NFL-Giants: NY Giants football news

Len Pasquerelli notes that the Giants only have around 4.3 million to sign all their rookies. If Eli Manning wnats to, he could make it very difficult for the Giants to sign him. Since he said that he wants to be a Giant, I think he’ll work something out. I don’t see Snee giving the Giants a hard time either since he’s family and everything.

By the way, this money counts against the regular cap too, which means the Giants really had to cut (or restructure) someone in order to sign any #4 pick.

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So the Giants cut Collins who refused to restructure his contract. Not that I blame him, how do you restructure a contract with one year left? You add another year. Collins will probably look for a longterm commitment somewhere else.

That means one of two things might happen. One, Eli might start for the Giants. Rookie QBs often have losing records, but of course the ones taken first often go to teams with less talent than the Giants. Interestingly, Kerry Collins and Phil Simms were the last two quarterbacks to ahve winning rookie seasons.

Where will Collins go? Possibilities are Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals. The Ravens don’t have a star receiver after getting screwed by the NFL in the Terrel Owens debacle, but I think if they sign Collins they become superbowl favorites. And they do have Jamal Lewis, Todd Heap, and now the solid but unspectacular Kevin Johnson.

The Cowboys see Drew Henson as their QB of the future, but Collins would be a better tutor than Quincy Carter. I for one hope we don’t have to play Dallas led by Collins… Hopefully Collins isn’t too bitter about the Ravens Defense picking him apart in 2000 and he signs with them (or someone else) rather than Dallas.

If I judged players based on their nicknames, Jared Lorenzo would be my favorite player. His nicknames include J. Load, The Hefty Lefty, and the Pilsbury throwboy. I guess 280 pound quarterbacks who run a 4.8 40 and have rocket launcher arms are rare enough that they get lots of cool nicknames. I hope that signing him means we can dump the bachelor (clicking this link to CBS sportsline might turn your screen into a big Van Helsing ad. You can close the ad by clicking the red x).

With Eli Manning, Jared Lorenzo, and Ryan Van Dyke kicking butt in NFL Europe, the Giants don’t lack young quarterbacks. With Collins seemingly on the way out, the Giants do lack an experienced veteran who has proved he can lead an NFL team.

A good article from Giants.com about what Accorsi and Coughlin have to say about the Giants day 2 draft picks. Some highlights:

There was no opportunity to draft a MLB without reaching. Guess they don’t like Rod Davis, who was projected to go to the Giants in the third round on a lot of mock drafts I saw. He went in the fifth round to Minnesota, #155 overall. I reserve the right to criticize Accorsi in the future for not taking Rod Davis or Niko Koutouvides who went to Seattle in the fourth. If Torbor and Wilson are more successful, feel free to criticize me.

When I first heard about the 250 pound defensive end, I though they might try to convert him to MLB. But, Torbor is going to be an outside linebacker. I guess the might try to move Emmons inside when they show a 3-4 on passing downs since the Giants think Torbor can rush the passer or drop back and cover.

The safety Gibril Watson is projected as a gunner on coverage teams.

Wide Receiver Jamaar Taylor was seen as a high second round pick until an injury. If he recovers fully, the Giants got a bargain.

Isaac Hilton, the other 250 pound defensive end is seen as a speed rusher. No mention about converting him to another position.

So if you’ve been reading, you know I think that the Giants could have handled the draft better but that I’m excitied Eli Manning will be throwing touchdown passes to Shockey and Toomer within a couple of years. What do others think?

Mike Lupics dismisses critics:

The Giants gave up a lot to get him. Accorsi once gave up a lot to get Bernie Kosar in a supplemental draft. Manning is better. The people who run him down do it to be cute, or different. And as for Giant fan who don’t like this deal, remember something: Giants fans didn’t decide that they love Phil Simms until he won them a Super Bowl.

Perian Conerly is happy.

Don Banks has the Giants listed under “losers” while Smith is a winner who “picked the Giants pocket.”

Nick Canepa wants to play poker with Accorsi and says the Chargers “fleeced” the Giants.

Pete Prisco says (as I do) that the Giants gave up “way too much.”

Jason Cole is equally unimpressed (you have to register for this one and it’s probably not worth it), and isn’t much kinder to other NFC East teams (with the possible exception of Dallas) as he talks (very briefly) about their drafts.

Finally, Leonard Shapiro says that this is so good for the NFL that there may be a conspiracy. Everyone denies it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few rules were broken.

None of the Giants day 2 selections were on my draft wishlist:

round 4 I’ve already written about.
5: Gibril Wilson SS
6: Jamaar Taylor WR
7: Drew Stojny OT
7: Isaac Hilton DE/OLB

Who they missed:
I wrote about Nat Dorsey and Stacy Andrews last time. They both went in round 4. Jason Shivers went in round 5 as did Rod Davis. Kelly Butler went in round 6. Maybe I’ve been pretty critical the last few days. I hope all the new Giants will prove that I’m worried about nothing!

So with the first pick on Day 2 the Giants chose an undersized defensive end named Reggie Torbor. I suppose he’ll be good on special teams, but why ignore Kelly Butler, who probably won’t make it to round 5. Stacy Andrews might, and I love his potential, but I don’t see him starting this year. Nat Dosey played left tackle, but he wouldn’t beat Petigout and is coming off an injury.

If we were going to ignore our needs and go DL, I would have preferred Isaac Sopoaga. I guess they’re confident William Joseph will recover fully.

After my initial shock from the Rivers/ Manning trade, I wrote here that the Giants paid too high a price. With Day 2 approaching fast, I’ve had more time to reflect. Yes I am happy Manning will be a Giant but I still think this was handled poorly:

1. The Chargers were in a difficult position with Manning threatening to sit out. Accorsi didn’t use his leverage. He gave the Chargers more than they got for giving the #1 to Atlanta so they could take Vick. The Giants might regret giving up their 2005 first rounder next year and they shouldn’t have had to.

2. San Diego gave up #37 to move up one spot to #6. They would have given up at least as much to get to #4. The Giants could have gotten Rivers at #7 and still made the deal for Manning. Then they would have gotten the extra second round pick (or more) and we all know there were very good players at LB and safety that the Giants could use. Or they could have offered #37 instead of next years first to the Chargers.

Sure, we’re getting two good players in Manning and Snee, maybe two great players. However, I can’t help feeling that we should have gotten more. Let’s look forward to a strong Day 2! Lots of opportunities with the first pick, including some offensive tackles who weren’t expected to fall this far. Of course, at some point we might need a defensive guy…

This from Yahoo Sports:

Eli Manning didn’t want to play for the Chargers, and he won’t have to. San Diego picked Manning with the top selection in Saturday’s NFL draft, then traded him to the Giants for Philip Rivers (the No. 4 pick), a thrid-round pick this year, and the Giants’ first- and fifth-round picks next year.

This seems way too expensive to me. I mean Manning will have to be much better than Vick to justify next year’s first round choice. I hope Eli proves me wrong, but I have a bad feeling about this deal.

I finally read an idea that I really like. Take a player at #4, preferably Sean Taylor. Use the #34 pick, another draft choice, and/or maybe Ike Hillirad or the suddenly expendable Omar Stoutmire (if we draft Taylor at #4) to move up in the draft, ahead of the Packers in the first round. Draft JP Losman who Accorsi says is as good as Eli Manning.