Giants to stand pat with D-Line surplus?

In spite of two juicy rumors circulating this week concerning the New York Giants trading some of their surplus defensive line talent, general manager Jerry Reese reiterated his stance to Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News that the team will probably hold on to all seven starter-caliber players heading into 2009.Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports on a rumor that has circulated regarding the Cleveland Browns trading wide receiver Braylon Edwards to the Giants for pass-rusher Mathias Kiwanuka.

Another rumor that has floated in some circles would involve the Arizona Cardinals sending Anquan Boldin to the Giants for Kiwanuka or a second-round pick plus defensive tackle Jay Alford.

In both cases, the Giants would be trading from a position of strength in order to address what many consider to be the team’s glaring weakness: namely, a dominating wide receiver option to supplant Plaxico Burress, whose prospects for 2009 are uncertain at best. Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle John Thornton has opined on his blog that the Giants are likely to make a move using one of these pieces.

Addressing these rumors and the questions that have arisen as to why the Giants are attempting to corner the market on D-Line talent, Reese told Vacchiano, “One thing I learned from Ernie Accorsi is you’ve got to have some big guys up front to get after the quarterback. Right now we have seven guys we think can start with anybody. You never say never in personnel, but we want our front to be strong. I anticipate all those guys being ready to go when we kick it off in the fall.”

Future is wide open for Taylor

After Jason Taylor was released by the Washington Redskins on Monday, he instantly became one of the most sought-after names on the free agent market. A virtual wild card, it is unclear whether he can recapture the form that drove him to 11 sacks in 2007, or if he’ll once again be stuck in the quagmire that limited him to 3.5 sacks in 2008.One thing is certain: his name still holds a lot of water in NFL circles. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has heard that “a dozen teams already have expressed interest” in Taylor, a fact that is even more interesting given Taylor’s likely refusal to participate in offseason conditioning programs leading up to the 2009 season.

While Florio does not cite any of these dozen teams, it would make sense that squads who will be using a 3-4 scheme in 2009 would have the most interest in Taylor, as he can function quite well as an edge rusher from the outside linebacker/defensive lineman hybrid position. Otherwise, he’d need to be on a team with an already strong defensive line presence, as he is primarily a pass-rushing specialist and fairly useless in stopping the run. In that sense, one could speculate that the Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers could be amongst the twelve suitors. A report from the St. Petersburg Times indicates that Taylor is not bound for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and a return to the Miami Dolphins is highly unlikely given the friction between Taylor and Bill Parcells. In addition, the Chicago Tribune has been informed by a source that the Chicago Bears are also not a destination for Taylor.

Within the blog entry from Stephen Holder of the Times, the author suggests that Taylor may sign with a team in as little as one or two days. This would indicate that Taylor and his agent, Gary Wichard, already have a list of preferred teams, and will be selecting from that group soon.