Top 10 Giants free-agent signings of all time — and the 3 worst

The team likes to say “Once a Giant, Always a Giant,” but some of its most recent championship teams have been led by players who were something else before they became Giants. Free agency has been a useful tool for the organization over the years and while not every signing has led to a Lombardi Trophy, each of the four Lombardi Trophies can pretty much be traced back to a signing.

The Giants head into the 2026 free agent market that begins on March 11 with not much money (their estimated $5.1 million in salary cap space before any significant cuts or restructurings ranks 20th in the league), but a lot of drawing power based on new head coach John Harbaugh and a young roster with talent at key positions, including quarterback and wide receiver.

Will there be a player who joins the Giants in the coming weeks who will become an integral part of the next championship squad? Before they sign anyone, here is a look at their top 10 signings over the years along with three that stood out as among their worst.

10. Chris Calloway

Before unrestricted free agency arrived in the NFL in 1993, there was something called “Plan B free agency” from 1989-92 in which teams were allowed to protect up to 37 of their players while everyone else could be signed by other teams. The Giants used that system to land Calloway from the Steelers in March 1992 on a two-year deal worth $795,000. It turned into a seven-year stint with the team.  He played in 112 games, 86 as a starter, and led the team in receptions from 1995 to 1998. He set a franchise record with a pass reception in 47 straight games from 1996 to 1998. By the time he left the Giants, his 334 career catches ranked third in franchise history behind Frank Gifford and Joe Morrison.

9. Chase Blackburn

It seemed as if his playing career with the Giants was over after the 2010 season, when he was not re-signed after six seasons spent mostly as a special teams contributor. In fact, no one signed him that offseason and he was preparing for a second career as a middle school math teacher. Then a rash of injuries hit the Giants’ linebacker room in November 2011 and the team gave Blackburn a call to see if he had kept in shape. He had, and on Dec. 1 he signed a contract for the rest of the year that wound up including an unexpected Super Bowl run. One of the key plays in the Giants’ upset of the Patriots in the big game was Blackburn’s interception off Tom Brady while covering Rob Gronkowski on a deep route, the would-be math teacher on a league-minimum deal getting the better of two future Hall of Famers.

8. Bart Oates

The center began his career with three seasons in the USFL where he won two championships before the Giants signed him to a four-year, $1.1 million deal in 1985. (Clearly hedging his bet on the move between leagues, Oates’ initial contract with the Giants included an additional $1 million if the NFL disbanded; that, um, did not happen.) He wound up being a starter for two Super Bowl-winning teams during his nine seasons in New York (and won a third Super Bowl ring with the 49ers in the 1995 season). His quiet presence gave the Giants amazing stability on a team dominated by very big personalities such as coach Bill Parcells, Lawrence Taylor and Phil Simms. He made the Pro Bowl in 1990, 1991 and 1993 and at one point started 125 consecutive games for the Giants.

7. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

The cornerback signed a five-year, $35 million contract with the Giants in 2014 after stints with the Cardinals, Eagles and Broncos. While the team saw much more chaos than success during his four seasons, he did post 11 interceptions during his time with the team. He was a Pro Bowler in 2015 and a second-team All-Pro in 2016.

6. Kareem McKenzie

There were only seven players who were starters for both of the Giants’ most recent Super Bowl-winning teams and McKenzie, the right tackle, is the only one of those who came to the team as a free agent. He arrived in 2005 after a productive tenure with the Jets and signed a seven-year, $36 million deal. During those seven seasons, he missed just seven games due to injury and paved running lanes for the likes of Tiki Barber, Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. Super Bowl XLVI wound up being his last game as the Giants elected to not re-sign him to a new deal following their victory and he never played another down in the NFL.

