Suffice it to say that this off season has been the craziest ever, a complete sprint to get to the best Free Agent’s out there. We all know that the Eagles have been making some huge NFC East splashes in the off season by acquiring the likes of Nnamdi Asomugha, Vince Young, Cullen Jenkins, Ronnie Brown etc. and it sure seems like the Giants have only been jogging. Let’s take a closer look and compare their Super Bowl 2007 off season and draft to the current 2011 one. Yes, you can argue that the last time they won the Super Bowl in ’07 they did exactly the same thing retained their own players, drafted outstanding prospects and only lost a few small pieces to the puzzle such as Visanthe Shiancoe and Frank Walker. In fact it was the draft picks in 2007 that made an impact. So is 2011 going to be the same? It is eerie how similar the drafts are; out of 8 picks both years they selected (2 DB’s, 1 DL, 1 WR, 1 OT, 1 RB,) Both years the first pick was a premier DB from a Big time conference, the first three picks were spent on a CB, WR and DT and the last pick was on a speedy running back. Coincidence Mr. Reese, I think not.
| Draft Class | ||||||||
|
2011 |
2007 |
|||||||
| Rd | Player | Position | School | Rd | Player | Position | School | |
|
1 |
Prince Amukamara | CB | Nebraska |
1 |
Aaron Ross | CB | Texas | |
|
2 |
Marvin Austin | DT | UNC |
2 |
Steve Smith | WR | USC | |
|
3 |
Jerrel Jernigan | WR | Troy |
3 |
Jay Alford | DT | Penn St | |
|
4 |
James Brewer | OT | Indiana |
4 |
Zak DeOssie | LB | Brown | |
|
5 |
Greg Jones | LB | Mich. St |
5 |
Kevin Boss | TE | W. Oregon | |
|
6 |
Tyler Sash | S | Iowa |
6 |
Adam Koets | OT | Oregon St | |
|
6 |
Jacquian Williams | LB | S. Florida |
7 |
Michael Johnson | S | Arizona | |
|
7 |
Da’Rel Scott | RB | Maryland |
7 |
Ahmad Bradshaw | RB | Marshall |
Free Agent Class
| 2011 | 2007 | |||
| Player | Position | Player | Position | |
| Ahmad Bradshaw | RB | Derrick Ward | RB | |
| Andre Brown | RB | Gibril Wilson | S | |
| Bear Pascoe | TE | Grey Ruegamer | C | |
| Ben Patrick | TE | Reggie Torbor | LB | |
| Darius Reynaud | KR | Ryan Kuehl | C | |
| David Bass | OT | Shaun O Hara | C | |
| David Carr | QB | |||
| Gabe Watson | DT | Loss | ||
| Kevin Boothe | OT | Brandon Short | LB | |
| Mathius Kiwanuka | DE/LB | Frank Walker | CB | |
| Michael Clayton | WR | Lewis Kelly | G | |
| Stacy Andrews | G | Visanthe Shiancoe | TE | |
| Steve Weatherford | P | |||
| Loss | Position | |||
| Barry Cofield | DT | |||
| Chase Blackburn | LB | |||
| Keith Bulluck | LB | |||
| Madison Hedgecock | FB | |||
| Rich Seubert | G | |||
| Rocky Bernard | DT | |||
| Shaun O Hara | C | |||
| Possible Losses | Position | |||
| Deon Grant | S | |||
| Kevin Boss | TE | |||
| Steve Smith | WR |
So while it appears that GM Jerry Reese has been napping during Free Agency, I would submit that he is imploring the same judgment and skill that he used to build a Super Bowl winning organization. It cannot be by coincidence that he drafted almost identical, filled key needs, got younger on both lines and signed many of his own free agents. Jerry signed 13 FA’s this off season and it feels like he didn’t do much because we lost some key name players, but just look at the 2007 FA class and please tell me the big name that they reeled in that year? If he can nail down Steve Smith and Kevin Boss, get rid of Osi or get him in line, get the #1 pick in camp and if some of his draft picks step up the way they did in 2007 than this would be a great off season once again. I wouldn’t buy the plane ticket just yet to Indy, but hopefully while the Eagles are winning the newspaper back pages, maybe the G Men will quietly sneak up on everyone again and win where it counts.
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Written by Dennis Napoliello
Graduate of Providence College with a BS degree in Business Administration. While at Providence College, I co hosted the #1 radio program titled "The Sports Page". I make my living in the fitness industry as National Vice President of Sales at David Barton Gym located in New York City. On a personal note, I have been a long standing Giants fan as my family has held season tickets since the opening of Giants Stadium in 1976. I now own the tickets and enjoy going to the game with my three children (Peyton, Trevor and Camryn), wife (Michelle), Dad (Al) and brother in law (Chris). Other than college, I have lived my entire life in NJ and currently reside in Roxbury, NJ. My objective with this blog is to have fun writing, along with my two sons, about the team we love, and to be as objective as possible always trying to give you the fans point of view,
