April 15, 2007
Giants news: new DT & DB & backup QB
Giants sign QB Anthony wright, defensive tackle Marcus Bell and defensive back Michael Stone. Wright is a mobile QB with a strong arm and accuracy problems. That makes for a good backup because you don't have to change the playcalling for him (he has the arm to make any throw unlike Hasselback) and he can buy time when things go wrong (and they often do go wrong when the backup QB is in).
Marcus Bell is a nose tackle who can't really get to the QB much (86 games with 21 starts in his career and has recorded 165 tackles and 6.5 sacks) but holds the point of attack. He's not an every down player, especially because coditioning is a concern.
Michael Stone has played in 52 games (17 special teams tackles for Arizona in 2004 and then again for the Patriots in 2005). I'm not sure what this means for Jason Bell who is a special teams guy / DB much like stone is. Can the Giants have two DBs on the roster who don't really play in the secondary much but who are good special teams guys? Stone is sort of a Safety/CB tweener who did have one decent season as a DB with the Patriots in 2005 (46 tackles in 13 games, 3 starts).
It's interesting to see Reese make a fairly risky move in cutting Petigout and then make a number of smaller, safer moves like trading Carter for Droughns, signing Kawika Mitchell, and now these new guys.
Posted by James Trotta at April 15, 2007 1:37 PMI have to say, the recent moves have me feeling a little better about the defense. The addition of a solid tackle from what I'm reading, although his numbers don't say much, I can't say that I know what kind of system he was playing in, a 3-4 or a 4-3. if it was a 3-4 then you don't expect big numbers from your tackle, just someone who can solidly keep 2 guys busy. As for Stone, a Safety/CB, the one stat I see that bothers me, is 0 interceptions. That's the one stat everyone seems to have been picking on the giants about for the last 2+ years, not enough INTs, so in that department, I don't see how this guy would be an improvement. On the other hand, if your talking depth, well then, one man who can serve as both a safety and or CB means you have 1 more spot for depth somewhere else.
As for the QB, I want to see how much cap room we're talking, aside from that, I don't know what else to think, I'm not going to root for eli to get hurt, at least not yet. Until Eli can finally pull his head out of his rectum and play up to his full ability I'm not going to worry too much about who's second, I'm just going to steam about someone who's collecting a big chunk of the giants cap, and isn't giving it his all.
The defensive additions do give us some reason to hope. A big run-stuffing DT is good for the rotation so if this guy can beat out Seawright that's an improvement.
Stone - I don't even know how much he's going to play. He might be more a special teams guy than someone who really backs up the defensive starters. We'll see I guess.
Posted by: James Trotta at April 16, 2007 5:23 PM