New York Giants pass on David Wilson, select edge rusher in PFF's 2012 re-draft
After winning the Super Bowl in 2011, the New York Giants held the final pick in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft.
With the controversy and dispute surrounding Brandon Jacobs' contract that resulted in the team ultimately releasing the star running back, it wasn't a huge surprise that the Giants selected David Wilson, a running back out of Virginia Tech.
Unfortunately, Wilson's football career was short-lived. He played in 12 games for the Giants in 2012, recording 358 yards and four touchdowns with one fumble. He became the first player in NFL history to record 200 kick return yards and 100 rushing yards in a single game, and the first player since 1970 to have a kick return touchdown and two rushing touchdowns in the same game.
In 2013, Wilson was placed on injured reserve (IR) after suffering a neck injury in Week 5. The injury would result in his retirement from the NFL.
What would have happened had the Giants selected someone else, though? If they knew then that they have today, who would they have picked over Wilson?
Pro Football Focus specializes in such questions, and in their 2012 re-draft, they think the Giants would select edge rusher Whitney Mercilus out of Illinois.
Mercilus logged only three season-long 70.0-plus PFF overall grades in his 10-year career, but he hovered around 70.0 marks in tackling, pass rushing and run defense from 2012-2017 — just not always at the same time. He was a solid defensive lineman from this class.
In 2012, the Giants had players like Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Linval Joseph, Jason Pierre-Paul, and Chris Canty along the defensive line.
Now, Houston didn't take long to move Mercilus to outside linebacker, which the Giants could have done as well. But in reality, had the Giants selected Mercilus with that pick, he would have sat behind that line and made very few appearances in his rookie season.
However, that time would have allowed him to hone his skills as an edge rusher, and maybe he would have posted even better PFF grades with instruction from star veterans like those along the 2012 Giants' defensive line.
That's obviously not what happened, though. Over his 10 seasons in the NFL, Mercilus recorded 362 tackles (237 solo), 73 tackles for a loss, 58 sacks, 117 QB hits, 13 forced fumbles, and two interceptions. Nine and a half of his 10 seasons were played with Houston, and the final four games of his career were with the Green Bay Packers.
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