Even more disconcerting are the handful of free agents, who at one time were considered to be the league’s elite, that are now “more distinguished looking” and attempting to make one final impression on a career gone wrong. These players are, most certainly, headed for Canton, Ohio. These players are the “Bad Boys Of Free Agency.”

Source: Sean Kerr

Memorial Day weekend started early for Giants fans this year and on a very positive note to boot. With weather forecasters predicting rain over the holiday, and on a seemingly overcast night, the left tackle for the New York Giants brought a heaping portion of sunshine for all to enjoy, as well as a few friends.

David Diehl hosted the Big Blue Moon Charity Event on Thursday, May 26, 2011 at The Garden @ Studio Square in Queens, NY. Diehl is 6′ 5″, 319 lbs but with the passion and motivation that he has for his charity, it is safe to say that his heart is twice the size.
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Source: AP Photo/Evan Pinkus

Giants fans will long remember the days of “Earth, Wind and Fire” aka Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw and Derrick Ward. Those days, of course, did not last very long. Twin seasons to be exact. But the formula that was stumbled onto, or revisited as the case may be, was not lost on the powers that be.

The game of football is changing right before our very eyes. A quarterback is required to do much more than throw the perfect pass nowadays. He must also be a tall, solid athlete who can take a hit. He must be able to change the play at will, scramble and channel his inner running back when need be. He must be able to see what happens down field before it happens and throw the ball into traffic with pinpoint accuracy. This is the new paradigm for quarterbacks in the NFL. Are things business as usual where the running game is concerned?
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taken from http://en.nkfu.com/images/tiki-barber-pictures-1.jpg

One of the interesting developments that’s come out of the lockout is what N.F.L.t eams should do with their employees. One approach, which the Jets have taken is having pay cuts or Furloughs from Profootballtalk

Everyone contracted on the football operations side of the business will take a 25% pay cut.  Everyone else will have mandatory furloughs throughout the offseason.  If no preseason games are missed, the employees will be reimbursed for the money.

Oh goody, the billionaire owners and millionarie palyers will defer payments while they posture, or not really lost any money at all, which let’s be honest they should be able to withstand for awhile, but other employees, who aren’t rich will also be drastically effected.

If the Jets have changed their minds on this, I haven’t seen it, so if someone has an article that says they have decided not to go this route I’d love to know.

The Giants, on the other hand, from Ohm Youngmisuk

The Giants currently have no plans for salary cuts or furloughs for team employees or the coaching staff during a work stoppage.Mara, the team president and CEO, said that he has installed a salary and hiring freeze until further notice.

 It’s unfortuante, that the Giants won’t be hiring, but at least all the employees will still be getting paid. It is true, though, that players like Eli Manning will miss their workout bonuses if this continues (and Eli’s is half a million dollars, not chump change, but he should be ok, you’d have to assume and hope).

Ohm Youngmisuk also believes the Giants are well enough prepared for this lockout  (football operations wise) because they have continuity in their front office, have a pretty complete roster and with the tendered contracts appear willing to head into the season next year with pretty much the same (talented) roster.

Ohm has an interesting quote from Giants G.M. Jerry Reese in regards to the draft:

We’re just looking for good players all the time,” Reese said at the scouting combine. “We’re looking for playmakers. Looking for speed. Looking for tough players, smart people in the draft. Nothing changes in that respect. We’re just looking for players who can add depth, look for some starters.”

Looking for speed? I missed that memo. C.S.I would have a hard time finding speed on this team.

I think he meant to say “we’re looking for a good speed to size ratio”.

Moving away from Ohm, I came across this little doozy from Lawrence Taylor. Saying he would love to have Tiki Barber on his team next year.

“I’d rather have a Tiki Barber than some unknown third-rounder,” said Taylor. “He’s going to be fine. He should go play for another 2-4 years if he thinks he can do it.”

There’s a lot of third round RB prospects I can think of I’d rather have than Tiki Barber at this point. Barber  is not a young man anymore. He’s closer to 40 then is he 30 now, and that’s is a fact.

Closer to what I think most Giants fans feel is Antonio Pierce:

Tiki Barber the person? The leader? The person in that locker room? He’s not going to do anything for your team. (…) Now if that’s the guy you think you’re bringing in, you might want to look in another direction, because from personal experience, he didn’t do anything to help the Giants the last year, especially 2006 when he decided to retire in the middle of season … Can he do it four years later? I don’t think he can”.

Which one are you close to L.T. or Antonio Pierce?

As it turns out, it wasn’t etched in stone, or marker, or even pen. It was etched in pencil and has already been erased from majority of Giants fans’ minds. His post Giants career seemed like it was going to be just as stellar as his playing days- a bidding war erupted, and the Today Show landed his services. Soon after he published his first book, and soon after Tiki erased his Giants legacy. Calling Eli Manning’s motivational speeches “almost comical”, the fans quickly took sides, and they were firmly in the quarterback’s camp. Now instead of remembering Tiki’s 2,390 yards during the 2005 season, or his 234 yards in 2006 against the Redskins, fans remembered his feud with Michael Strahan, his public criticism of Tom Coughlin, and most of all his public dismissal of his quarterback’s leadership.

At every subsequent Giants home game I’ve been to, and I go to as many games a year as I can, Barber has been fervently booed during video montages and countdowns. Despite the vitriol from the New York fan base, Tiki’s career and personal life were still doing great. That is, until recently.

On April 5^th, 2010, he separated from his wife of 11 years. In addition to two young children, the soon to be former Mrs. Barber was pregnant with twins. Reports surfaced they had split up over Tiki’s affair with a NBC intern. Soon after, in May 2010, without ceremony or announcement, NBC released Tiki from his contract. The once-fought over television personality was now without a home on the little screen.

Now comes a new million dollar lawsuit from Tiki’s partners in a cycling studio, alleging that the clientele now have a negative viewpoint of him.

Given what we learn each and every passing year about head trauma among NFL players, no one can fault Mr. Barber for getting out before he suffered a serious injury. But nobody thought he’s do cause damage after he walked away from the game.

So, nice job Jerry, as he has inked deals with 4th round draft choice Philip Dillard (check out Matt Moseley on espn.com, nice to see he agrees with me that Dillard has a legitimate shot to earn the middle linebacker gig), 6th round draft pick Adrian Tracy, 5th round draft pick Mitch Petrus (we might start to refer to Petrus as “the future”), and 7th rounder Matt Dodge, who has the leg up (no pun intended) on the starting punting job with the release of Jy Bond a few days back.  Only two more picks to go, JPP and Linval “The Anvil” Joseph, but don’t fret, it usually takes some time for the market to be set in the first 2 rounds and I expect Reese will have both guys into camp on time, ready to roll. 

A good day indeed for the gentleman above, not so much for legend L.T., who has officially been indicted on charges of rape, criminal sexual act, and sexual abuse.  Also a bad day for Tiki Barber, who officially will not be back, in any capacity, with NBC.  A huge fall from grace for the former Giants star, this coming after the public humiliation of his pending divorce from pregnant wife Ginny (Ginny gave birth to two healthy kids a few weeks back), and amid rumors that he is playing hardball with the financial negotiations of the divorce.  Score one for Tiki, whose income just went down a bit, but this is not a good day for our most famous fumbler.  Stay Blue!