Tag Archives: Giants
Giants Co-Owner Tisch Says Jets Ruined Tebow’s Career
There always seems to be a bit of a rivalry between the two New York football teams, and it sounds like Giants co-owner Steve Tisch has fired another shot in the battle.
Tisch talked to TMZ.com about (of all things) Tim Tebow, and the co-owner says that the Jets ruined the former Florida QB’s career.
“I think him going from the Broncos to the Jets was not in anybody’s best interest,” Tisch told TMZ on his way out of Dan Tana’s in L.A. Sunday night.
“Had another team picked him up after the Broncos, maybe he’d have a career.”
For now Tebow remains available to any team.
Quarterback Ryan Nassib finally goes off the board, to the New York Giants
Jacksonville doesn’t have any hope at quarterback, but it keeps passing on quarterbacks in the draft like the franchise is allergic to them.
The Giants have a two-time Super Bowl MVP at quarterback, Eli Manning. But Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib’s slide into the middle of the fourth round offered value that the Giants could not pass up. New York went with the best player available and took Nassib, who was projected by some to go as high as eighth overall, in the fourth round with the 110th overall pick. He was the best player available, and the Giants general manager Jerry Reese likes stockpiling those BPAs. That’s just the smart way to operate.
There’s a reason some teams are stuck drafting early every year, and others like the Giants are contending for a championship many years.
[Also: Geno Smith faces rough road in New York]
Nassib offers an interesting skill set. He has a strong arm, and his improvement last year was very intriguing. He had 3,749 yards, 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last year. His biggest knock is his accuracy, but the beauty of landing with the Giants is he’s with a good organization that can develop him without having to throw him into the lineup right away. He should get better redshirting behind Manning.
Manning’s presence is why this pick is so interesting. Manning’s 135 straight starts is the longest active streak for a quarterback in the NFL. And he is still among the best quarterbacks in the league, coming off 3,948-yard, 26-touchdown season. He is 32 years old, but should have many prime years left. Take a look at his bloodlines: Brother Peyton Manning just had an unbelievable season at age 36, and that was after multiple neck surgeries.
[Also: Chargers give Manti Te'o chance to start fresh]
This obviously wasn’t a need pick for the Giants. Nassib probably should have gone well before the 110th pick, and Reese was well aware of that. He picked an asset and it will pay off some day, whether Manning’s streak ends and a backup is needed, down the road for the Giants in a few years or in a trade with a team that should have been picking Nassib themselves this week.
Interesting pick. Reese on Nassib: “We actually hope this guy never plays.” #NYG
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RVacchianoNYDN) April 27, 2013
Nassib might not start right away, but being with a smart program like the Giants will probably be better for his career in the long term than a few other landing spots. Like Jacksonville, for example.
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Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz receives no offer sheet as deadline passes
The deadline for restricted free agents to sign an offer sheet with another NFL team expired at 11:59:59 p.m. ET on Friday night and, as expected, New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz did not receive one from another club and will play for the Giants in 2013.
Barring a long-term extension, Cruz will earn $ 2.879 million in non-guaranteed base salary in 2013.
Cruz is among eight restricted free agents who has yet to sign his one-year tender and could skip the team’s offseason program, which got underway on April 15 and concludes with a mandatory minicamp on June 13. Since Cruz does not have a signed contract, he would not be required to attend that minicamp. If Cruz does not sign his tender by June 17, the Giants could reduce the amount to 110 percent of his previous years’ salary, or $ 594,000, a $ 2.285 million reduction.
In addition to Cruz, the other NFL restricted free agents who have not signed their one-year tenders are Baltimore Ravens tight ends Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson, Denver Broncos punter Britton Colquitt, Green Bay Packers cornerback Sam Shields, Giants running back Andre Brown, San Diego Chargers wide receiver Danario Alexander and Tennessee Titans center Fernando Velasco.
Pitta, Shields, Brown and Velasco received “Second Round” tenders worth $ 2.023 million in non-guaranteed base salaries. Dickson, Colquitt and Alexander were tendered at “Original Round” or “Right of First Refusal” levels that include a $ 1.323 million non-guaranteed base salary. Those players could see their one-year tender amounts reduced to 110 percent their previous years’ salary if they do not sign by June 17.
