Unlike last year when the Giants went on a signing spree that resulted in their acquisition of four unrestricted free agents, this year they took a more conservative approach which so far has seen them acquire just two veterans—both had their contracts terminated by their former clubs.

The Giants’ headline acquisition, of course, is S Antrel Rolle, whom the Arizona Cardinals released just prior to the start of free agency. Although the Cardinals had hoped to re-sign Rolle, the safety said he felt more at home after visiting with the Giants, who made him one of the highest paid players at his position with a five-year, $37 million contract that includes $15 million in guaranteed money.

Rolle’s signing initially raised questions about the Giants’ other starting free…

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NEW YORK – Business as usual.

What I wouldn’t give to capture that feeling from the picture again.

If the Giants want to be celebrating in Dallas in 2011, it will start with the 2010 NFL Draft.

Jerry Reese and his staff are unbelievable on Draft day, their talent evaluation is second to none. Typically teams look for contributions from rounds 1-3, and the rest of the way it is a crap shoot.

Here are the players in that category since Reese took over:

2007 – CB Aaron Ross, WR Steve Smith, DT Jay Alford
2008 – S – Kenny Philips, CB Terrel Thomas, WR Mario Manningham
2009 – WR Hakeem Nicks, OLB Clint Sintim, OL William Beatty, WR Ramses Barden, WR/TE Travis Beckham

Every single one of these players are either starters or see significant playing time with two exceptions—Barden and Beckham did not get much of an opportunity but should in the near future, especially in the red zone.

So, with that being said, the following slideshow will highlight players the Giants may or may not be looking for in the first three rounds come April.

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Again, I am embroiled with other pundits across the Internet and in barrooms over the value of rookies.

This year, the Giants will be looking for an inside linebacker in the draft (or in free agency) to become the centerpiece of their defense.  To ask a rookie to step in and lead a defense to the playoffs is highly unrealistic.

That is why whoever they draft at MLB will mainly watch from the sidelines while a veteran (in-house candidate Jonathan Goff or a free agent such as Kirk Morrison) drives the bus in the meantime.

That aside, the Giants were leveled by injuries last season and never got to display Jerry Reese’s recent draft and free-agent gems.  Here’s a quick update on a few of the players that fell short of expectations in 2009 and should make more of an impact in 2010….

Defense

DE Justin Tuck was tripped by Dallas’ Flozell Adams in Week Two, badly injuring his shoulder and inhibiting his ability to both rush the passer and stop the run.  He played the final 14 games with his arm strapped to his body. He will be ready for training camp.

Free agent LB Michael Boley played well for the most part, but an early season suspension and then a knee injury shortened his season.  He should be back and ready to display the athleticism that Reese had paid a small fortune last spring to see.

Two other FAs, DTs Rocky Bernard and Chris Canty lost most of their seasons to injuries as well.  They are both looking to come to camp 100% back.

S Kenny Phillips only played two games last year before he had his knee woes addressed and—by all accounts—should be ready for the 2010 season.

CB Aaron Ross only dressed for four games in 2009.  His hamstring is rested and ready to go for the 2010 season.

DT Jay Alford , a key component in the Giants’ defensive line rotation, never made it out of training camp. His knee injury landed him on season-ending IR.  He’s coming back and he will help solidify the d-line.

Other players that will open some eyes in 2010 will be the team’s three second round draft choices from the past two drafts: CB Terrell Thomas, LB Clint Sintim and OT Will Beatty.

Thomas has already shown that he can be productive.  Beatty held his own in the few spot starts he got last season, and Sintim, who was hobbled by a groin injury for most of the season will build on some of the strong performances he logged last season.

Offense

RBs Brandon Jacobs , Ahmad Bradshaw , Andre Brown and DJ Ware all were affected by injury in 2009.  Jacobs played with a banged-up knee all season.

Bradshaw had foot and ankle problems and never really got on track.  Ware was held out of eight games due to various injuries and Brown blew out his Achilles in training camp. 

This group should have better luck in 2010.

Players to watch in 2010: WR Ramses Barden and TE Travis Beckum .   Barden had a hard time making the gameday 45-man roster because he was not faring well on special teams.  The team dressed Domenik Hixon and Derek Hagan instead.

Reese had this to say…“We like Ramses Barden. We think he’s really a talent and we expect to get him in there early this time. You only have so many spots you can play out there, but we expect him to be in the mix and be a strong contributor for us.”

Barden, along with Steve Smith , Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks give the Giants a solid young corp of receivers, among the league’s best.

The Giants are trying to get Beckum into the offensive flow as well.  The Giants have reduced the TE role in recent years and opponents are beginning to notice.  They need to make Beckum and Kevin Boss relevant pieces in the passing game. 

