Steve Smith Calling Tom Coughlin’s Bluff

With Smith visiting both teams this week and getting the advice of their doctors, Tom Coughlin came away from their meeting a bit less enthusiastic than Smith would have liked apparently. Coughlin said Smith had a ways to go in recovery, Smith disagreed and travelled down the turnpike to call his bluff.

ESPNNewYork.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk has an interesting post up this evening that gets right to the heart of the matter, and by heart I mean wallet:

"Smith visited with the Giants on Monday and Tuesday, including an examination of his knee. Giants coach Tom Coughlin said Smith still had “a ways to go” before being healthy enough to play again.“I would disagree with that,” Smith said. “I feel good. I’ve been running, cutting, doing different things. I haven’t had any setbacks.”…Asked why Coughlin might have indicated that Smith faced a longer rehab than Smith’s doctors expressed to him, Smith said, “Maybe Coughlin had a plan up his sleeve when he said that. We’ll see what happens when I get out on the field.”Smith said he believes the real reason the Giants didn’t want him was financial."

So were the Giants caught up here in trying to low ball too many players and it finally caught up with them? Let’s recount what’s happened this offseason so we can be clear about what might create this myth.

First, they cut Seubert and O’Hara. Then let Plax get away to the Jets for more guaranteed money. Then this Osi situation starts to unfold, won’t pay him more. Then they let Bradshaw run around the country until he came back to accept an offer well below what he was expecting. Got caught not making a competitive enough offer for Boss, he leaves for Oakland. Their replacement TE retires after Boss leaves. Half the team restructured their contracts while the Giants have seemingly not made a single significant offseason move, while the Eagles are blowing it up left and right with free agent signings even with their own holdout issues staring them in the face.

Something isn’t adding up here, and Smith basically blows this whole thing wide open when he says ‘Coughlin had something up his sleeve.’ To me, and a guy like Steve Smith that Eli feels so comfortable with on 3rd down… you go all in. You don’t let “3rd down and Steve Smith” get away to the friggin Eagles.

Of course, there is the chance that Hixon, Cruz, Barden and the rest of the Giants receivers step up and have a big year — but all those guys are coming off injuries too. Perhaps its a good thing no contract negotiations are under way with those guys either…