Overall, 37 restricted free agents received tenders from 22 teams and only one — Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders — received an offer sheet from an NFL team. Sanders was tendered at the “Original Round” level, which carried a $ 1.323 million base salary for the 2010 third-round pick out of SMU. The New England Patriots risked parting with a third-round pick (No. 91 overall) when they signed Sanders to a one-year, $ 2.5 million contract that included no guaranteed money, but after losing Mike Wallace in the unrestricted free agent market, the Steelers elected to match the offer and keep Sanders for at least one more season.
Of the 29 restricted free agents who have re-signed, only Sanders and Steelers defensive lineman Steve McLendon have contracts worth more than their tender amounts. Not surprisingly, both teams received interest from teams with ample amounts of salary cap room. Unlike Sanders, McLendon actually received some guaranteed money as part of his new contract with the Steelers.
According to a source with knowledge of McLendon’s contract details, the undrafted free agent out of Troy received a $ 1.675 million signing bonus, which is the only guaranteed portion of the deal, and a non-guaranteed base salary of $ 900,000 to bring his 2013 cash compensation total to $ 2.575 million, a nice increase over his $ 1.323 million non-guaranteed base salary under the tender. McLendon has base salaries of $ 2.425 million in 2014 and $ 2.25 million in 2015 to complete the deal.
Two restricted free agents that have re-signed with the teams took less money in exchange for a little guaranteed money.
St. Louis Rams safety Darian Stewart was scheduled to receive $ 1.323 million on his one-year “Right of First Refusal” tender. On April 3, Stewart signed a one-year, $ 1 million contract that is comprised of a $ 300,000 signing bonus and a non-guaranteed base salary of $ 700,000. Detroit Lions defensive end Willie Young had received a “Second Round” tender worth $ 2.023 million, but he opted to lower his one-year deal to $ 1.5 million in exchange for a $ 300,000 signing bonus. Young is scheduled to earn $ 1.2 million in non-guaranteed base salary in 2013.
Pat Summerall, former Giants kicker and giant in the broadcasting industry, dies at age 82
The brilliance of Pat Summerall was always what he didn’t say. He didn’t have to be the loudest or most verbose guy in the broadcast booth. But he was the best.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Summerall has died at the age of 82. The report said he died in the hospital where he was recovering from hip surgery.
Summerall was a former NFL player. He was most memorably a New York Giants kicker, playing in the legendary 1958 title game against the Colts, and before that he kicked for the Detroit Lions and Chicago Cardinals. He was a good kicker in the NFL. Then he became a great announcer. He was one of the NFL’s distinctive voices as the league grew by leaps and bounds. That might not be coincidental.
Summerall and Tom Brookshier, and then later (and more famously) Summerall and John Madden were the soundtrack of every big Sunday game in the NFL for decades. Summerall and Madden in particular made calling a big NFL game an art form.
Summerall, whose playing career spanned from 1952-61, and whose broadcasting career went from 1962 to 2002, was an icon in the NFL for many decades, especially behind the microphone.
Summerall, with his economy of words and calm delivery, was the perfect compliment to Madden’s theatrics. He didn’t need to scream over a big play to let the audience know it was a big play. He let the pictures and sounds speak, and also allowed Madden be the star. A lot of today’s announcers could learn from it.
Take a look and listen to the first quarter of the NFC championship game between the 49ers and Cowboys at the end of the 1993 season, which was also the last game for Summerall and Madden on their longtime home of CBS, before moving to Fox:
They were tremendous together. Summerall worked 16 Super Bowls, a well-deserved record. Games always felt bigger when Madden and Summerall were calling them.
Summerall also scored 563 points as a NFL kicker. His best season was 1959, when he was 20-of-29 on field goals, leading the NFL in field goals, attempts and percentage. He also played some on the defensive side of the ball in his NFL career.
“Pat was my broadcasting partner for a long time, but more than that he was my friend for all of these years,” Madden said in a statement. “We never had one argument, and that was because of Pat. He was a great broadcaster and a great man. He always had a joke. Pat never complained and we never had an unhappy moment. He was something very special. Pat Summerall is the voice of football and always will be.”
Later in life he was open about his well-publicized battle with alcoholism, spreading a message that may have helped someone else. After spending time at the Betty Ford Clinic in 1992, he was reportedly sober for the last 21 years of his life.