I think they will.

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After six years backing up Peyton Manning in Indianapolis, Jim Sorgi will get a chance to do the same for Peyton's brother Eli. The New York Giants announced Tuesday that they have signed Sorgi to a one-year deal. Terms were not disclosed. Sorgi will compete with second-year man Rhett Bomar for the Giants' backup quarterback job.

It usually takes at least three years to fairly review a draft class, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start to lean one way or another.

Two years is not enough to really judge whether a player will make it in the NFL, but in most cases, we have seen enough to give us a strong indication of whether or not they will be successful players. And in other cases, we can close the book entirely.

But while we can say what we want, these grades should be taken with a slight grain of salt.

Begin Slideshow

In the hectic world that is the National Football league, we spend more time looking forward than we do back. But with the NFL Draft still about seven weeks away, I thought it might be time to take a break, look back, and appreciate a true giant among men, Emlen Tunnell .

As a long-time Giants fan who greatly appreciates the history of the organization, I was relatively familiar with Emlen Tunnell. I knew he was a talented safety for the team in late 40s through the late 50s and I knew he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967. I also knew he went on to become a scout and ultimately an assistant coach for Big Blue, but what I didn’t know would be unearthed while simply searching through some statistics.

Born on March 29th, 1925, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Tunnell was one of four children. It wasn’t until he began attending high school at Radnor Township that his parents, Elzie and Catherine, realized he had a gift.

Tunnell became an all-sports star. He seemingly excelled at everything he did and promptly earned himself an athletic scholarship to the University of Toledo in Ohio where he took the field as his team’s tailback.

Unfortunately, Tunnell’s athletic career, and his life, almost ended just as quickly as it had begun.

During a game in the fall of 1942, at the age of 17, Tunnell went down with a devastating injury…a broken neck. The injury was so severe that he awoke the following day to a Catholic priest in his room, administering the Last Rites.

Tunnell would persevere, however, returning to sports after nearly a year of wearing a neck brace. And although he was warned that football should no longer be in consideration, it wouldn’t take long before he found peace on that beautiful green grass once again.

That place of peace and green, green grass? Well…let’s just say it wasn’t exactly something many people would refer to as relaxing or peaceful.

After being turned down by both the Army and the Navy because of his previously broken neck, Tunnell found a home in the Coast Guard. And as I mentioned above, it’s where he found his way back to football.

After only a single season, Tunnell was named to the United Press Pacific Coast All-Service team. It was a testament to not only his heart and determination, but the ability to adapt and overcome all odds. And it was just the beginning of what would be one of the great careers and stories of all time.

Read more at Giants 101

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How many times does an NFL team sign a guy that the fan base knows little about, yet the minute the player steps on the field, he instantly become a fan favorite? Yes, it’s rare, because most free agents need some time to endear themselves to the fan base. 

Not Fred Robbins!

I wasn’t overly familiar with his body of work, but ever since he signed with the Giants in 2004, I have been a huge fan. Big Fred was a lunch pail type of guy who he kept his nose clean, came to work every week, and played hard.

Today, the Giants lost the best defensive tackle the team has had since Keith “Hammer” Hamilton retired in 2003. Fred Robbins signed a three-year deal with the St. Louis Rams where he will be reunited with another N.Y. Giants fan favorite, Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo.

Robbins went on to say, “The two seasons I spent with Coach Spagnuolo were two of the best years of my career. He’s a great coach.”

It has been reported that big Fred can earn up to $12 million if he reaches some team goals. Fred Robbins was drafted in 2000 in the second round by the Minnesota Vikings from Wake Forest University and has been the most consistent and dependable DT the Giants have since they signed him in 2004.

In his six-year run with Giants, he racked up 25 sacks and three interceptions. Robbins was a stout barrel-chested player that has exceptionally quick feet and power.

Sitting in Section 133 for the last 25 years, I have seen many players come and go. Fred Robbins was a huge fan favorite and he will be missed. His 2009 season was severely altered due to a knee injury that required surgery in the off season. He never truly recovered in time to make a huge impact in 2009.

My row mates at Giants Stadium and I would often say that a No. 98 Fred Robbins action figure would be the perfect holiday gift for the ultimate Giants fan. Every time you pushed the button in his back, the Big Fred Robbins arms would bear hug you while saying, “Got ya!

The addition of a healthy Fred Robbins at defensive tackle for St. Louis will immediately add some depth and leadership to that hole-ridden defensive line. This also makes Spags’ decision to draft a quarterback such as Sam Bradford with the first pick much easier. 

The last two players to wear No. 98 for the Giants went on to become come great Giants:

Armstead and Robbins.  

I can only hope the next player who dares to request No. 98 understands how big of “cleats” he has to fill.

