Pat Traina talks more Giants football

[Lughead]

Here are some excerpts from "letters to the editor" from www.insidefootball.com from February

 

 

Great point about Clancy last year. Cofield was a decent surprise and DT was one of the few spots we didn't have to worry about at all this year. Let's hope Reese has a great first draft - probably more important than his free agent moves.

 

 

 

I agree with you 100% about moving on from any discussions about any former running backs shooting their mouths off.

 

 

 

So on to a topic you'd prefer -- our own potential free agents. Could you confirm who they are again? I think it's O'Hara, Shiancoe, Feely and Short - is that right? If so, I support bringing them all back. What are you hearing and what do you think the Giants should do with them all? Wilson is an RFA right -- what's the deadline on him and what kind of impact will bringing him back have on our cap room?

 

 

 

All your preaching about not talking about other teams FAs paid off when both Briggs and Samuel got tagged -- they were both on the top of many fans lists and they are gone before the store opened. From what I'm reading elsewhere, guys like Adalius Thomas and Nate Clements will both be available, but with so many teams in need and apparently so many with cap room, these guys are going to score huge paydays. Even if the Giants want to be the hunt, I don't think we'll be in it to the end. Do you agree?

 

 

 

In my opinion, making this team better next year is going to have to come from the draft, better coaching and somehow avoiding the injuries that have slowed us the past two years. – Chris W.

 

 

 

Chris, Torbor, Ward and Wilson are all RFAs; we’ll know this week if the RFAs get tendered – I expect they all will be and I also expect they’ll get the first right of refusal tenders which bring with it equivalent draft picks, if applicable. The main UFAs are Feely, O’Hara, Kuehl, Ruegamer, Shiancoe, Short and Walker.

 

 

 

I doubt very much Walker gets an offer and I know for a fact Shiancoe wants to test the market. Kuehl, if he comes back, would probably be for maybe one or two years at most as he’s well into his 30s… I’m not so sure short comes back.

 

 

 

O’Hara was out of town last week so I didn’t really hear too much about his situation other than supposedly there is still a gap concerning the length and financial terms (the Giants are said to want a shorter deal while O’Hara’s camp supposedly wants a longer contract); that’s influencing the dollars as well.

 

 

 

Feely has said that he would like to come back, but I haven’t’ heard anything on his situation lately. I think this week coming up I’ll start to hear more chatter. The Giants will competitive within reason, but you have to look also at the long –term cap ramifications. So I’ll make a prediction; fans will start screaming when guys sign elsewhere, but they won’t look at how the contracts break down, which is part of the equation. You ever notice how so many of the Giants FAs either complete their contracts? Those that don’t are usually injury-related or there was another problem that made them an obvious cut.

 

 

 

By the way, I’m also going to preach that people hold off on asking about the draft, because depending on what happens in free agency, that’s going to influence what happens in the draft. And right now I couldn’t name five players who are draft eligible; by the start of April, I’ll have that knowledge…

 

 

 

 

What I am wondering at this point is what is going to be of this defense? Strahan has obviously regressed even before he got hurt, only 3 sacks going into the Texan game and he has a huge cap number that outweighs his value. Also I can only see them going LB or CB in the draft. They have not had a shutdown corner since I can remember and I believe that is the strongest need. Linebacking wise, I think we need at least 1 OLB via FA or the draft, Posluzsny would be a great addition seeing his character and play are very strong. – Nick B.

 

 

We’ll find out soon enough Nick. I have some information which I’m waiting for next week to share with readers on where it looks like this defense (and offense) is headed.

 

May I ask just one little question about the draft? You have to promise not to jump all over me first. Okay, thanks...I am reading articles that claim the Giants would take Michael Bush if available with #20. He was one of the favorites for the Heisman before getting hurt in the beginning of the year. 6'3", ,240 lbs with breakaway speed. Sounds like a faster version of Jacobs who played in a bigger college program.

 

 

 

What's your take on this? Total hogwash or a genuine possibility? – Tony B.

 

 

 

Tony, I’m not going to jump all over you, I promise. I’m going to nicely remind you that the reason why I have not shared any rumors of what I’ve been hearing as of yet is because there are things in the work which might change what’s still to come. Further, as I have said all along, I can’t comment on the draft because for all we know, they might pick up a free agent running back which would make drafting one a moot point.

 

 

 

But I’ll tell you this much… one area where Reese is going to differ from Accorsi is he’s going to take fewer chances on guys who were hurt their senior year. So I guess if that holds true, the answer to your question is “total hogwash.”

 

 

The only thing that did not surprise me is that they did not cut Strahan, who has not been able to stay healthy 2 out of the last 3 years and they have talented cheap replacements and depth. Plus he is a cap nightmare for the next 2 years. Love the moves, although if we are taking a cap hit on Arrington the only conclusion is they just did not like his game at all. -- Shawn L.

 

 

 

Shawn, I looked at Strahan’s situation and although I have some concerns about his decision to not have surgery on his foot and although I believe 2007 might very well be his final season, the bottom line is when he was out of the line-up, that had a domino effect on this team. I think they’re going to move Kiwanuka to LB for this year so they have maximum pass rushers on the field, and I can see Tuck probably moving into Strahan’s spot down the line.

 

 

I was just reading the new york post and it stated that, "(lavar) was scheduled to make $900,000 next season." If that is true, wouldnt it be smarter to keep him around for such a cheap price, instead of get rid of him completely?

 

 

 

also, pretty much every newspaper reads that diehl will move out to left tackle. if everyone is so concerned about the development of eli manning and him having a breakout year, why would we insert a first time left tackle out there in diehl. he needs a big security blanket like leonard davis from the cardinals who will be ufa. im worried that if diehl moves out, it will be even harder to eli to progress.

 

 

 

thats all i got, but im keeping optimistic on reese and hoping he has this whole situation figured out. – Vick S.

 

 

Vick, first, Diehl is not a first-time left tackle – he played there in college and was in there for two games last season. Left tackle, believe it or not, is the least of my concerns with this team. As for Arrington, his cap figure would have escalated next year, so they cut their losses now (before they had to pay out a bunch of bonuses and such). Besides, I’m hearing that Arrington didn’t fit into new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme, which is another reason why he was cut.