Giants fans surely don’t look back on cornerback Eli Apple’s tenure with New York very fondly.
The 10th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, solidly known as a draft bust amongst Giants fans, has made a decent career for himself after leaving New York.
“Chaotic is what I knew from being in the media storm of New York. So when I got to New Orleans, the media wasn’t as ruthless when I got out there. It was more calm for me,” Apple said in a Q&A with ReadWrite’s Kyle Odegard.
But Apple didn’t blame all of his Giants troubles on the atmosphere.
“Being a young guy coming in, you try to balance everything, and you try to play Superman,” Apple said. “Sometimes it’s tough … That was my mistake, trying to do too much.”
Apple also mentioned familial troubles during his New York tenure. His mom, Annie Apple, had undergone brain surgery and divorced her husband, Tim, who proceeded to remove himself from Eli’s life after being a major part of it before.
“A lot of stuff with my family ended up becoming public, and it unraveled,” Apple said. “It played with my peace, played with my emotions. I think that ended up carrying out onto the field, not being able to focus.”
Whether the issues stemmed completely from this or not, poor play and drama with teammates also played a major role in Apple’s New York failure.
“I was such a young, hot-headed kid, and at different points I was feeling like a lot of the blame on how the season was going was kind of towards me,” Apple said. “That was something I didn’t appreciate … Outbursts happened.
Despite the rocky start to his career, Apple has churned out a nine-year NFL career and has played for five other teams. He is currently a free agent.
He was asked if he wished his Giants term had gone differently.
“I mean, of course, yeah … But I think the beauty of everything is not having regret, but learning from those mistakes and knowing you had to go through that to become who you are,” Apple said.
“I think everything happened for a reason. I’m very thankful to get drafted by the Giants and get that opportunity. That was amazing. I learned a lot throughout that time about myself. I learned a lot about the people close to me, and I needed to go through what I went through to be where I am now, so I don’t have any regrets at all.”
