I Hate You Kenny--by Brian

Maybe the Eagles are learning.  The “dream team” free agent signings of Nnamdi Asomugha, Vince Young, Ronnie Brown, and Steve Smith didn’t amount to much in the win column.  Newly signed Giant Cullen Jenkins admitted this week that the frenzy around the 2011 free agent signings made it hard on the team.  Heh, Heh...I said hard on.  Anyway, this year’s Eagles’ free agent class--while short on name power--provides much needed depth at reasonable prices.  Even the Giants fans are getting a little worried that the Eagles might be figuring out the right recipe for success.  Thank god they don’t have a quarterback.  But even if they know the secret, let’s just promise to not let Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder in on it.

I’ve never really gotten too worked up about the free agent signing period.  For most of my adult life Giants’ free agent signings were generally castoffs that were on their last legs by the time they arrived in New York.  For every Kareem McKenzie or Plaxico Burress signing, the Giants shot themselves in the foot (thigh?) with aged superstars like Dorsey Levens, Carlos Emmons, Brian Mitchell, and LaVar Arrington.  Those first three names just made me a little bit more concerned about the Jenkins signing.  Maybe we should keep the Eagles stink out of the Giants locker room.    

It has also been pretty rare that the Giants have lost players in free agency that have come back to bite them in the ass.  You’ll be hard pressed to find a Giants fan clamoring for the days when players like Gibril Wilson or Steve Smith or Kevin Boss donned Giants blue.  Sure, the loss of Barry Cofield a few years back stings now that the artist formerly known as Chris Canty has moved on.  And I personally wasn’t thrilled to see The Black Unicorn move on to greener pastures (where is it exactly that a unicorn frolics?) but ever since Shockey left, the Giants have done just fine with a “next man up” mentality to the tight end position.  Maybe Osi ends up on a team that can put him to good use as a situational pass rusher but I for one won’t miss seeing backs like Alfred Morris or Shady McCoy run right around his end.    

As for Kenny Phillips, I read somewhere that he is going to learn to hate the Giants.  Well then, with deference to Eric Cartman, I hate you Kenny.  I wish you about as much luck in Philadelphia as your friend Steve Smith had.  You were a real good Giant who never lived up to full potential because of injury.  We’ll always have Super Bowl 46.  I’m sure the Eagles’ doctors were well aware of the degenerative condition that is eating away at your knee.  I can’t imagine that a gaping hole in your knee is the reason why 30 other teams failed to offer you any more than the veteran minimum.

The Giants haven’t made much of a splash in this year’s free agent signing period.  Jerry Reese learned a long time ago to let teams let Washington and Dallas win in March.  The players have come cheap and have provided needed depth.  I personally was surprised by the Dan Connor signing.  I would have thought that after he won the lottery in the last season of Roseanne, he would have hung 'em up by now.  And if the Giants really wanted a slow, plodding two-down linebacker who will be a substitute math teacher by the start of the 2014 season, why not just keep Chase Blackburn?  I would say that at least Blackburn knows Perry Fewell’s system but that would require Fewell to have a system. 

I’m moderately enthused by the Brandon Myers signing.  Sure he can’t block but he did catch 79 balls last year.  And he is a dead ringer for Carson Palmer so he has that going for him which is nice.  Speaking of Palmer, I can only imagine how giddy Louis Murphy was to find out that he will now be receiving the ball from Eli Manning rather than from JaMarcus Russell or Bruce Gradkowski or Palmer’s corpse or more recently from Cam Newton.  I’m indifferent on this signing.  Murphy’s numbers have generally rivaled those of Domenick Hixon and he is likely to be behind Nicks, Cruz, and Randel on the depth chart. 

I’ll admit that this hasn’t been my favorite offseason.  It is never fun to see champions like Ahmad Bradshaw or Michael Boley or (I suspect) Osi Umenyiora leave the Giants family.  But I understand.  There’s a saying on Giants blogs, “In Reese We Trust.”  He deserves it.  Two Super Bowls in five years.  I’ll keep telling myself that.    

