gmenroc

Best part of that article is the news on Clancy.

No better replacements that I can think of when it comes to Luke, and yeah, that'd be nice if he restructured. I think that we can pick up Arrington and Madison without too much problem as is. I think we could even go after a safety in free agency as well. Arrington wouldn't be my first choice for free agent linebacker, but if he's wanting to play here that badly, he may be willing to accept slightly less $$$ than some of the other names.

Exactly how tired do you get of explaining the salary cap to people too lazy to look it up?

Free Agent (in order) -CB -LB -S Draft (in order) -LB -DT -CB -WR

I, too, am in favor of keeping Joseph around. I think that he's shown what he can do here and there. He hasn't been near as consistent as we would all like him to be. I don't think he's getting many double teams because of our DEs, and I don't think it's a fatigue issue as we do have a rotation on the DLine, but for what he has shown, I just wouldn't want to see him let go.

In free agency, I'd like to pick up a CB (like Sam Madison, Ronde Barber, Ricky Manning Jr., or Ike Taylor) I'd also like to see an Outside Linebacker (like Witherspoon, Arrington, Peterson, June). And we'd also want a safety (like Chavous, Archuleta, Hope). That's 3 free agents that are fairly big names, which might and might not be do-able depending on the contracts each of them are looking for. We could be easily outbid by many other teams, specifically the Eagles who now have something like 25 million in cap space, so the extra 10 million we got doesn't mean that will be able to splurge, because obviously, every team got that same 10 million. Basically, the extra 10 mil will allow us to sign our own free agents if we choose to do so as well as pursue a few free agents. I just don't think that we all the options out there that bringing in 3 guys will be that difficult. 1st round, for Linebacker --Ernie Sims --DeMeco Ryans --Bobby Carpenter (Although from what I've read about Lawson, I wouldn't be opposed to him either) 2nd round, for Defensive Tackle --Claude Wroten --Rodirique Wright 3rd Round, for Cornerback --Anwar Phillips --Will Blackmon 4th Round, for Wide Receiver --Cory Rodgers --Devin Aromashodu --Brandon Marshall

Really don't see him in the plans for a 2nd rounder. But the issue, as stated by others, is that we have far more pressing needs. Furthermore, with the resigning of Ward, I don't see us going with a RB in the draft at all.

Will Witherspoon AND draft 1 in the first round

As long as we go LBer in the first round and we get a guy with good size, good speed, and good smarts; I'll be happy.

Without reading the article (leaving the office for the day), I think players like Eli are the exception much more than the rule. The Giants knew when they were able to get Eli, that he could be the QB for the next decade and that his ability to play QB as a college player far exceeded that of any college QB that has come out in years and likely won't be seen again for some time. That would be the type of player that you draft regardless of what needs your team has. I would say the same about Reggie Bush this year. And in no way am I saying that we should draft all these rookies and start them day 1. I'm simply saying that these rookies, according to the so-called experts (whom I rely upon because I haven't seen the rookies with my own two eyes), are the most ready and closest to being able to start in the NFL. I simply would draft the best player available in a given position for the first 2 or 3 rounds; but again, making sure that that position is covered by a veteran until that rookie can step in and contribute on a consistent level. After the first few rounds, I agree wholeheartedly that you're taking best player available regardless of position.

I'm thinking that a lot of us are assuming it will be signed. I really don't think that either side wants to go into this season without an extension in place, evidenced by their willingness to extend the deadline twice. It is getting down to the wire, but both sides realize that any extension right now will be better in the long run than no extension at all. The number one thing that I hate about baseball is the fact that some teams have much more flexibility when it comes to signing players than others. It almost creates an uneven playing field it seems. The NFL avoided that by the sharing of revenue and having a salary cap. If we go away from that, we're welcoming even higher salaries, higher ticket prices, and the unfairness between small market and large market teams. However, I agree that if we have limited cap room, we have to look to shore up the secondary. I don't want to go into the season with a 2nd year player having the most starting experience in our secondary.

I'm not saying that it's going to be like last year's spending spree, but I just don't see any reason why we can't sign 3 FAs. And when it comes to drafting, if you have 3 solid QBs, you're not drafting a QB in the first round, regardless of who's there. If you have those 3 solid QBs and one of the top rated QBs is available when it's your turn to draft, you trade down to a team that needs that QB, but not so far down that you avoid getting who you want. Case in point - we needed help in the secondary last year and we drafted Cory Webster. The year we drafted Eli, we had Collins, but apparently had had enough with his inconsistency. Not to mention, it's like EA said, sometimes there are players you just cannot pass up when given the opportunity to draft them. These players are obviously rare. But I have to absolutely disagree with you that when it comes to draft day, there's an expectation that the selections you make will fill a need, even if that need is nothing more than depth at a given position. And if you're already set at that position, than you're drafting in another position. Just my take.

Wouldn't mind seeing this at all.