Summerall also was a familiar voice on Masters golf broadcasts, U.S. Open tennis tournaments, and occasionally basketball and boxing. But he was at his best in the broadcast booth on Sundays in the fall. With all due respect to the other NFL announcing greats like Ray Scott, Al Michaels, Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg, nobody ever did that job better than Summerall.
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NFLPA Looking Into Giants WR Victor Cruz, Jay-Z Alliance
The alliance between rap mogul and entrepreneur Jay-Z, Giants receiver Victor Cruz and the representation firm Creative Artists Agency has unsurprisingly ruffled some feathers in the sports-agent community, Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com reports.
Multiple agents have complained that using Jay-Z to “recruit” Cruz violates NFL Players Association rules.
The NFLPA has indeed looked into the matter, Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports reported Friday. He wrote that the NFLPA has talked to CAA about the situation, but that it is unlikely to be viewed as a violation because of Jay-Z and Cruz’s longstanding friendship.
Forbes.com wrote about the matter Friday in a smarter fashion than I could. The article notes that CAA confirmed that Jay-Z brought Cruz aboard to the agency.
That would seemingly violate the NFLPA’s rule enacted in June 2012 that agencies are subject to sanctions if they (1) use, (2) associate with, (3) employ or (4) enter into a business relationship with any non-NFLPA certified individual in the recruitment of prospective player-clients.
Giants CB Aaron Ross says season playing for Jaguars was like a ‘paid vacation’
Cornerback Aaron Ross spent five of his first six seasons in the National Football League with the New York Giants before parlaying his most productive season in the NFL (four interceptions, 12 passes defensed) into a three-year, $ 9.75 million contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Ross started nine of 14 games with the Jaguars, recording 46 tackles, three passes defensed and zero interceptions while playing in less than 60 percent of the defensive snaps for a Jaguars team that would finish the season with a 2-14 record. The Jaguars released Ross after the season and the veteran is back with the Giants, who signed the 2007 first-round pick out of Texas to a one-year, “minimum salary benefit” deal worth $ 780,000, of which just his $ 65,000 signing bonus is guaranteed.
While Ross says that he doesn’t regret signing with the Jaguars last offseason, he’s glad to be back in New York and jokingly referred to his stint in Jacksonville as a “paid vacation”.
“It was a nice paid vacation to Florida,” Ross said of his season in Jacksonville during a Friday morning appearance on “NFL AM” on the NFL Network (via Marc Sessler of NFL.com).
While Ross and Co. laughed about the situation, there were likely few chuckles emanating from Jaguars headquarters. The Jaguars paid Ross over $ 2.6 million last season and treated the newcomer like family, giving him a few days off during training camp so he could travel to London to watch his wife, sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross, win a gold medal in the Olympics.
Ross, whose five-year rookie contract had a maximum value of $ 13.5 million, admitted that signing with the Jaguars was motivated by finances.
“I had to think about the family, setting us up long-term, so of course the money comes to mind,” Ross said. “But winning is everything, man. It takes the joy away when you’re losing, and the only thing to get you through it is the paycheck when you’re losing.”
It could be argued that Ross played as if he were on leave in 2012 — he was Pro Football Focus’ 89th-ranked cornerback last season.
Giants defensive tackle Shaun Rogers has nearly $500K in jewelry stolen in Miami
New York Giants defensive tackle Shaun Rogers had nearly half a million dollars in jewelry stolen from him during an apparent burglary in his room at the Fountainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida this weekend, CBSMiami reports.
According to the report, Rogers and some friends left the hotel room to hit the clubs and before returning to the hotel with a woman at 7 a.m. Rogers placed the jewelry in the hotel safe but, when he awoke at 12:30 p.m., both the jewelry and the woman were gone.
Among the missing items were diamond earrings worth $ 100,000; two wristwatches worth a combined $ 160,000; a gold necklace with gold pendant worth $ 50,000; gold bracelets worth $ 60,000; and a diamond Cuban necklace with a gold pendant worth $ 70,000.
Rogers entered the NFL with the Detroit Lions, who selected the former Texas standout with the 61st overall pick in the 2001 NFL draft. Rogers went to three Pro Bowls earlier in his career and was among the league’s highest-paid defensive tackles, earning over $ 27 million from the Cleveland Browns (2008-10) and New Orleans Saints (2011) before signing for the league minimum with the Giants in 2012.