Free Agency

Sorry for the long delay but we are BACK baby.

Obviously a lot has happened since our last post, mostly Eagle-related. First there was the Vick resigning--I know this got a lot of Eagles fans fired up but I am going to withhold judgement until I know what they're actually planning to do with him. There are like 7 QBs on the roster right now so who knows what it all means. As a brand new coach I don't think Kelly can go into a season with a 2nd year enigma and a bunch of journeymen. At least Vick is a veteran who theoretically has the (albeit declining) skill set that we think Kelly wants/needs.

The Eagles and Giants also exchanged sloppy seconds, with media darling Cullen Jenkins (seriously--all the Eagles beat writers kept tweeting about when he left was what a good interview he was) going to the G-men and former U safety Kenny Philips coming down the turnpike to try to fill the giant cleats left by Weapon X aka Wolverine aka B-Dawk aka future (hopefully) Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins. I keep reading how Philips is a "game-changer" when healthy; honestly, if he's barely competent that'll be a HUGE upgrade over the past few seasons. I will never defend DRC or Nnamdi, but they were made to look even worse by probably the most atrocious safety play the NFL has seen in decades.

Kurt Coleman getting burned

Philips was part of a (semi) bargain shopping spree the Eagles went on right as free agency began that my wife would be proud of. It's as if Howie Roseman got the NFL equivalent of the 40% off Gap coupon she keeps raving about and went to town. But unlike past years, there seems to be a method to the madness. Suddenly, it seems that they have realized that depth and special teams actually matter. As a result, the national media has almost universally praised what they've done so far (see this Bill Barnwell piece for a good example).

Let's start at CB where they picked up Bradley Fletcher and Cary Williams. Fletcher is a bit of an unknown, to the point where many of the beat writers and talking heads on Twitter initially called him Fletcher Bradley. This naturally got me excited because I was thrilled about having two guys named Fletcher on the same team. But alas, it was not to be. Word is he's a good cover guy who lost his job in St. Louis due to injury. He should definitely get a shot to start. Williams was a starter on the Ravens team that just won it all. He is apparently a hothead who gets burned a lot. But he makes plays and hopefully can add a little fire to a defense where it seems like EVERYONE ate lunch in their cars alone the past few seasons.

They also added ex-Niner Isaac Sopoaga, a prototypical 3-4 nose tackle.  Always good to have a Samoan on your team. Always. Good signing.

At safety, they brought in the aforementioned Philips and former Patriot Patrick Chung, whom I was shocked to learn is not Asian (well his father was half Chinese, half Jamaican which is pretty sweet actually). Chung is a big hitter who Chip Kelly should know well since he played his college ball at Oregon. Again--we are looking for basic competence here. Nate Allen should be on high notice.

The two most interesting signings, in my mind, are both ex-Texans. Conor Barwin is yet another University of Cincinnati guy (along with Celek and Trent Cole) who figures as an OLB in the 3-4 the Eagles are obviously going to play. James Casey--who is described as a fullback/halfback/tight end--has been described as the Eagles version of Aaron Hernandez. His versatility should fit well into the mad genius offensive schemes Kelly will likely install. He is not Asian either.

The most recent move was a trade for a big WR who is apparently a great special teams player. Arrelious Benn was acquired for a 6th round pick this year and a conditional pick next year. In other words, they got him for nothing. Even if his impact is only on special teams, this is another low-risk, at least medium-reward move. They also got a 7th round pick back in the deal.

As I've said before, this year is 100% honeymoon for me. As long as Chip Kelly doesn't drop his pants and take a dump on the 50 yard line, I'm down with whatever he wants to do. (Actually if he did that at the Meadowlands or in Dallas that would be awesome). But I will say, so far I like the direction in which the front office is going so far. Team-friendly contracts for guys that fill holes and add depth--I think most smart football people would agree that this is a big part of the way to take a 4-12 team and make them a contender again.

The biggest part, of course, is the draft. Until next time...