parlintm

Big Pete, will you post the Lawson interview? Thanks.

Heres the thing: If we sign Madison and a good DT and then draft a LB with our first round pick we dont really have any NEEDS. I think our weakest position becomes FS, where Butler might have the potential to be a good player but he hasnt proved it yet. Drafting a FS that can realistically compete for that job would greatly improve the chances of us having a good player at that position. I believe Allen can step in from day 1 and compete for that spot. I dont think there are any safeties of his caliber that might be even near available in the late second round I'd be for it... but I dont know of anybody.

I think for us, he would be a good third round pick. If we sign Madison and a DT we become a contender. Blackmon would be a third round pick who at least helps on special teams and might occasionally play nickel DB for us (but probably not). Maybe when Madison's contract runs out, he's ready to start at DB. He fills that role. Here's his scouting report: http://www.nfldraftcountdown.com/scoutingr...llblackmon.html

A lot of people seem to have the same general idea, assuming the cap goes up: Sign Madison or other good CB, with other money get best DT we can afford. Draft in round 1 best available LB (still up in the air who it will be). Then we can go a few different directions. It sounds as if people are pretty high on Jason Allen. I agree, he's gonna be a solid NFL player. But I don't think he will be available when we pick in the second round. I think he's middle second round. What do people think about trading up to get him?

phenomenal. almost exactly what i think. a few questions: 1. Do you think Kevin Carter is the best Tackle for the price? How does he compare to Rocky Bernard, or other FA's? 2. Do you think Jason Allen will be available in the second? If not, who would you take? Other than that, I agree to the player. Manny Lawson is the real deal. EA's goin out big.

I completely agree. A couple weeks ago, I read some Panther forum where they were all bashing Manning saying that he got burned all the time and was horrible in coverage. They all couldnt wait to get rid of him. And this was when he was their nickel back. I don't want him at all.

Having a gread Dline doesnt matter if your CB's have to give the receivers a 10 yard cushion. The DT job is to stop the run, not get to the QB. Yes we could upgrade here, but getting a better CB is a bigger priority.

I agree completely. If the Giants can sign a top CB (Madison or Law come to mind), I think they instantly become SB contenders. We can fill our other needs through the draft. Getting a quality, starting CB is BY FAR the biggest priority and in my opinion, the only one that can't be done through the draft. What do you think the price on Madison and Law will be if there is an agreement?

Here's my breakdown of the negotiations. I don't think that the 58 percent is the real problem. I think that we will see this number (or something close) as a final compromise. The problem lies with the big market teams (dallas, washington, new york etc..) who want to limit the revenue sharing. They feel as if they are giving away a large portion of their revenue to the smaller market teams, unfairly. Personally, I think this is all bull shit and they're just being greedy. Now the big market teams don't really have a problem going calling off the negotiations and going ahead without a salary cap. In the long run, they see themselves dominating the NFL and increasing profits. I don't think this is necesarily true, because if the NFL suffers, so does everyone. So the biggest issue is the percentage of revenue that goes to the players, but the revenue sharing between the owners. That is what is holding up these negotiations. Hopefully everyone compromise and football can continue as usual this offseason.

Even if we sign a CB we will still draft one in round 2 or 3. That CB should also compete for the nickel/backup jobs. I think LB round 1 is a lock if we sign CB.

I agree with the general principle of this post. Unless the cap goes up by 10 million or so, I would rather use our cap space to sign 1 impact player as opposed to 2-3 decent filler guys. For example, if we have about 6 mill in cap space, Id rather see us sign 1 guy for 4-5 mill than 2 guys at 2 mill. I think signing a CB in FA is a necessity. So I would go with the best available. If it doesnt look like there is good value at the CB position, I think a DT is next on the FA list. My wish list of DT's goes something like this: Rocky Bernard, Triplett, Kemoeatu, Glover. The only reason that I put Glover last is because of his age. Without getting a CB in FA this year, I dont think the Giants have a realistic shot at a SB this year so I'd like to get a guy who can contribute for a few years. If the salary cap gets increased by 10 million (which would be a good thing because it means we have an agreement) we need to put most of our money towards a CB AND DT. Everything after that is gravy (WR is probably next).

just kidding. at the last second, they have decided to postpone FA another 72 hrs. I would think that this means that a deal will actually get done. But who knows at this point.

In my "What Accorsi will actually do" link -- Madison fits in. When I wrote it, he wasn't on the market but now that he is, he's actually a better fit than law. I would be suprised if Accorsi didnt sign a top CB.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2355190 So it seems as if this is the end. No agreement could be reached and the player reps walked out. Teams have until 10 tonight to get under the cap so I imagine we will see tons of cuts in the next few hours. FA begins tomorrow!!

