The New York Giants parted ways with cornerback Eli Apple on Tuesday, trading the former first-round pick to the New Orleans Saints.
The New York Giants are trading Eli, but the one on the other side of the ball
The team has traded cornerback Eli Apple to the New Orleans Saints, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Giants trading Eli Apple to the Saints, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 23, 2018
Schefter would later report that the Giants will receive a 2019 fourth-round pick and a 2020 seventh-rounder in exchange for Apple.
Apple, the team’s first-round draft pick in 2016, was in the midst of his third year with the Giants, having tallied 23 tackles, five pass deflections, and one forced fumble through five games, missing two games with a groin injury. Overall, he ends his Giants career with 123 total tackles, 20 pass deflections, four fumble recoveries, and one interception.
After a promising rookie season, Apple went through a tumultuous sophomore year. Things reached a heated fever pitch in December, starting with the team’s home loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 14. An inactive Apple retweeted a post from an Ohio State sports fan account, commemorating a touchdown that Cowboys running back Rod Smith had scored against the Giants, the post labeling the score as one that “iced the New York Giants”. Smith had been Apple’s college teammate in Columbus.
Later in the month, Giants safety Landon Collins called Apple a “cancer” in an ESPN Radio interview with Bob Wischusen. After playing no defensive snaps in the penultimate game of the season in Arizona, Apple wound up suspended for the season finale at home, reportedly engaging in an altercation with secondary coach Tim Walton during practice.
Apple is expected to add depth to a New Orleans team with Super Bowl aspirations. The Saints currently sit at 5-1, tops in the NFC South. They have won five games in a row, including a 33-18 win over the Giants in East Rutherford on September 30, though Apple did not play in that game.
With the trading of Apple, selected 10th overall in the 2016 draft, only two players, receiver Sterling Shepard and linebacker B.J. Goodson, from the Giants’ six-member 2016 draft class remain on the roster.
The Giants return to action on Sunday afternoon at home against the Washington Redskins (1:00 p.m. ET, Fox)
