New York Giants Cut 24 Players: The Giants waived 24 players yesterday:
- QB Rhett Bomar
- QB Dominic Randolph
- HB Andre Brown
- HB Gartell Johnson
- FB Jerome Johnson
- WR Derek Hagan
- WR Tim Brown
- TE Bear Pascoe
- TE Scott Chandler
- OC Jim Cordle
- OG Dennis Landolt
- OG/OT Guy Whimper
- OT Jacob Bender
- OT Herb Taylor
- DE Tommie Hill
- DE Alex Hall (waived injured)
- DT Jay Alford
- DT Nate Collins
- DT Dwayne Hendricks
- CB Courtney Brown (waived injured)
- CB Seth Williams
- S Sha’reff Rashad
- S John Busing
- S Matt O’Hanlon
Head Coach Tom Coughlin made the following comments:
On keeping rookie free agent WR Duke Calhoun over Hagan: “It was a tough call. Derek Hagan is a very good special teams player and he made our team a year ago because of that. We felt like our situation, particularly at the gunner spot, had not emerged the way we wanted to. Calhoun did a nice job the other night. He and Reynaud, along with a couple of other guys – D.J. Johnson – will get an excellent opportunity to help us in that regard. We need the power and the speed going down the field because of the young punter and we didn’t get many plays made out of the gunner position in preseason.”
On keeping eight linebackers: “We certainly had an eye toward who can help us on special teams and there are always thoughts on that when you put your roster together – who’s going to perform in what categories. That had a lot to do with our trade for (Darius Reynaud). It’s going to be reflected in the added responsibility we put on a lot of people to help us become a stronger special teams outfit than we were in the preseason. We kept eight linebackers and a lot of thought went into that – not that they’re all going to be active. There’s always great attention given to special teams.”
On cutting Pascoe: “There was an awful lot of sentiment for Bear, because of what he was able to do. There was an entire week in practice when he allowed us to practice. I had to cut some snaps out, he was the guy that kept us going. And when you’d go to him and think he might be a little fatigued, he’d say just the opposite – ‘Bring it on coach, I can do it.’ That attitude is a tremendous thing.”
On cutting Bomar: “Bomar’s progress has been outstanding. He’s worked very, very hard. He did receive a lot of attention, he did make progress and he did show us what he can do.”
On cutting Alford: “It was competitive at that spot this year. Even though we still feel like we have a ways to go to have the front that we say we have, it was a very difficult choice to have to make. Based on the competitiveness at the spot and the ability to rank the guys in terms of their production, we really didn’t, in all fairness, have a lot of choice.”
New York Giants Tried to Trade Tollefson, Whimper, and Ware?: According to The Star-Ledger, the Giants tried to trade DE Dave Tollefson and OG/OT Guy Whimper yesterday, however there were no takers. Tollefson is still on the 53-man roster while Whimper was waived.
The Daily News also says the Giants were shopping Tollefson. The paper reports that HB D.J. Ware was on the trading block. Like Tollefson, Ware is still on the 53-man roster.
Rosenfels and Reynaud Trade Official: With the passing of their physicals with the team, QB Sage Rosenfels and HB/Returner Darius Reynaud are now officially New York Giants.
“We were fortunate enough to consummate a trade for two very important needs coming out of our last preseason game,” said General Manager Jerry Reese.
“The timing of this move was outstanding,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin, “in terms of our ability to solve a couple of problems and move forward.”
“Sage gives us a solid veteran backup quarterback in every way,” Reese said. “If need be, he can go in and win games. He will provide a very good support system and sounding board for Eli in the film room and on the sideline on game day.”
“Sage for a long time has had an outstanding reputation as a veteran quarterback who knows his role and is a true student of the game,” Coughlin said. “He has been in the position of and will continue to be a great supporter of the starter. He’s a guy who studies the game, he communicates with the starter and on Sunday is a great asset to the starter because he has the ability to recognize what’s going on on the field, grab the starter when he comes off and become another source of information in terms of what the player sees and what he doesn’t see. And that’s a big, big asset to the starting quarterback, to have a guy like that on the side who is a good guy and is a student of the game. He makes the room even more academic. He’s been in games, he’s been a starter, he’s been around the league for a long time. He gets the ball out of his hands real quick. He sees things fast.”
“I’m hoping to play when the team needs me and when the team doesn’t need me, I’ll help out the players and coaches and Eli as much as I can,” said Rosenfels. “I was extremely excited when the Giants ended up being the team that came and got me. The organization from top to bottom is well-known around the league as first class all the way. It’s one of the winningest teams in the history of the league. Cough Coughlin recently won a Super Bowl. There are so many positives with this team. The cherry on the top is I love New York City. My aunt has lived on the Upper West Side for 35 years and I visit her regularly. It’s one of the great cities in the world.”
“I’m going to be spending a lot of time in that hotel room studying my tail off and trying to learn the offense as quickly as possible,” Rosenfels said. “Everyone has a different seat on the bus. Sometimes you’re in the front, sometimes you’re in the back. There are two keys, one is being on the bus and two, being on the right bus. I’m excited to be on this bus wherever my seat is and I think this is a bus that’s going places.”
“Darius is a young man that we’ve had our eye on for a while,” Coughlin said. “He is a guy who has versatility – punt returner, kickoff returner, gunner, covers kicks – he can play on all those teams. He’s also been a wide receiver and he’s been a running back. He’ll learn to be a receiver so he can help you out in an emergency situation. He can learn two or three running plays and help you out there as well.”
“Darius is a very versatile player as he can play wide receiver, running back and be a cover specialist on teams,” Reese said. “But the biggest need he fills for us right away is to give us some pop as a return specialist.”
“I wasn’t expecting (the trade),” said Reynaud. “I’m glad a team was looking at me. I’m ready to go to work. I’ll be starting out with the specialists. They say they need a big return guy and they were looking at me. I love returning punts. If you can make that first guy miss, you’re off the races. That’s one thing I love about punt return.”
Article on the Giants’ Defense: Perry Fewell’s Defensive Scheme – Designed To Create More Turnovers – A Work In Progress For Giants by Ralph Vacchiano of The Daily News
Article on DE Justin Tuck: Giants’ Tuck Is Starting to Spread the Word by Judy Battista of The New York Times