Over the past couple of weeks we've been hearing rumors that the Giants have met with various players and if player X is available then we are definitely going to draft that player. Or we hear that the Coughlin spoke to so and so for a while so we're probably going to draft that person. Some of these include: Moss, Blue, Bunkley etc.. Well, if you watch the video on this page, its about Vince Young... http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft06/news/story?id=2353164 ...it says that the NY Giants have given Young over 300 questions to answer etc.. There is 0% chance we draft him for so many reasons. If this doesn't prove that rumors are just that, I don't know what does. The Giants are just going through the research and preparations right now, and I bet if you ask EA who he takes on draft day he doesn't know yet. It's sure fun to speculate though.

Yes, I realize that every other team gets the money too, but I think the Giants are really very close to being SB contenders. This extra cap, IMO, would be enough to sign a BIG time player (Madison and Law come into mind) as well as having enough to resign Clancy. Those two players = about 10 million. Then we would have the 6 million or so that we were going to originally have to sign vets and rookies to fill any holes we have.

yes they should. those 2 percent, spread out to every team and then to every player isnt that much money. not agreeing would screw the players that don't make a ton of money. the job of the union is to protect those players and not having a minimum on salaries would really hurt some guys. not coming to an agreement now would be greedy and stupid.

do we get him in the 1st or 2nd round??

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2354233 It seems as if the owners have begun to give into some of the demands by the NFLPA. They have moved their percentage of revenue up from 56 to 58 and have agreed to raise this years salary cap by 10 million to about 105 million per team. While this doesnt mean a deal will get done (players are asking for 60%), at least things have started to move. An extra 10 mill would give the Giants enough room to make at least one big acquisition.

How can you say that the patriots "could just put anyone back there..."? If you forgot, they had Ty Law, probably the best CB of the past decade) as a staple of their defense for every part of their superbowl run. Yes he got injured during the 2004 season and they became a significantly worse team. Fortunately for them they had a strong all around team and were able to overcome it. Also they had Harrison at safety. By no means is that a shabby secondary. Defensive pressure only works if your secondary gives them enough time to get to the QB... its a two way street. We have the DE's to do it, we just need to upgrade the secondary.

The job of making the QB uncomfortable lies heavily on the Defensive ends. We have 2 of the best in the game starting there for us. And Justin Tuck seems to be an up and coming talent as well. The primary job of the Defensive tackles is stopping the run. They need to clog the middle and create holes for the linebackers to come come through. At times our tackles are pretty good at this, especially when Willie Joe is playing well. Getting to the quarterback is a secondary concern for the tackles. There are some in the NFL that are good at this, but often those are smaller guys who get pushed around on running plays. There are very few tackles that do both well. Obviously it would be great to have one of them, but we will be fine without them. I think everyone agrees that the inside of the line is not one of our strongest areas but I think that we have more pressing concerns, at least for this year. Since Joseph is on his first contract and Clancy and Robbins aren't going to be too expensive, I think we get good value out of our defensive tackle position. One of the greatest things about the NFL is that there is a salary cap. Every team is forced to decide how to best put together a team with the same amount of money. I think that any cap space we do have should be used to upgrade at CB. This way we can use our top draft pick on LB. With those two moves we fix a big weakness of ours from last year, the back 7. I would be all for drafting a DT any time past the first round if we sign a CB and draft a LB. I think it's comparable to our needs at FS.

As a DT you make a lot of plays that you dont get credit for. DT's job is not always to make the tackle. If they can clog a running lane or open up a hole for someone else to make a play, then they have done their job. The good play of Pierce during the season has to be attributed somewhat to the solid play of the defensive line. Yes, Joseph can get more consistent but he's not nearly as bad as you make him sound. And since he's still on his first contract, he comes at good value.

Cromartie knows that an extra year of college would help his draft position immensely but I read in an interview that his granmother is very ill and his family really needs the money that being an NFL player would provide. This is why he's elected to forego an extra season and make the leap to the NFL regardless of injury or lack of film on him.

I don't know why people keep saying that he will need to be developed. He is simply a phenomenal athlete and I don't necessarily see him having more trouble adjusting to the NFL than say, Thomas Howard. I believe given a season as a backup or occasional spot starter, Lawson will be ready to take over for Emmons.

Money, good point about rookie LB not starting. A lot of people forget this. I saw Manny play only twice this season and he played great both times. Here's his scouting report. For those of you questioning his ability to drop into pass coverage (which is key if he's going to play LB) this report makes it sound like he at least has the ability to learn it. I would gladly take him first round. http://www.nfldraftcountdown.com/scoutingr...annylawson.html