I realize that you draft players, but you have to address needs as well. And I'm assuming the CBA is signed and we gain roughly 10 mil in cap space. If that happens, I don't see why we couldn't sign 3 FA.

Heard on Mike & Mike this morning that the chances are he'll probably be looking for a 1-2 year deal and basically audition for next year or the following year's free agency period to hit the big payday. I wouldn't mind giving him that 2 year deal with the 2nd year being voidable. Simiilar to the deal we gave Kurt Warner I think. At the same time, we draft one the best rookie LBer we can. Arrington starts this year, rookie definitely gets some playing time. Next year, Arrington walks, rookie starts. But when it comes to some of the FA LBers out there, I wouldn't mind having Witherspoon, Peterson, or even Cato June (I realize he's a RFA and it would cost a future draft pick) all before Arrington. If we landed Witherspoon or June, the possibility of drafting in a different direction than LB in the first round becomes much more plausible.

I've got the Giants going LB, DT, CB in rounds 1-3. For the LBer in round 1, I'm thinking Ernie Sims, DeMeco Ryans, or Bobby Carpenter. For DT in round 2, I'm looking at Claude Wroten or Roderique Wright. For CB in round 3, I'm thinking Anwar Phillips or Will Blackmon. And in case you're curious, I'd go WR in round 4 with Cory Rodgers, Devin Aromashodu, or Brandon Marshall. I've also got the Giants signing a veteran CB (Will Allen, Ronde Barber, Ricky Manning Jr, Ike Taylor, or apparently Sam Madison). I've also got the Giants getting an OLB via free agency (Will Witherspoon, Lavar Arrington, Julian Peterson, Cato June). I've also got the Giants finding a free agent safety (Cory Chavous, Adam Archuleta, or Chris Hope). Chances are we get another backup QB to replace either Lorenzen or Hasselbeck, but that move won't be major I don't think. I would not be opposed to having both these guys back.

Why can't they agree on 58% this year and maybe next, and then in years that follow, have that percentage increase? Is this negotiation thing really all that difficult? I mean, in the long run, they're all filthy fucking rich and it seems like we're splitting hairs. Maybe it's just me being a frustrated fan with millionaires arguing with millionaires over who should get millions more.

That's my thoughts exactly regarding the possibility of signing a veteran CB. If we sign Ronde for 3 years, we're almost guaranteed Tiki sticks around that long. I like the movement towards younger players too, but a good point was made about Manning Jr's height.

Petitgout - Seubert/Diehl - O'Hara - Snee/Diehl - McKensie

Actually, when it comes to signing bonuses, the players do get that money up front. However, when it comes to accounting for it against the salary cap, Money's example was spot on. The one thing that confuses me more than anything are the performance incentives that players can hit depending upon their play on the field, the multi-tiered bonuses, roster bonuses, and how these are counted against the cap.

Nicely thought through. Not sure that all those players will get to us in the draft, but I haven't looked into it too much. Just becoming familiar with some of the names at this point. Researching who we might draft is a little pointless in my opinion because the draft strategy could change big time depending upon what we do in free agency. And what we do in free agency is highly dependent upon what happens with this collective bargaining agreement. The only glaring problem I saw was the draft pick trade with Denver. If I'm Denver and I can't afford 2 first round picks, I'm packaging the two of them together and moving up in the first round of the draft, not just picking up an additional pick next year. So that logic is a little off...to me anyways. Furthermore, we'd have to throw in more than just our 1st rounder next year to get the value from both sides remotely close to equal. No way that 1 first rounder this year is equal to 1 first rounder next year. But other than that, as long as we shore up the LBers and Secondary in the offseason, I'll be happy.

Wouldn't mind seeing a TE drafted as long as by that time we've signed a CB (preferrably a FA), 2 LBers (1 FA and 1st round pick), a DT, a S, and Offensive line depth were all addressed first.

Nicely explained! Also noteworthy is the significance of the June 1st date. That's the day that the signing bonus is paid. So in the Will Allen example previously noted, if he were cut June 1st, 2008 instead of March 2008, he'd get paid the 1,000,000 bonus that year and the remaining 2,000,000 salary cap hit would take affect the following year. So, in that case, he received 3 million of the original 5 million bonus (2006, 2007, and 2008). The remaining 2 million would hit in 2009. So we would lower his cap number from 5 million to 1 million THIS YEAR, saving 4 million. But, he'd have a 2 million hit NEXT YEAR. I think I got that right. I'd also agree on the not becoming a capologist.

Bingo. He's shown flashes, now he just needs consistency.

You're right, we didn't get much pressure. I'm telling you that with Clancy (if resigined), Joseph, Strahan, Umenyiora and the backups, we'd be fine on the D-line if our LBers played better. My thoughts are 1- Outside LB 2- CB or S 3- WR 4- DT 5- LB 6 & 7- Offensive line depth