[Also: NFL draft prospect dabbles in basketball before finding 'natural' fit]
Rogers, who turned 34-years-old on the first day of the 2013 league year, spent last season on injured reserve and signed another veteran minimum contract with the Giants on Feb. 7. Rogers earned $ 990,000 from the Giants last season and, if he stays healthy, keeps his weight down, and makes the 53-man roster in Week 1, could earn $ 1.005 million in 2013.
The only portion of Rogers’ contract that was guaranteed is his $ 20,000 signing bonus, but Rogers could earn a $ 45,000 if the 350-pound nose tackle meets a weight clause. Rogers’ base salary is scheduled to be $ 940,000, but unlike last year, the Giants included a “split” that would pay him a reduced rate ($ 433,000) if he is placed on injured reserve.
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Giants offensive tackle David Diehl takes $3.825 million pay cut
New York Giants right tackle David Diehl has taken a $ 3.825 million pay cut, a source with knowledge of the situation has confirmed to “Shutdown Corner”.
Diehl was scheduled to earn $ 4.825 million in cash compensation with a cap number of $ 6.9 million in 2013, the final season of his current contract. Under the renegotiation, Diehl has lowered his $ 4.475 million base salary to $ 1 million and the $ 250,000 in “per game” roster bonus and his $ 100,000 workout bonus Diehl was scheduled to earn have been eliminated.
The restructured deal reduces Diehl’s 2013 cap number to $ 3.125 million, a cap savings of $ 3.778 million. Of Diehl’s $ 1 million base salary, $ 200,000 is fully guaranteed.
Diehl, 32, has started 149 of 153 games for the Giants, who selected the 2009 Pro Bowler in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL draft out of Illinois. Diehl started 16 games in eight of his first nine seasons in the NFL, but injuries limited him to nine starts in 13 games during the 2012 season.
Last week, the veteran recently expressed his willingness to restructure his contract to help the team sign restricted free agent wide receiver Victor Cruz to a long-term contract.
“I wish I was his agent. I’d tell you more answers, and I wish I was upstairs in the office,” Diehl said on the NFL Network’s “NFL Total Access” program on March 21. “But like you said, Eli (Manning) would be willing to do things, I’d be willing to do some things to restructure and help other guys out, and to keep a great teammate along like Victor Cruz.
“I have restructured before in my 10 seasons of being a New York Giant. It’s not something that I’m unfamiliar with. I mean, that’s part of the business of the NFL.”
Giants Reportedly Offer WR Cruz $7 Million Plus Per Year
The Giants want to make wide out Victor Cruz a rich man, as reports from the NY Daily News say the team has offered him in excess of $ 7 mil per year.
The deal according to Gary Myers comes with a sizable amount of guaranteed money.
Switching to agent Tom Condon, who is a deal maker with a good relationship with the Giants, should mean they get a contract done rather than Cruz playing for the $ 2.879 million tender.
At the moment, it doesn’t appear Cruz is going to get an offer sheet from another team. Condon is Eli Manning’s agent and holds an important place in Giants history.
In the days before the 2004 draft, he broke the news to the Chargers that Archie Manning said Eli would not play for them, which forced the draft day trade to the Giants.
Vikings And Rams Won’t Go After Giants WR Cruz
The Giants placed a first-round tender on restricted free-agent wide receiver Victor Cruz.
The Rams and Vikings were thought to be two of the likeliest teams to sign Cruz to an offer sheet because they both possess two first-round draft picks and could afford to part with one.
Jane McManus of ESPN New York reports Cruz isn’t a free-agent target of the Vikings or Rams, according to Adam Schefter.
Minnesota signed receiver Greg Jennings on Friday to a five-year deal worth $ 47.5 million, reducing the likelihood the Vikings would go after Cruz.
As for the Rams, they let Danny Amendola bolt for the Patriots over money, so spending big to get Cruz doesn’t seem to fit with their free-agency philosophy. Amendola signed a five-year deal worth $ 31 million.
Cruz has been a popular, valuable wide receiver for the Giants, but he has also been extremely cost-efficient. Signed as an undrafted free agent from UMass, Cruz stands to make just under $ 3 million next season, up from his base salary of $ 540,000 in 2012.
Since the Giants would have the opportunity to match any offer for Cruz, a team would likely have to offer the wide receiver a high-priced deal in addition to giving up the first-round pick.