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Like every other NFL team the Giants have needed to address virtually every position over the past five years.

The aspect that separates them from the other 31 teams is that rarely has there been more than one part of the team that is desperate for improvement. In fact, the last time this was the case was in 2005.

Throughout that offseason, Ernie Accorsi acted like the general manager of a team that had compiled 10 wins the past two seasons and aggressively signed three marquee free agents.

He inked Antonio Pierce from the Washington Redskins to anchor a defense that had latent talent. He locked up Kareem McKenzie from the New York Jets to help rebuild and anchor an offensive line that was regarded by some as the league’s worst.

The cherry on top resulted from a turbulent negotiation period with a wide receiver that was every bit as unreliable as he was talented. Plaxico Burress had his ups and downs with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but Accorsi was confident that his talent would give his prized quarterback an explosive weapon after going to battle with a mediocre receiving core in his rookie season.

This trio would be key contributors to five consecutive Giants playoff appearances, two years in which the Giants finished the season as division champions, and one as the league’s best team.

Even though the 2009 Giants had two more wins, the front office is facing a similar quandary as they did following the 2004 season. The only positions exempt from criticism after 2009 was the group that faced the most after 2008: The quarterback and wide receivers. 

The good news is that the Giants have gotten the two guys they had to get. If they had not lured Perry Fewell into the Meadowlands and away from Chicago, there would have been a serious issue filling the shoes of Steve Spagnuolo; a feat Bill Sheridan did not come close to completing.

Fewell may not be a sure thing but his ability to motivate is unquestionable, and his experience as a defensive coordinator and head coach establishes credibility that Bill Sheridan did not have.

Another issue that was striking week-in and week-out in 2009 was the safety position. The story is well-known; Kenny Phillips was on track to transform into an elite player after a quiet rookie season. And after two interceptions in Dallas, it appeared he was poised to do so.

Four days after this supposed breakout game, his season was declared over due to a serious knee issue that still has his career on hold. After Phillips, labeling the rest of the safeties as average would be a compliment. The Giants had no choice but to aggressively pursue a safety.

And they did just that. On the first day of free agency Antrel Rolle put his John Hancock on a contract that would make him the richest safety of all time. At age 27, he provides a long-term solution and leadership for a secondary that desperately needs both.

However, there are plenty more problems that plague the Giants. The linebacking core looked slow throughout the season and lost its captain, who also happened to be their middle linebacker. The interior of the defensive line was dominated all season as well, and the entire front was unable to rattle quarterbacks as they had the last five seasons.

Even the offensive line sprung some leaks in 2009. Manning was hit more, and the running game was non-existent. Jerry Reese wisely hasn’t ruled out a left tackle competition between the team’s 2009 second-round pick William Beatty and David Diehl, who has started every game at left tackle the last three seasons.

Diehl has been solid, but has always struggled with top pass rushers. With Trent Cole, DeMarcus Ware, and Brian Orakpo coming into their own, an upgrade will have to be made at some point.

Rich Seubert had an extremely disappointing season, part of which was due to an injury. But if the Giants are able to slide Diehl into Seubert’s spot, the Giants may have the best set of interior linemen in the league (Snee, O’Hara, Diehl).

The running backs aren’t immune to criticism either. Right now, the Giants have two complimentary backs that can’t play a 16 game season. Andre Brown was projected to be another Giants late round gem but he has yet to suit up for even a preseason game due to a ruptured Achilles tendon.

D.J. Ware was unable to take advantage of any opportunities either, his largest coming in Denver when he fumbled the ball in Giants territory. Bradshaw was unable to dress that night and Jacobs was clearly off; but instead of making a name for himself Ware crippled the Giants chances of putting together a comeback.

In 2009 field position appeared to become a priority for many teams. The value of a Percy Harvin increased exponentially, as well as a David Buehler. The former may be a household name but what about the latter? He’s the specialty kicker for the Dallas Cowboys.

He had 29 touchbacks in 2009. Lawrence Tynes had six. In a league that has become so offensively advanced, defenses can no longer afford the luxury of having opposing offenses start at the 30 or 35-yard line after virtually every score. Pinning the opponent at their own 20 after a score is a big-time play, and it’s something Tynes was unable to do.

Luckily, the Giants brass is no longer negligent of addressing Tynes’s weak leg. They are expected to have Panthers specialist Rhys Lloyd kick for them on Tuesday. Tom Coughlin has always been unwilling to carry two kickers but if he trusts Tynes more on field goals and Lloyd more on kickoffs, he will have no choice but to carry two. And it would be a prudent move to do so.

The Antrel Rolle signing is certainly a great start for the Giants. But in order to go where they want to, the Giants will have to replenish many other aspects of the team. And it may require some creativity.

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