Brandon Jacobs Wants Plaxico Burress Back: HB Brandon Jacobs made it clear yesterday that he thinks WR Plaxico Burress has changed and that he wants Burress to return to the team. Burress’ season ended in late November when he accidentally shot himself in a Manhattan nightclub. Jacobs is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent on February 27 if he is not re-signed before then.
“Oh, no question,” Jacobs said. “If I’m here, I need 17 back on that roster.”
“He knows what happened to him,” said Jacobs. “He knows he’s, #1 lucky to be living today, for how close he came. He realizes that and he realizes the golden opportunity he’s got in front of him to be able to take care of his wife and his kid. I talk to Plax every other day. We text back and forth. He’s still Plax. He’s still the same person. But he’s got a different swagger about himself.”
“I think he’s changed,” said Jacobs. “You won’t ever hear anything from Plaxico as far as any kind of trouble with ‘team’. It’s all done. He’s finished. He’ll really be a different person.”
“If we had Plax on our team, we go 15-1 and we win the Super Bowl,” Jacobs said. “And I’m not afraid to say that and I’ll say it to anybody on any team. We had a different identity with him and we didn’t have enough time to change our identity to be effective at what we wanted to do – try to play a team differently. Teams – I’m not going to say stopped the run – but they did a little better each week because they had that eighth guy in the box.”
Jacobs says he does not blame Burress for the Giants’ disappointing finish to the 2008 season. “You can’t judge him for what happened because nobody really knows what goes on out in the street,” Jacobs said. “A lot of people don’t really know anything about what happened or how targeted we are. I’m not going to blame him from protecting himself. The guy is not a criminal. He shot himself. He didn’t shoot no one else and I think we should get off his case. And I think anybody in that situation should get off and be able to continue his career.”
Brandon Jacobs Talks About His Contract Status: HB Brandon Jacobs also publicly talked about his contract status yesterday. Jacobs said he was unsure about the status of talks, but that he was confident that an agreement will be reached before the start of free agency on February 27.
“I really want to be back,” said Jacobs. “I’d be fairly upset and angry if I’m not back, because that’s where I want to be. That’s the team I want to play on…I have no idea what’s going on there (but) I’m confident. When you know it’s something that you want, you just put it on the line and come out and get it done.”
The Daily News reports that a source familiar with Jacobs’ contract situation says while there have been some conversations, there have been no substantive talks between the Giants and Jacobs’ agent. Jacobs apparently has told others that he is seeking a deal similar to the 7-year, $45 million contract that HB Marion Barber received from the Dallas Cowboys. That deal included $16 million in guaranteed money.
The Daily News says the Giants do not appear to be willing to offer that much.
The Giants could place the “franchise” tag on Jacobs, though the team has not done that with a player since 1993 (LT Jumbo Elliott). The tag would virtually prevent Jacobs from signing with another team (right to match, two first round picks as compensation) and Jacobs would be guaranteed $6.6 million in 2009.
“I would be angry (if the Giants franchised me),” said Jacobs. “It would probably cause some problems. But it’s nothing that we couldn’t deal with…I don’t think the Giants would put that high of a number against the cap. I don’t anticipate that at all. I’m confident something will get done.”
Manning Responds to Toomer’s Criticism: QB El Manning responded yesterday to WR Amani Toomer’s criticism that he was not enough of a focal point of the Giants’ offense after the team lost WR Plaxico Burress for the season.
“Obviously, people are upset with how the (playoff) game turned out and we didn’t go as far as we wanted to,” Manning said. “Amani played and obviously we have a lot of young receivers. We had Steve Smith, we had these guys we tried to get in the action. They played well and made plays, so (Toomer’s) time probably did get cut some, but a lot of it wasn’t based on his performance or lack of. He’s played well for us and made big plays. And when we had three receivers in there, he was always in there. When we had just two, we kind of rotated Steve Smith in some and get a guy who’s been playing well (on the field)…We had other guys in there also, so everybody can’t get playing time. It’s just a matter of putting him in certain situations and you have to rotate a lot of guys in.”
Toomer is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent on February 27 unless re-signed before that date. “Amani’s played well, he’s played great football for the Giants for a long time, (was a) No. 1 receiver and he’s made great plays for me and bailed us out of a lot of situations,” Manning said. “You hope a guy comes back, but you just know he’s been a great teammate of mine, he’s been great to play with and hopefully we can continue to play (together).”