Ranking the Top 5 New York Giants Wide Receivers of All Time

The New York Giants have a long and storied history in the NFL that features a host of great players.

That said, it seems like the defensive side of the ball has always been stronger for the G-Men. Still, the team has often had solid enough offenses to support the defense and get it done when it counts. That’s a good way to describe not only the team’s offense historically, but also this list of the best Giants wide receivers of all time.

The NFC side of New York has won eight total championships since 1925 and four Super Bowls since the Big Game was first implemented following the 1966 campaign. With all those great teams, though, the Giants have never had a truly great wide receiver.

That’s not to say that Big Blue hasn’t had some excellent wideouts. Whether it was workmanlike pass catchers or highlight-reel specialists who burned hot and fast, the players on this list got the job done when the team needed them, and with the Giants, that’s often all the squad needs.

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1

Amani Toomer

Amani Toomer never made headlines, he just did a job week in and week out, and that’s why he was the best

Amani Toomer was never the best wide receiver in the league. He never made a Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team, and he’s never making the Hall of Fame. However, if there was a Hall of the Consistently Very Good, Toomer would be voted in on the first ballot.

From 1996 to 2008, Toomer was a consistent force on the Giants’ offense and a big reason the team won a Super Bowl in 2007. From 1999 to 2003, the former Michigan Wolverine put up five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and, overall, led his team in receiving yards in six of his 13 seasons.

After almost a decade and a half in New Jersey, Toomer retired with 668 catches for 9,497 yards, and 54 touchdowns. That makes him first in all those categories in franchise history and the reason that this solidifying force is atop the list of the best Giants receivers of all time.

2

Odell Beckham Jr.

While he didn’t become the best receiver in Giants history, Odell Beckham Jr. does have the best single catch

If this was a list of the most talented or most exciting Giants wide receivers of all time, Odell Bekcham Jr. would be number one with a bullet. As it is, he only played five seasons in New York, so he couldn’t surpass Amani Toomer’s long career, but “OBJ” was electric when he played for Big Blue.

The No. 12 overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft out of LSU, Beckham exploded onto the NFL stage with 91 catches for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns in his first season. That earned him the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award and the first of three consecutive Pro Bowl appearances.

It didn’t take his entire rookie campaign for Beckham to become a national sensation either. In Week 12, in a Sunday Night Football game against the rival Dallas Cowboys, “OBJ” made a physics-defying, backward-leaping, one-handed touchdown catch that is in contention for the best catch in NFL history.

Beckham would go on to post over 1,000 yards in four of his five Giants seasons, which is every season in which he played in more than four games for the team. His 390 catches for 5,476 yards and 44 touchdowns are good for fourth, second, and fourth in franchise history.

The talented yet opinionated wideout would eventually complain his way out of the Big Apple as he wasn’t happy with Eli Manning’s ability to get him the ball as the two-time Super Bowl-winning QB entered the twilight of his career.

That’s too bad for both Beckham and Giants fans, as the WR could have been the best receiver in team history by now if he had chosen to stick it out.

3

Chris Calloway

Chris Calloway did his best during some down years for the Giants’ franchise

Between the last Phil Simms Super Bowl in 1990 and the first Eli Manning one in 2007, the Giants had almost two decades of being just okay. They weren’t bad. They had seven losing seasons during this time but also made the playoffs four times and lost a Super Bowl in 2000. One of the highlights of this middling period, though, was WR Chris Calloway.

Calloway was another Michigan man and a fourth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1990. After two seasons of mostly special teams work, the Giants signed him as a free agent and gave him more pass-catching opportunities.

Calloway made the most of his newfound playing time and developed into a consistent 50-plus-catch, 700-800-yard wideout for the G-Men. He led the team in receiving yards four times and left after the 1998 season with 334 catches, 4,710 receiving yards, and 27 touchdowns.

Those aren’t Hall of Fame or even Ring of Honor numbers by any means, but they are good enough for ninth, eighth, and 12th in franchise history. He also has an interesting team record that further highlights his consistency. From 1996 to 1998, Calloway made at least one catch in 47 straight games for the Giants.

4

Victor Cruz

Injuries stole the chance for this salsa-dancing sensation to be truly special

Speedy Victor Cruz salsa-danced his way onto the NFL scene as an undrafted free agent out of UMass in 2011. He actually did play three games the season before but didn’t record a stat for the Giants. When he hit the ground running in his second season, though, Cruz put up 82 catches for 1,536 yards and nine touchdowns, which earned him a Second-Team All-Pro nod.

Cruz continued on what looked like a star trajectory with 86 catches, 1,092 yards, 10 touchdowns, and a Pro Bowl in 2012 and 73 receptions for 998 yards and four TDs in 2013.

However, Cruz suffered a torn patella tendon six games into the 2014 campaign and was just never the same again. He suffered setbacks and other injuries during his rehab and missed the entire 2015 season. Cruz returned the next year and played 15 games, but his 39 catches for 586 yards and one score showed that he wasn’t the WR of old.

It’s a shame that injuries took such a toll on Cruz in his prime and ended his career after just six seasons, but for three years in New York, Cruz was a salsa-dancing, touchdown-catching star.

5

Plaxico Burress

If Plaxico Burress didn’t (literally and figuratively) shoot himself in the foot, how high could he have risen up this list?

The Giants have two types of players on this list of the best Giants receivers of all time. There are the longtime, consistent compliers, and the short-term stars who have a “what if?” asterisk next to their New York careers. Amani Toomer and Chris Calloway are the former, while Odell Beckham Jr. and Victor Cruz are the latter.

Plaxico Burress is also the latter, and he takes the final spot on this list over a few players who would fit in the first category, such as Hakeem Nicks or Sterling Shepard.

Like Calloway, though, Burress actually started his NFL career in Pittsburgh, playing for the Steelers for five good seasons. He came to New Jersey in 2005 and immediately put up a 1,214-yard, seven-TD campaign.

The next two seasons, Burress was excellent, posting 2,013 yards and 22 touchdowns combined. He even caught the game-winning touchdown in the Giants’ 2007 Super Bowl win over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Like Beckham and Cruz, Burress seemed destined to become the best Giants WR ever. Unfortunately, contract squabbles, suspensions for missing practices, and accidentally shooting himself in the leg at a nightclub followed. That last incident put him in prison for 20 months, which cost Burress two full seasons in the league.

If not for constantly getting in his own way, who knows what Burress could have become for the Giants?

All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise.

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