The Tight Ends of Giants Past

The New York Giants Tight End corps has lacked affluence for many years. They have not been dominant at that position since Jeremy Shockey and in prior eras flourished with Howard Cross and Rambo.

The New York Giants Tight End corps has lacked affluence for many years. They have not been dominant at that position since Jeremy Shockey and in prior eras flourished with Howard Cross and Rambo. So, let’s take a lookback at the Tight Ends of Giants Past.

Bob Schnelker was a Giants tight end during the mid-century for seven seasons making the Pro Bowl in 1958 and 1959 with 183 receptions for 3,232 yards and 29 touchdowns.

Joe Walton held down the position with YA Tittle as his signal caller from 1961-1963 with 95 catches for 1,321 yards, the man who led the Jets to back-to-back playoff appearances as a head coach in the 80’s caught seventeen touchdowns as a Giant.

Aaron Thomas spent nine seasons in a Giants uniform with 4,253 receiving yards and found the end zone 35 times while earning a Pro Bowl nod in 1964 and Bobby Crespino wore blue and red for five years during their dry spell in the late 60’s playing 66 games and had 644 yards receiving.

Bob Tucker was a Giant during their prolonged dry spell in the 70’s which was the franchise’s worst decade and had over 4,000 yards and over 300 catches. Gary Shirk played seven NFL seasons, all with Big Blue and had 130 receptions for 1,640 yards.

Bavaro was the far better tight end in the 80’s but Zeke Mowatt was an admirable Giant and as Wellington Mara said, “Once a Giant, always a Giant.” Mowatt played seven seasons in East Rutherford with 1,698 receiving yards and a Super Bowl XXI ring. Mowatt scored a touchdown in the divisional playoff game when New York overwhelmed Joe Montana and the 49ers 49-3 and caught a pass from Phil Simms in the Super Bowl victory over Denver in what was the greatest performance by a quarterback in Super Bowl history.

Mark Bavaro is the Giants GOAT tight end hands down. Six seasons, 82 games, 266 catches for 3,722 yards and 28 trips to the end zone. Nicknamed Rambo due to his resemblance to Sylvester Stallone, the tough as nails brawny tight end of Italian descent had 1,001 yards in his first pro bowl season in 1986 averaging 62 yards per game during the championship season and 867 yards during his second pro bowl year in ’87 tallying 72 yards a game on average. #89 scored a touchdown vs. the 49ers and one vs. the Broncos in the 1986 playoffs and blessed himself after he scored a TD vs. Denver making the sign of the cross in the end zone as he is synonymous for being a righteous devout Catholic. Rambo reeled in eight passes for 134 yards during the ’86 postseason and in his second Super Bowl in 1990 snagged thirteen passes for 129 yards in three playoff games. And who could forget Bavaro’s signature career play on Monday Night Football December 1986 when he caught a pass for a first down, and it took four 49ers to bring him down. He defined toughness.

All thirteen of Howard Cross’s NFL seasons were spent wearing red and blue from 1989 to 2001. The current sideline reporter for Giants radio caught over 200 passes for over 2,000 yards in 207 games averaging almost 11 yards per reception (10.9) and had five catches for 44 yards during the 1990 playoffs and a touchdown vs. the Bears in the divisional playoff game. Cross also was a member of the 2000 NFC champions.

Jeremy Shockey, the bleach blonde, unapologetic, flamboyant tight end out of University of Miami had so much passion he played like a wily coyote. Shockey played in 83 contests and caught 371 passes for 4,228 yards and scored 27 touchdowns. #80 would average 11.4 yards per reception and 50.9 yards per game and led his team to four playoff appearances in the 2000’s though he missed the 2007 Super Bowl run with a broken fibula.

Kevin Boss was a Giant for four years and summated 1,600 yards in the air with 18 touchdowns. Boss caught five footballs for 90 yards in the 2007 playoffs and on the first play of the fourth quarter in Super Bowl XLII had a 45-yard catch and run that set up David Tyree’s touchdown.

Evan Engram’s Giants career was disappointing and came far from exceeding the hype, but the current Jacksonville Jaguars tight end made a Pro Bowl in 2020 and had 262 catches for 2,828 yards in five years calling MetLife home.

The current Giants greatly lack depth at this position. Chris Manhertz has one catch for two yards and Daniel Bellinger has eight catches for 76 yards. Though rookie tight end Theo Johnson who is now sidelined for the rest of the season with an injury did show some promise in his first-year reeling in 29 passes for 331 yards in twelve games. Maybe his name will eventually be mentioned in the same sentence as these Giants who represented the position proudly. Time will tell.