a look at the off-season moves by the other NFC East teams

All is quiet in Giants-land. Below I will break-down what has our NFC East rivals have done since SuperBowl XLIII.


WASHINGTON REDSKINS

re-signed CB DeAngelo Hall: UFA; $54M/6 yrs, $22.5M guaranteed.

acquired

DT Albert Haynesworth UFA Titans; $100M/7 yrs, $5M SB/$41M guaranteed.

re-acquired

OG Derrick Dockery: FA Bills; $26M/5 yrs, $8.2M guaranteed.

notable draft picks:

Brian Orakpo DE - round 1

Kevin Barnes CB - round 3

a couple of LBs in the middle

My take: Washington didn't really address their aging and inconsistant OL, still is lacking playmaking receivers unless 2nd year guys Devin Thomas or Malcolm Kelly show something. They have no RB depth behind Portis. They also could have also used an upgrade at SS & SAM. Once again this will be a tough team as they are a bitter rival with a physical defense, but they are not any better offensively. Haynesworth will help improve the middle of the front seven, but he is the team's only true pass-rusher. Orakpo has a good chance of becoming a good DE, but probably not for a year or two.

DALLAS COWBOYS

acquired

LB Keith Brooking

QB Jon Kitna

DE Igor Olshansky

S Gerald Sensabaugh

lost

DE Chris Canty

CB Anthony Henry

LB Zach Thomas

LB Greg Ellis*

* It appears that Greg Ellis is going to be released or traded

let go

WR Terrell Owens

S Roy Williams

notable draft picks:

(no day 1 selections)

Jason Williams LB - round 3

Michael Hamlin S - round 5

Mike Mickents CB - round 7 (could be a steal, projected as a mid-round pick)

My take: Only "real change" is the departure of Owens. The team is hoping that it is "addition by subtraction." Kitna is good insurance if Romo gets hurt or decides to take up golf full-time http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=4160904. It was very surprising that Dallas did not draft another WR. I guess it's time that Patrick Crayton put the money where his (big) mouth is. This is now Romo's team. Can he be a good leader? Can he play as well in the winter as he does in the fall?

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

acquired

OT Stacey Andrews

CB Ellis Hobbs

S Sean Jones

OT Jason Peters

FB Leonard Weaver

lost

RB Correll Buckhalter

S Sean Considine

S Brian Dawkins

CB Lito Sheppard

TE L.J. Smith

OT Tra Thomas

notable draft picks:

Jeremy Maclin WR - round 1

LeSean McCoy RB - round 2

Cornelius Ingram TE - round 5

Victor Harris CB - round 5

Fenuki Tupou T - round 5

My take: The Eagles had a productive off-season. They now have two new OTs who are in the prime of their careers. Jason Peters had a down year last year. Can he return to form? Maclin is a speedy WR, but can he make an impact as a rookie? McCoy is a Westbrook clone, which is not a bad thing, but the Eagles could have used a big, bruising RB. Can Sean Jones replace the ever-present Briab Dawkins? The rest of the NFC East is happy to see him gone. If McNabb can stay healthy, a playoff spot should easily be obtained. And as he will be 33 this year, his window of opportunity for a SuperBowl victory will be closing soon.

Giants rookie camp wrap-up

Well the Giants rookies, undrafted rookie tryouts, and various veteran vagabounds rapped up the "rookie" mini camp. Keep in mind that this is only a rookie camp & the competition is not what it will be come September, there were several bright spots.

Both rookie WRs looked good. Hakeem Nicks was very sharp & Ramses Barden seemed to get better each practice. Barden still needs to do a better job getting an initial burst.

Rhett Bomar looked impressive & will give Andre Woodson a competition for the 3rd QB spot. Neither may play this year as David Carr is Eli Manning's back-up. But it is important to groom one as who knows how long Carr will be here.

One of the surprises is undrafted DE Maurice Evans. He really has a motor & was in the backfield on every play. If he keeps it up, he may end up taking Dave Tollefson's place on the 53 man roster. Evans was a productive player as a sophomore, but got into trouble before his junior year & was benched. He decided to enter the draft anyway.

Another undrafted rookie to keep an eye on is safety Sha'reff Rashad to grab the last (4th) safety spot.

Coming soon, roster battles, more player news, e-mails from around the web

Giants new from around the web

Hello Giants Nation. I found some interesting stuff on different websites.

First of all, the Giants rookies (drafted & non-drafted) have a mini-camp starting tomorrow. See below link & excerpt from Ralph Vacchiano Blue Screen Blog.

"The rookies are coming! The rookies are coming! They’ll be checking in Thursday night and hit the NFL fields outside Giants Stadium for the first time at 10:10 a.m. on Friday. They’ll practice twice Friday and twice Saturday, before being discharged sometime on Sunday.

The camp, as you know, is not for veterans, but it will include the entire Class of 2009, and all the undrafted free agents and tryout players. Speaking of that, the UDFA/tryout list has been updated several times, and probably will be updated again before Friday, so keep clicking back on that link."

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/giants/2009/05/irvin-floored-giants-didnt-get.html

Finally some more info on 6th round CB, DeAndre Wright. Thank you Mike Garafolo for the good story. I like this kid's toughness.

http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2009/05/new_york_giants_rookie_cornerb.html

I found another article where Al Groh praises the 3 players the Giants selected who played in the ACC. The praise for his own player (Clint Sinton), is no surprise, but it means a lot more when you praise players without a bias.

"Al Groh Virginia's coach on two other Giants picks from the ACC-- Hakeem Nicks and Andre Brown, both of whom played in the ACC

Groh’s Virginia team played North Carolina this year and won, 16-13, in overtime. Nicks had six receptions for 90 yards in that game.

“He’s a terrific player,” Groh said. “He’s physical, very physical. He’s athletic. He makes not just speed plays but really athletic catches. He’s got terrific body control, he’s an aggressive after-the-catch runner. We found him to very versatile in the routes he could run, whether it be intermediate or vertical routes. A very highly competitive player. He was, from our perspective, probably the biggest game-changer in our conference last year.”

Because of the revolving schedule in the ACC Virginia did not play NC State this year, but Groh said he’d been a fan of Brown’s since he recruited him out of high school.

“I always thought he was a very talented player who got sidetracked for a while there by injuries,” Groh said. “They have a few other good running backs there and as I recall during that timeframe when he was injured some other guys stepped up and did a good job so it was difficult to get some of his carries back. But he’s a talented player. We were always impressed by him.”"

http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/football/giants/blog/2009/04/al_groh_on_clint_sintim.html

Lastly, here is a good article on the salary cap situation for the G-Men. Pat Traina is always good with the numbers.

http://trainathought.insidefootball.com/2009/05/crunching-numbers-a-projected-update-on-the-giants-salary-cap.html