NY Giants: The Road to 53
By Joe Tufaro
As Tom Coughlin explained so simply the other day…Play a game, watch the film, cut to 53. That is the Giants brain trusts plan for the upcoming week. I suspect they all have a scratch pad working somewhere, and mine looks like this:
3 QB: Eli, Nassib, (Painter or Carr)
3 RB: Wilson, Brown, Cox…Torain to P.S.
6 WR: Nicks, Cruz, Randle, Murphy, Jernigan, Barden
10 OL: Baas, Beatty, Boothe, Diehl, Snee, Pugh, Brewer, Moseley, McCants, Cordle
3 TE: Pascoe (FB) Myers, Donnell
1 FB: Hynoski
10 DL: Jenkins, JPP, Tuck, Kiwi (LB), Joseph, Moore, Rogers, Austin, Patterson,Ttrattou
6 LB: Connor, Paysinger, Rivers, Williams, Herzlich, Bosworth
8 DB: Prince, Webster, Ross, Rolle, Thomas, Hosley, Mundy, Sash (Hill Suspension)
3 Specials: Weatherford, Brown, DeOssie
That is 53…Then you have practice squad guys listed as: Ojomo, Capers, Tracy, Torain, Robinson
PUP is Kuhn
So the next question becomes can you keep 10 OL amd 10 DL? Can you keep 6 WR and 6 LB’s? Luckily the Giants have some versatile guys along the O-Line so it’s not like keeping three centers with Baas, Cordle, and Brewer all capable of playing the position, but I think Cordle showed his lack of strength the other night against the Jets. Special Teams also plays a big roll in this as some guys like Jerrell Jernigan are more valuable there than say Ramses Barden, and Tyler Sash also has value on Specials. Sash may be saved by the injury to Brown and the suspension of Hill, at least until week 5.
What does your list look like? Do you have 4 and not three RB’s? Do you have 5 and not 6 WR’s? Do you count Kiwi as a LB and save another OL or DB?