MARCH 3, 2009
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - The Giants upgraded their defense with three free agent acquisitions over the weekend. They also created what appears to be a traffic jam on the defensive line.
Newest Free Agent signee Chris Canty will be used all over the defensive line in 2009
Chris Canty and Rocky Bernard join a defensive front already staffed by ends Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Mathias Kiwanuka and Dave Tollefson and tackles Fred Robbins, Barry Cofield and Jay Alford. Bernard, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks, is strictly a tackle, while Canty, the ex-Dallas Cowboy, will play both positions.
If everyone stays healthy, perhaps the most intense competition the linemen face will be for playing time. And that’s fine with general manager Jerry Reese, who imported Bernard and Canty, as well as new weakside linebacker Michael Boley, in a busy first weekend of free agency.
“With our rotation, these guys will play more football than they want to play,” Reese said today on a conference call. “That’s a good problem to have when guys are crying about playing time. That is not an issue for me. That’s a good thing, as far as I’m concerned, that we have enough guys that there is crying about playing time. That’s a great thing. But I don’t anticipate our guys bellyaching about playing time. With a 16-game season and into the playoffs, there is a lot of football to be played for everybody involved.”
Canty, speaking a few minutes later on a separate call, expressed a similar lack of concern about the number of snaps he might receive.
“I just know it’s good to be a part of a defensive line that has so many good players,” Canty said. “I think we can definitely attack offensive lines in waves and they’ll never get a break. We’ll wear them down. So I’m really excited to be a part of that kind of defensive line.”
Umenyiora missed the entire 2008 season with a knee injury, and Robbins and Cofield underwent postseason arthroscopic knee surgery. But Reese said it was a desire to improve both production and depth, and not a concern about injuries, that prompted him to add the two linemen.
“We expect those guys to make full recoveries, but you always want to protect yourself in that respect,” Reese said. “The number one reason is that we thought we wore down the latter part of last season with our front. We didn’t get the pass rush that we’ve grown accustomed to having. Our two inside guys were banged up. Tuck was banged up some, and Kiwi was playing a lot of snaps, so we will have more manpower with the acquisitions we’ve made with Canty and Rocky up front. One thing I learned from Ernie Accorsi is you’ve got to have some big guys up front who will get after the quarterback. Right now we have seven guys who we think can be starters for anybody.”
Reese intends to keep all of them.
“You never say ‘never’ in personnel, but we want our front to be strong,” Reese said. “I anticipate all those guys being ready to go for us when we kick it off in the fall.”
Bernard is a sturdy run defender who also had 29.0 sacks in his seven seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. Canty is an intriguing acquisition, a 6-7, 305-pound defender who can play all across the line and is switching from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 scheme. Outgoing and engaging, Canty can barely contain his excitement at joining the Giants.
“I definitely did want to take a look at the 4-3 teams, because it’s going to present a different opportunity for me in the game of football,” Canty said. “It’s going to allow me to make a few more plays than you would necessarily in the 3-4. A 4-3 team was definitely something I wanted to take a look at. I wasn’t sure what the interest would be there, because I wasn’t sure whether teams believed that I could do it. But when the start of free agency came and I saw how many 4-3 teams were interested, I said that opportunity would definitely be there.”
Regarding the opportunity to line up at both tackle and end, Canty said, “That’s something I’m definitely looking forward to, being able to move around and use my versatility. It’s going to present a lot of opportunities for me and a lot of challenges for offensive lines.”
Reese said, “We like guys who are versatile at every position, not only our defensive line. Nowadays, the more you can do, the more valuable you are. The guys we have up front are very versatile. Tuck is very versatile. Kiwanuka is versatile. Canty is versatile. Those guys can play all over the place. We’re happy to be able to have a bunch of versatile people in our defensive front and all over our team. We look for that.”
The Giants studied Canty carefully and are convinced he can be a force in their 4-3 defense even after four seasons in a 3-4 for the Cowboys.
“He can play tackle or end in a 4-3,” Reese said. “He is versatile in that way. The guy is 6-7. He’s 310 pounds. I don’t know why he wouldn’t be able to play a three technique. He is a very good athlete. He’s strong. Ask our guys who have played against him twice a year how good this guy is up front. Ask Rich Seubert because Richie has played against him more than anybody else. Ask those guys how good this big man is, and they’ll tell you we got a good football player.”
Canty set his career-high sack total of 3.5 in 2007. But he thinks playing in the Giants’ 4-3 with so many accomplished players can lift him into double digits.
“I definitely think there’s an opportunity for that,” Canty said. “There’s so much football ahead of me and Coach (Mike) Waufle (the defensive line coach) and Coach (Tom) Coughlin definitely expressed that to me, that there’s so much football ahead of me and that I could be as good as I wanted to be. I definitely think that’s a possibility.”
NOTES
*Boley, speaking on the day’s third conference call, also reiterated his excitement about joining the Giants.
“As an opponent, just based on what I have seen over the last two years, they are a tough, physical, hard-nosed team that is all about winning,” Boley said. “I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to be on this defense and seeing what they have done over these last few years has been amazing. So I’m proud to be a part of it.”
*The Giants currently have nine draft choices – their own seven (including the 29th selection in the first round), plus the second and fifth-round picks they acquired from New Orleans in the Jeremy Shockey trade. They might also get a compensatory choice or two when the NFL announces them later this month. Because it’s difficult to imagine nine or 10 rookies making the Giants roster, speculation has increased that Reese might use draft picks in a trade to move up in the first round.
Of course, he wasn’t tipping his hand today.
“We’ll try to do what’s best for the New York Giants,” Reese said. “There are a lot of things that can happen before the draft, so who knows? We may not have that many picks by the time the draft rolls around. We’ll do what’s best for the Giants. If you have 10 or 11 (rookies) make your team, you are maybe not that strong if all those guys make your team. We’ll see what happens moving forward. Maybe we won’t have that many picks. But if we have that many picks, we’ll try to pick them as best we can, and we’ll see. There will be a lot of competition. That’s what we like. We like to create a lot of competition at every position, and if we have 10 or 11 draft picks get into the fray, so be it.”
*Reese said the Giants did not make an offer to T.J. Houshmandzadeh before the wide receiver signed with Seattle.
“We look at everybody, but he was really not on the radar in a big way for us,” Reese said.
*Reese was asked about running back Derrick Ward joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I’m happy for Derrick,” Reese said. “They have a really good football player. I am very happy for him. Obviously, you hate losing good football players like Derrick Ward, but we’re very happy for him. That was a good move by Tampa Bay.”
*Reese confirmed the Giants had interest in defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth before he signed with NFC East rival Washington.
“We were serious about Albert,” Reese said. “I think everybody was serious about Albert Haynesworth. Everybody would want a big monster like that in the middle. I’ve seen reports that we offered $80 million. That’s not true. We did make a good offer. We wanted to put our toe in the water. It would be awful for us not to even put our toe in the water and the guy goes to his press conference in Washington and says, ‘I really wanted to be a Giant, but they never offered me anything.’ We always do our due diligence in that respect. We made a nice offer, but obviously it wasn’t in that ballpark.”
