Zack Martin thought he'd end up with New York Giants in 2014

Back in the 2014 NFL draft, the New York Giants selected one of their most popular players in franchise history when they took Odell Beckham Jr. with the 12th overall pick. Although Beckham was a first-round talent, nobody could have predicted what the Giants would get when they selected the LSU product.

With the Giants also in search of offensive line help, Zack Martin thought he might end up in New York ahead of the draft. Martin believed three teams were eyeing his services, and when the other two teams elected to go in another direction in the top five picks, Martin believed he was destined to wear Giants' blue.

Martin recently talked about his draft experience.

"When they [St. Louis Rams] picked Greg Robinson second, I figured, okay, I'm not going there because they got their O-lineman. And then Buffalo is another team, and they ended up trading up, got Sammy Watkins in the top five. So I kind of eliminated them," Martin said. "So then the Giants, the Giants were the team that I thought... I really thought I was going to New York at 12, and Tim McDonald is a good friend of mine; he worked at Notre Dame when I was there, and he's part of the Mara family, and is like a vice president for the Giants now.

"But he was there, and I was talking to him kind of on draft day. You know, we were close, and he was kind of giving me the ins and outs. And I remember he texted me maybe a pick or two before it was like, 'Hey man, sorry, we're going with... we're going with a receiver from LSU.' And, you know, they picked Odell, which obviously worked out for them."

Martin was selected by the division rival Dallas Cowboys a few picks later.

Both picks of Beckham and Martin worked out well for their respective teams. However, the Martin selection is a microcosm of how the following years would go for the offensive lines of the two NFC East rivals.

The Giants, of course, struggled with fixing their offensive line during the back nine of Eli Manning's career. The Cowboys had one of the best offensive lines year in and year out after Dallas spent first-round picks on offensive linemen in 2011, 2012, and 2013; all of which ended up being All-Pro players, including Martin.

Beckham ended up being an unbelievable talent himself, and there was a stretch early in his career where he was arguably the best player at his position in the sport and possibly the most popular player in the sport as well.

Both players had great NFL careers, but Martin's 162 starts over the course of his 11-year career served as a model of consistency for Dallas. Martin announced his retirement this past offseason after spending the entirety of his career with the team that drafted him; something Giants fans wish was true for Beckham.

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Zack Martin thought he'd end up with New York Giants in 2014