Rotten Apple: Dissecting Eli’s Tenure With NYG
After a recent suspension, it seems abundantly clear Eli Apple’s future with the Giants is on borrowed time
It’s safe to say Eli Apple’s career with the Giants is over.
The Giants suspended the second-year cornerback for the rest of the year, because of “a pattern of behavior that is conduct detrimental to the team,” according to Jordan Ranaan of ESPN. The suspension comes following a very public battle between Eli Apple and Giants star safety Landon Collins.
Collins, now somewhat infamously, called Apple a “cancer” while on “The Michael Kay Show.” The public blast seemed like a retaliation from Collins after Apple denied the two had conversations. To some, Collins was justified in attacking Apple in the manner he did. Collins tried to assist Apple in his development behind closed doors, but the cornerback decided to act as if the two had never had those talks.
Collins apologized for his actions, saying he met with interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo and Apple Wednesday morning. Collins, a leader in the locker room, likely felt remorseful about publicly destroying one of his teammates.
But when asked about Collins’ apology (which was posted on Twitter) that seemed to include a vote of confidence, Apple responded in probably the worst possible way.
“I gotta take a shit,” Apple said when asked about the incident with Collins, according to Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.
For a guy who has been criticized for being immature, Apple going with that response only exacerbates his already negative public opinion. It was also the second time this year Apple failed to acknowledge Collins’ words.
What’s truly telling, in my opinion, is the fact that none of Apple’s teammates publicly supported him when Apple called him out. Not a single one. That leads one to believe Collins was simply voicing the opinion of the locker room as a whole, and not just engaging in petty warfare.
That’s not where things ended, though.
Apparently, Apple was so upset with having to play scout team defense, he had to be restrained. To put that in perspective, a second-year, underachieving player who’s struggling to even get on the field was throwing a fit over something a future Hall-of-Fame, two-time Super Bowl MVP named Eli Manning did without asking a question.
That reeks of entitlement, and it shows his unwillingness to be coached. The decision to suspend Apple is likely more of a culmination of weeks upon weeks of off-field issues.
This has been an absolutely nightmarish season for Apple. In 2017 alone, Apple has been benched, shown disrespect toward coaches, picked fights with teammates, has retweeted a highlight of a Cowboys player when the Giants and Cowboys were playing and has threatened mutiny twice. He has intercepted zero passes, and has started seven games.
Maybe we should’ve seen this coming, though. After all, this whole situation seemed lukewarm, at best, from the start.
In many ways, the Apple-Giants marriage was rotten from the onset of the relationship.
For starters, Apple was never the team’s first choice in the 2016 NFL Draft. It was widely known the Giants preferred both Leonard Floyd and Jack Conklin over the Ohio State cornerback. Ironically enough, Floyd and Conklin both went the two picks before the Giants were on the clock.
Then-general manager Jerry Reese’s frustratingly stagnant approach to the draft led to the Giants picking their third choice. The team reached, and the move to take Apple was met with an immense amount of disapproval.
Fans thought the team either made a substantial reach, or didn’t know enough about Apple to be happy with the pick.
It didn’t make things easier when Apple’s mother, Annie, took the spotlight away from her son. Annie, in her own right, is a successful, outspoken confident woman. But that personality took center stage when her son was trying to find his footing in the NFL. In all fairness, Apple’s first year was rough. He had a few impressive plays, but was a general liability in pass coverage. However, the success of the defense as a whole helped mask some of Apple’s issues. The sum (NYPD) was great, but the part (Apple) was not.
The Giants’ Wild Card game against the Packers was particularly bad. On Randall Cobb’s Hail Mary reception, it was Apple who somehow let the receiver get behind him.
Things didn’t get better in year two.
When Apple’s played this year, he’s been bad. The flags that plagued him as a rookie still haunted him, and he struggled getting his head around in time to make an actual play on the ball. Additionally, a tremendous lack of effort against the 49ers and Rams led to heavy criticism from his teammates, which caused the aforementioned threat of mutiny.
If Apple were struggling off the field, but was locking down receivers on it, that would be one thing. But Apple’s inconsistent play makes his off-field incidents even more troubling.
While all teams are patient with young players, to an extent, there comes a time when that patience runs thin. Apple was taking the slack as quickly as the Giants would cut it for him, and the team had finally had enough.
It’s not hard to see the writing on the wall regarding Apple’s future with the Giants. At this point, Apple’s return is less likely than Tiki Barber returning to the Giants.
According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, the Giants suspending Apple voids his guaranteed money for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.
That means cutting him outright will be much, much more affordable, and much more realistic.
At this point, trading Apple isn’t likely whatsoever. This suspension, paired with his general immature approach likely kills whatever trade value was out there. I’m not sure if the Giants could get anything more than a sixth or seventh-round pick, and even that may be a stretch.
Whatever move the team decides to make won’t be made right now.
This is a decision for the next general manager and head coach to sort out. But there’s virtually no chance the new higher-ups decide to retain a cornerback who’s done nothing good in his time with the club. If the organization truly wants to make a culture change, then it’s hard to imagine Apple staying long enough to be a part of it.
Out of all of the bad picks Reese made during his time as the team’s general manager, picking Apple may be the one remembered least fondly. There’s a distinct difference from drafting a poor football player who simply doesn’t have the talent level to succeed in the NFL, and taking a player who is constantly in the news for off-field issues. In a way, though, Apple is a perfect encapsulation of Reese’s time as GM.
It’s ironic, because a pre-draft scouting report on Apple (that included his inability to cook as a legitimate detractor) that was mostly shrugged off seems to have been spot-on.
“I worry about him because of off-the-field issues,” an unnamed scout said, according to Bob McGinn of Journal Sentinel. The kid has no life skills. At all. Can’t cook. Just a baby. He’s not first round for me. He scares me to death.”
While many people get too caught up in the off-kilter comment about cooking, the main takeaway from that scout’s take is that Apple is immature. Giants fans have seen that report be proven unquestionably true this year. The on-field talent Apple possesses has taken a back seat to his concerning character issues and overall immaturity.
People point to personal issues as the catalyst for Apple’s struggles. There’s some weight to those claims, but at some point, a young player, playing in the biggest market in the country, needs to grow up and be a professional.
Hopefully he figures it out. Apple isn’t a bad person, but he’s sealed his own fate with the Giants with his continued immaturity and apparent overall apathy about being a Giant.
Talk Giants with Ryan on Twitter: @ryandisdier
