Eli Apple reflected on his NFL career, now in its sixth year, on Wednesday.
“It’s been a long journey with trials and tribulations, learning the game and just putting that work in to get to where I’m at now,” Apple said.
Where he is now is in the Super Bowl with the Cincinnati Bengals, his fourth team. The Giants selected Apple in the first round of the 2016 draft out of Ohio State hoping he would get them to the Super Bowl. But the cornerback had a tumultuous 2 ½ years in New York filled with struggles on and off the field. His second season ended with him being suspended for arguing with a coach, and teammate Landon Collins calling him “a cancer.”
The Giants brought him back in 2018 with new coach Pat Shurmur but traded him in the middle of that season to the Saints. Apple, now 26, looks back at his time with the Giants as an education.
“It was a learning experience,” Apple said Wednesday. “We had great times and some things happened after that. It was a lot to learn from. It was fun, though. I met a lot of great people, a lot of great teammates. I enjoyed it.”
He will see one of those former teammates on Sunday when he lines up in the biggest game of his life. Apple said Odell Beckham Jr. was the first Giants teammate to contact him when he was drafted in 2016. Apple likely will get the chance to cover Beckham, now a Rams receiver, in Super Bowl 2022.
“Me and O. have a pretty good relationship,” Apple said. “He really taught me what I could expect my first day going up against him as a rookie. He really helped mold me and helped my confidence a lot. Even off the field, he’s a great guy and always was somebody I could talk to.”
Apple said he and Beckham have stayed in touch since leaving the Giants and he still cares for his former teammate.
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“He’s somebody I love, somebody I definitely, truly appreciate everything he’s done,” Apple said. “But now we’re about to compete. I can’t wait for that.”
The Bengals signed Apple in March after he spent one season with the Panthers that was largely lost to injury. Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo knew Apple from his one year as Giants defensive backs coach in 2018.
Apple started 15 games for the Bengals in the regular season and had two interceptions. In the postseason, he has made several huge plays. He deflected Ryan Tannehill’s pass in the divisional round, which led to the interception that set up the game-winning field goal. Then, in the AFC Championship game he made a fourth-down tackle on Tyreek Hill before halftime that proved to be a pivotal moment in the game.
“The growth — personally, professionally, however you want to look at it — in Eli Apple from April to today is staggering,” Bengals secondary coach Robert Livingston said. “That’s a huge credit to him, to what he has done off the field and on the field. I just couldn’t be more proud of him. I get it. People probably had a view a certain way when we signed him. He is just now hitting what he can be.”
Apple’s coaches and teammates describe him as a “class clown” type in the locker room and seem to genuinely enjoy playing with him. Things did not work out with the Giants for Apple, but he could end up holding the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday night.
“If you play this game, you’ve got to be resilient,” Apple said. “Everything is not going to go your way. You’re going to go through ups and downs. That’s the wonderful thing about this sport. You’re able to go through that and still come out and put your best foot forward and learn from those mistakes. That’s what I’m doing.”