5. Shaun O’Hara 

His initial three-year, $5.4 million contract in 2004 after three seasons with the Browns didn’t garner much attention but it wound up being one of the key moves in solidifying the offensive line into one of the top units in the league and helping the Giants win a Super Bowl in 2007. It also led to a longtime friendship with Eli Manning that continues today as a sidekick on “The Eli Manning Show.” O’Hara was named a second-team All-Pro in 2008 and a Pro Bowler in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

4. Kerry Collins

In just five seasons with the Giants, Collins became one of the most productive passers in franchise history, leading the team to the 2000 NFC championship and a berth in Super Bowl XXXV as well as a 2002 NFC Wild Card playoff appearance. After backing up Kent Graham early in 1999, his first Giants season after signing a four-year, $16.9 million deal, Collins started 67 consecutive games and earned a 2002 extension before an ankle injury forced him to miss the final three games of the 2003 season. At the time of his release after the Giants acquired Eli Manning in April 2004, Collins was third in franchise history with 1,447 completions and his 58.51 completion percentage was the highest by any Giants passer with at least 1,000 attempts.

3. Antrel Rolle

Some have called his five-year, $37 million deal with the Giants in March 2010 after his cap-casualty release from the Cardinals the “perfect contract” because he started every game during those five seasons, was a huge part of the Super Bowl winning run in 2011 and played multiple positions in the secondary while making one Pro Bowl. The deal never needed adjusting, never made either side feel as though Rolle was being over- or underpaid. And when the contract expired he and the team simply parted ways; his seven inconsequential starts for the Bears the following season in 2015 indicated that his time in New York ended at exactly the right time. He could never crack the 100-tackle plateau with the Giants but he was incredibly consistent averaging 92.8 per season with a career-high of 98 in 2013 and a “low” of 87 in both his first and final year with the Giants.

2. Plaxico Burress

If they knew he would catch the game-winning touchdown in a Super Bowl to cap his third season with the team, the Giants might have offered Burress more than the six-year, $25 million contract they gave him after he left Pittsburgh. His play helped elevate Eli Manning to a championship-level quarterback as he posted two 1,000-plus yard seasons and caught 33 regular-season touchdowns in his four seasons with the team. It wasn’t all smooth — there were suspensions, fines and absences not to mention an end to his tenure that came when he accidentally shot himself in the leg in a Manhattan nightclub and scuttled a promising 2008 campaign — but the Giants definitely got their money's worth whenever Burress was on the field.

1. Antonio Pierce

Pierce rose from an undrafted rookie to a starter in four years in Washington but the Giants clearly saw something in him beyond what Washington did. They signed him to a six-year, $26 million contract in March 2005. He immediately stepped in as their starting middle linebacker and quickly ascended to captain. By 2007, he was the quarterback of the Super Bowl-winning defense. A herniated disc in his neck sidelined him in 2009 and led to his early retirement at age 31.

Three worst Giants free-agent signings

3. Larry Csonka

The Giants thought they were adding gravitas to their offense when they signed the future Hall of Fame running back to a three-year contract in 1976. Instead, they started 0-9 before he injured his knee in his first season in New York (making him one of the first of many to blame the turf at the Meadowlands for his ailment). Csonka never had a run of more than 15 yards for the Giants and in his final season with them, 1978, he had just 91 carries. It’s his potential 92nd one that is most remembered, though. It would have come had Joe Pisarcik managed to get him the ball on "The Fumble."

2. Patrick Omameh

One of Dave Gettleman’s “Hog Mollie” linemen, Omameh arrived in 2018 on a three-year, $15 million contract to be the team’s starting guard. He was released after just six games of poor play at the position. The Giants signed Nate Solder to a four-year deal for $62 million that same offseason, making him the highest-paid lineman in the league and also one of the worst dollar-for-dollar signings in team history, but unlike Omameh he at least played every game for the three seasons he suited up (he opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID).

1. Kenny Golladay

The Giants added Golladay in 2021 as part of their effort to “build around” Daniel Jones, signing the receiver to a four-year contract worth $72 million. He lasted just two seasons, catching just six passes in 12 games in 2022, and scoring just one touchdown in his entire tenure . . . on a pass in the last game of the season thrown by Davis Webb. While the Giants reached the playoffs in 2022, Golladay was barely part of the offense having been usurped on the depth chart by the likes of Isaiah Hodgins and Marcus Johnson. The Giants released him in March 2023. 

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.