Giants Press Release -

At the start of this off-season the Giants were close to 94 million in player salary. They are now below 72 million. And that is while adding new toys for both sides of the ball and improving in the process. I guess cheaper and better can be accomplished.

To starting things off, the Giants made a relatively minor deal by taking a flier on a former high pick, Fred Davis. Davis has been an underachiever at the NFL level but has shown signs of being a good receiver when being given the opportunity and looked primed for a breakout 2010 season after finishing 2009 strong. But the return of Chris Cooley cut in to his playing time and his 2010 season never really got on track. The Giants also added a 5th round pick in this deal while shedding the salary and decrepit back of Shawn Andrews. While Andrews is a good player when healthy, he is rarely healthy. We wish him the best and better health.

Next up was a move with Cleveland. Young Cleveland GM Desides did well and the Giants hated to give up Michael Boley but we wanted to give Eli some more options. With Kevin Boss and Steve Smith free agents, receiver and tight end were needs. Cribbs also fills a need on special teams that the Giants havent filled since the days of Dave Meggett, a playmaker in the return game. Watson had an overlooked year in Cleveland last year and while his run blocking leaves room to be worked on, he was actually no worse then Kevin Boss was in that regard last year. Additionally, Watson provides the ability to threaten the seams which Boss did not provide. Watson is a gifted talent and has the ability to improve.

The Giants then shed over 13 million in salary with cuts. Reserve QB Sage Rosenfels was among those relieved of their duties.

The Giants are not an organization that likes to trade draft picks without getting any back but we feel the bidding for Steve Smith in free agency will likely approach 5-6M. We figured for that price we may as well bring in a better player and with the addition of Reggie Wayne, we feel we did. While Wayne is older, he also has a good habit of finding the end zone and having caught passes from one Manning for years, he will now catch passes from the other Manning. While Eli is not Peyton, hes still a darn good QB who will look to Wayne to finish drives and pick up needed first downs. Wayne is a premier intermediate receiver who can make plays in the open field. The loss of Terrell Thomas hurts. Even though Thomas had a middle of the pack rating, he provided solid run support. He also found his way to the ball with 4 forced fumbles and a handful of interceptions. Still, you have to give something to get something and if Thomas, a 3rd and a 5th lands me Reggie Wayne, count me in every time.

The final move of the early offseason was a deal within the division. David Diehl looked very out of place at Left Tackle last year and it was time for a replacement. The Giants did not feel he was worth the 3.5M salary he was due but felt they could get a decent return for him and they did. While the move does create a hole at Left Tackle, its a position that needed to be upgraded anyway. In this deal the Giants also moved safety Antrel Rolle and his high salary for sorely needed help at defensive tackle and an upgrade at safety with second year player Nate Allen. Allen was in the middle of a very good rookie year and showed he could be a playmaker before having his season interrupted by injury. Allen shows good instincts in coverage, decent hands and did well in run support. The other piece to the trade was Trevor Laws. Laws was a former second round pick by Philadelphia in 2008 and when Broderick Bunkley went down in mid-season Laws not only filled in but played better then Bunkley had been playing. The Giants believe they can further develop this young kid and that he can provide solid play against the run.

There have also been rumors that the Giants are entertaining offers for Hakeem Nicks which is simply not true at this time. The Giants declined a mid first round pick for Nicks already and while the offer was fair it wasnt so much about the offer as wanting to give Eli more weapons, not simply trade away existing ones. While we appreciate the attention and offers, Nicks will be extremely difficult to pry loose.

We do look forward to doing more wheeling and dealing as the off season wears on. The door is always open.