Justin Tuck “disrespected” by Giants
Dec 22, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck (91) against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Justin Tuck, recently signed with the Oakland Raiders, had time to catch up with the Nydailynews for a quick interview in which he expressed how the Giants strung him alone into thinking that they wanted him back, when in fact they did not. Tuck said that he thought the Giants were being disrespectful in their offer and the way they handled the situation. Here are some quick hits.
“Exactly,” Tuck said. “That’s the disrespect part. I don’t want people to think I’m bad-mouthing the Giants. I’m not. I understand the business and I have so much gratitude for them giving me the opportunity to have my presence felt in New York and be the man I’ve become. I’m just frustrated with how it ended. I’m upset about it. But I’ll move on and hopefully one day time will heal all wounds. Right now, I just don’t understand a lot that’s gone on and how they strung us along.”
The original offer from the Giants prior to free agency was a meager $6 million for two years, but he ended up signing for almost twice that with the Raiders; $11 million for two years.
“They wouldn’t have had to match it,” Tuck said. “You know, at the beginning of free agency I’m going in thinking I’m not looking for a lot. I understand the Giants have a lot of holes to fill. If they were trying to sign me before free agency hit, or at least were trying to communicate with us, then I probably would’ve took somewhere around a two-year deal, $8 million.”
$4 million per year is a steal for a man coming off a season his agent claimed was “an incredible season last year with every stat he had with the tackles, tackles for loss, the hurries and the sacks. They were up there with the upper-echelon defensive linemen.”
But contrary to what GM Reese had previously said of “I’m all for players getting as much as they can. Justin deserves to see what the market is. We’d love to have him back. We’ll see where it goes.”, he did want want Tuck back at all.