Bleacher Report Has Wild Suggestion to Solve Giants’ CB2 Question

The New York Giants are still grappling with uncertainty at cornerback regarding who will start opposite second-year man Deonte Banks on the defense this year. But fear not, as Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox has identified a free-agent veteran who could come in and solve the team’s problems.

Only one thing. Knox’s proposed solution, cornerback Eli Apple, burned his bridges so badly during his time with the Giants that his chances of being brought back are practically non-existent.

Apple was the Giants’ first-round draft pick in 2016, a pick that some believe was a knee-jerk reaction by then-general manager Jerry Reese after the Giants were jumped in the draft order by the Bears and the Titans. The Bears and Titans selected outside linebacker Leonard Floyd and offensive lineman Jack Conklin, respectively, two players heavily linked to the Giants in that year’s draft.

Instead, they reached for Apple at No. 10 overall, and he ended up having a rocky career in Blue that included his teammate at the time, safety Landon Collins, calling him a cancer. Apple was eventually suspended toward the end of the 2017 season for what the Giants said was “a pattern of behavior that is detrimental to the team.”

The following year, the Giants traded Apple to the New Orleans Saints, a team needing defensive backfield help. New York received a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft and a seventh-round pick in the 2020 draft in return for Apple.

After being traded by the Giants, Apple often took delight in trolling Giants and, eventually, Saints fans, especially after he left New Orleans and joined the Cincinnati Bengals, for whom he played in Super Bowl LVI. He would later expand his trolling to his opponents before getting a taste of his own medicine from his peers.

So no, don’t expect the Giants to be picking up the phone to call Apple, who was most recently with the Miami Dolphins, any time soon, no matter how dire they might think their cornerback situation is.