NFL-Giants: NY Giants football news

When talking about his decision not to IR backup OT William Beatty, Reese talked about Steve Smith in 2007 and how they almost put him on IR (he missed 11 games) but then he came in on fire and lit it up for the playoff / Super Bowl run.

Here’s the Mike Garafolo article on this. Reese decided to keep Beatty on the roster even though he knew it meant losing Kehl (who was cut to make room for TE Bear Poscoe) who was a pretty hot commodity once released.

Why Kehl, the worst Giants linebacker on a pretty average linebacking unit, turned out to be so well-loved by other teams is beyond me but that’s another issue entirely.

Well we were all thinking MLB but apparently Jerry Reese and the Giants are just thinking defense. It’s hard to argue with Reese’s contention that having a good defensive line makes the linebackers better and that brings me to the Giants second round pick…

Linval Joseph looks like a run-stuffing nose tackle. He’s listed at 6’6″ and 300 and is strong (39 reps at 225). Reese says he can play anywhere inside including nose tackle or 3 technique and that he’s a run stuffer who can push the pocket. But it sounds like Joseph would be the nose while Canty would be the three.

As for safety Chad Jones, at 6’3” and 230 pounds he is big for his position. Almost linebacker size! Like the Giants first round pick, Jason Pierre-Paul, Jones came out after his junior year and doesn’t have a tone of experience. Also like Pierre-Paul, he’s considered a top-notch athlete (though he’s a pitcher instead of a back flipper) who turned down an offer from the Astros. Despite his size, Jones can cover; he played corner for LSU in 2007. The concern is he ran slower than expected prior to the draft. I say screw his 40 time and let’s see if he is fast in pads. And he was still 4.5something at his pro day.

What I think is most interesting is that he acknowledges Eli Manning’s bad performance: “He didn’t play his best game this past weekend or the past couple of weekends,” Reese said.

But he says CC Brown is doing real well: “It sounds like everybody’s giving C.C. Brown a hard time. He’s come in and really done an admirable job for us.”

Perhaps we fans who criticized Brown may need to reconsider since Reese surely knows more than we do. But I guess we can keep citicizing Manning until he picks up his game.

So I won’t bother linking to all the articles. What are your thoughts on cutting Burress?

Personally, I’m not crazy about the timing. If Plax does somehow avoid jail he will be playing football, quite possibly against the Giants. And if he avoids jail, he would have potentially had some trade value.

But I understand the reasons for cutting him. If the dude didn’t want to grow up and/or be a Giant than it’s time to say goodbye.

And while I hope that he avoids jail (he probably deserves jail but he did play a huge role in getting to and winning the Super Bowl), I also hope he doesn’t end up playing for the Eagles for the vet minimum and hurting us.