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Safety Kenny Phillips declared on his blog last week that "I feel like I could play tomorrow." And Jerry Reese said earlier this week from the owners meeting that Phillips is well on his way to begin a running program.
Be that as it may, Tom Coughlin apparently isn't waiting around to see if Phillips can speed back to health. He's planning contingencies, one of which might necessarily be placing new free agent acquisition Antrel Rolle in Phillips' spot until Phillips proves he can do the job.
Coughlin said today at the owners meeting that Phillips is "still limited," according to a Newday report. He said he hopes Phillips is ready by the start of the season, but he's planning out his options in case that doesn't happen. Which means to me that Rolle would start next to Michael Johnson, at least to start things off, if Phillips needs more time coming back from the tricky microfracture surgery that sidelined him after the first game.
Coughlin also told Newsday that he had spoken to Nick Saban about first-round middle linebacker prospect Rolando McClain, a sure sign the Giants at least have some interest in him.
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We get the players tomorrow at their offseason conditioning program. I wouldn't be surprised to see Osi Umenyiora there, since Coughlin also reported that the once-disgruntled pass rusher appears much less gruntled and has been attending the workouts "with a smile on his face."
That's good, because Umenyiora had pitifully little leverage in his offseason attempts to gain back his starting job. Maybe he realized that rhetoric rarely trumps productivity in his particular line of work.
EP
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Coughlin finally got on board. Don't trash a trade chip. And Michael Johnson can start a grand total of one game because I am a better safety and I am 15 lbs overweight.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see Kenny Phillips come back at a 100% but this team also needs to be prepared as well. If the Giants dont manage to grab Rolando McClain then they need to go safety (Eric Berry or Earl Thomas). That being said if they do grab McClain and during the season something happens to Phillips I think the veteran leadership of A. Rolle will guide M. Johnson along. There really wasnt no real veteran leadership last season at the safety position. Its either LB or S in the 1st round I would guess. OL is the wild card though.
ReplyDeleteIf no McClain Earl Thomas vs Taylor Mays, both will be available. Eric Berry is long gone by the time the giants draft. Michael Johnson vs Aaron Ross, the point is that the giants seem to have a lot questions in the secondary.
ReplyDeletetbh, theres a few guys that i would really like to see us draft, but the draft is so deep that i'm not too concerned about who we draft in the 1st as long as theyre a good enough player.
ReplyDeleteTwo different stories about where Kenny Phillips is in his recovery. How far back does he have to come in order to displace M Johnson?
ReplyDeleteas for the posts above, we should not draft a safety until later rounds, Myron Rolle. The first round has to be about MLB, no doubt, has to happen. 2nd and 3rd round safety or Oline in any order. The only exception is if someone like Spiller falls to us
Why are we even mentioning Michael Johnson? After his 2009 performance, his job is in jeopardy regardless of the progress made by Phillips. I'm sure that the Giants will jump on the opportunity to grab a player in the latter rounds to compete with Johnson. A guy like Myron Rolle would be a very intriguing prospect.
ReplyDeleteAnd enough with this drafting a safety w/ the 1st round pick. The Giants didn't go all out to get Antrel Rolle just so that they can spend their pick on the same position. It's not going to happen.
Agree with the above post; we used a 1st rounder on Phillips and we signed the big FA contract to Rolle, that's enough on safeties.
ReplyDeleteJ Reese's comments on the LB situation is pretty interesting; he sounds content with his current crop.
Do we think this is posturing and they have their sights set on McClain OR is the McClain a smokescreen and they have their sights set on someone else?
I think Osi summarized it best when he was asked a question on who the Giants should draft. He basically indicated that whoever the Giants draft will be a rookie offering minimal contributions. So with that said, like it or not, Goff will be given every opportunity to start at MLB this season. Of course, this doesn't mean that we don't target a LB in the draft, but it seems as if front office is content w/ selecting the BPA regardless of position.
ReplyDeleteThe rookies seemed to contribute to the super bowl? The rookies on other teams seemed to burn us repeatedly on punts and long passes. Osi knows not what he speaks of, with the way today's college players are coached, there's very little to learn at the pro level. The game might be faster, but it's not a whole lot different. The exceptions could be WR and RB on blitz recognition. There are numerous examples of rookies who stepped right in and started and made BIG contributions. Osi just doesn't want to get beat out of his starting job (which he never earned back) by the kid from Ga Tech
ReplyDeleteDon’t be confused by raw talent and experience. Of course, rookies contribute. How much leeway is given to a rookie is dependent upon the team’s makeup. In the case of the Giants, the team is made up of mostly young veterans who can ill afford to start a rookie at a position deemed a weakness. You can’t have the blind lead the blind. Every case is different. We can even refer to Barry Cofield who started as a rookie, but was in a dynamic position to do so because the defensive line was anchored by Strahan, Robbins, and Osi.
ReplyDeleteAnd who’s this player from Georgia Tech that Osi should be worried about?