the first-round of the 2015 NFL Draft, expectations were relatively high. Then-general manager Jerry Reese envisioned the Miami alumni taking over at left tackle and anchoring the team’s offensive line for years to come.
That, of course, did not happen. In fact, Flowers never found his footing in New York and his most-talked about moment came in 2016 when he got into a physical altercation with ESPN reporter Jordan Raanan.
All told, Flowers is considered — and even recently named — the Giants’ biggest draft bust in history.
That was a trend that continued recently when Barry Werner of Touchdown Wire broke down the 45 worst first-round NFL draft picks since 2010 and placed Flowers right near the top of his unnumbered list.
Ereck Flowers did not deliver for the Giants as a top pick in 2015 out of Miami. Picked ninth overall, Flowers was frequently the topic of critics in the Big Apple before he moved on to Jacksonville and now Washington. Something says the Giants won’t fear facing him twice this season … if he sticks with Washington.
Flowers wasn’t alone on this list, however. Cornerback Eli Apple, who also had a tumultuous and confrontational tenure in New York, also made the list.
Eli Apple was drafted 10th overall in 2016 out of Ohio State. He made as much noise off the field as he did on it for Big Blue. Not good. Apple was dealt to New Orleans last season.
Apple was expected to come in and man one of the team’s two starting cornerback position, but that never quite materialized. Instead, Apple was sluggish in getting started and then completely fell out of favor with his teammates in 2017.
Not only did Apple engage in a public feud with safety Landon Collins, he also got into a confrontation with an assistant coach during practice. And while a regime change briefly saved him, it was short-lived and he was ultimately traded to the New Orleans Saints in 2018.
