What about Bob? Glauber's NFL Blog

Strahan insists that money isn't the issue with whether or not he wants to play in 2008.

He insisted the same thing last year, and played for the $4 million on his contract.

My sense is things could be different this year, though.

My sense is that it could take up to $7 million for Strahan to decide to play one more year.

Remember, team president John Mara said he's willing to re-tool Strahan's deal, which currently has one year at $4 mil remaining. Whether the Giants are willing to go that high remains to be seen.

But in talking to people who known Strahan and his situation, it seems evident that he has decent options outside of football - see: Fox broadcaster - and that playing another year in the NFL will require more than what's on his contract.

I hope Strahan does play again. He's still good. He's still one of the most interesting players to cover. He even offered me a ride in the Weinermobile. And - did I mention? - he's still good. If the guy was just hanging around, I'd tell him to walk away. But he can still play.

Besides, Best has a bet going that Strahan will play in 2009.

The Giants paid a visit to the White House today and were feted to a special ceremony hosted by President Bush.

Rock was on hand and will give a full report in tomorrow's newspaper, but Bush did reel off a pretty good one-liner that was a perfect blend of politics and football.

Bush suggested to those assembled: "We're gonna send Jessica Simpson to the Democratic National Convention."

Those on hand cracked up as Bush made reference to the lovely Ms. Simpson, who was in the news last season because her frequent trips to Texas Stadium were seen by some - including Terrell Owens himself - as a distraction for Tony Romo.

One of the Giants' stunning playoff victories came, of course, at Texas Stadium.

Bush now suggests the distraction caused by Ms. Simpson can do for the Republicans in November what she did for the Giants in January.

Here is the full text of President Bush's speech.

The Giants are about to find out.

I wrote about the third-round receiver from Michigan, whose checkered past off the field gave plenty of teams reason to bypass him in the draft.

The Giants think he'll change his ways. If he does, he'll turn out to be a steal. If not, then he'll be another example in the next story about character being a factor when drafting.

I think we have to give Giants GM the benefit of the doubt here, because he and his staff do their homework. It's not a guarantee that Manningham will turn into a worthwhile pick. But after last year's selection of running back Ahmad Bradshaw, who had two arrests in college, in last year's draft, the Giants have taken another calculated gamble that Manningham will get his act together and be a productive player on the field and a solid citizen off it.

... and really, what's so wrong with that?

There was plenty of sentiment to dump the temperamental tight end, but in the end, Jerry Reese didn't see enough value in any of the offers he'd received.

So he did the right thing. He kept Shockey.

Good for him.

Rock isn't on the beat a month, and already he's making trouble in the press room.

He tried to ask Mario Manningham, the Giants' controversial third-round pick, a question on the conference call, but Manningham kept telling Rock he sounded so far away.

Hilarious exchange, though. Rock blogs it here.

Plenty of folks think the Giants would be better off trading away tight end Jeremy Shockey and moving on with second-year man Kevin Boss as the starter.

I'm not one of them.

I offered my take on Shockey's situation in today's newspaper.

Abramson and I discuss what a fine job Jerry Reese did last season with the Giants' draft and some of the challenges he faces this weekend.

If you are a friend, relative, colleague, or jeffp, I know: These videos are kinda creepy.

But Newsday did get nominated for four Eppy's, which is apparently a big deal in the Internet world. My guess is the Eppy ranks somewhere in importance between and ESPY and a gold star.

As on the previous video, the vast production staff was led by Mr. La Monica.

And if you really want to get some insight into the Giants' plans, please read Tom Rock's blog.

Instead, they took Jarrett's less heralded USC teammate Steve Smith.

How's that one working out? Smith is coming off a Super Bowl win his rookie season after making some major contributions down the stretch.

Jarrett, who had an awful rookie year marred by injury and inconsistency, is fighting a DWI charge.

Even more than two months after the fact.

The Giants released the defensive tackle earlier today.

Wright signed with the Giants last Aug. 15 and played in only six regular season games. He was credited with four tackles, and was inactive for all four postseason games.

Wright was drafted by the Dolphins in 2005.

Eli and Peyton will be on hand tonight for American Idol. They'll take part in the show's second annual fundraiser, and will appear along with entertainment icons Bono, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Miley Cyrus and Mariah Carey, along with several former Idol stars.

Last season, "Idol Gives Back" raised $76 million. This year's show will benefit U.S. charties that work with underprivileged kids.

"Idol" is a huge hit in the Glauber household, and we're all predicting David Archuleta will come out on top.

Not sure what the producers have in mind for the last two Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, but hopefully for America's sake, no singing is involved.

Actually, they've been playing the Jets in preseason since 1969, but how else am I supposed to get you all pumped up about games that mean nothing? Maybe there will be some sort of commemorative festivities in honor of the 40th game played between the Giants and Jets.

In addition to the annual game for New York braggin' rights, Big Blue will also play the Browns, Panthers and Patriots.

I know I'm supposed to tell you that preseason is a big deal, and that it's a very important part of getting ready for the regular season. But for the life of me, I can NEVER remember the result of a single preseason game. Or whether it was actually a precursor to what happened in the regular season.

Last year, the Giants were 1-3 in preseason.

A few months later, they won the Super Bowl.

Evidently, winning the Super Bowl doesn't open as many doors as you might think.

Just ask Giants coach Tom Coughlin.

"People ask me and they say, "I bet you haven’t bought a meal yet since the Super Bowl," he said.

Not quite.

"I look at them, and I say, "I’ve bought every meal. Plus I’ve bought every drink. I can’t find anybody to even buy me a glass of wine."

Click here for a look-see.

As painful as it was for Patriots fans to watch the Giants upset the previously unbeaten team in Super Bowl XLII, it was pure agony for Pats owner Bob Kraft.

"We came within 30 seconds of having an umbelievable season, something that probably won't be replicated in my lifetime," Kraft said at the NFL owners meetings earlier today.

One thing that helped get him through the ordeal: warm thoughts of the late Giants' co-owners, Wellington Mara and Bob Tisch.

"I think Well Mara and Bob Tisch were both present at that game," Kraft said. "That’s how I got through it."

The Giants will receive a sixth-round compensatory pick (199th overall) in this year's draft.

The NFL awards compensatory picks to teams that lost more free agents than they signed the previous year. Last year, the Giants lost kicker Jay Feely, tight end Visanthe Shiancoe and cornerback Frank Walker. They signed free agent linebacker Kawika Mitchell and quarterback Anthony Wright.

The Jets did not receive any compensatory picks.

The Redskins (96th overall), Bengals (97), Falcons (98) and Ravens (99) all received third-round compensatory picks.

Giants general manager Jerry Reese said earlier today at the NFL owners meetings that he will wait until Michael Strahan returns from a vacation in Africa before discussing the defensive end's plans.

Strahan hasn't made a decision about whether he'll play in 2008, and when we caught up with him at an appearance in New York a couple weeks ago, Strahan said he needed to get away from it all before he'd have any idea about whether he wants to play.

What does Reese think?

"My gut feeling is that he will play another year," Reese said. "We haven't had any conversations, and we'll sit down and he'll let me know if he wants to play."

Many of Strahan's teammates think he'll be back, but Strahan sounded legitimately torn when I spoke to him during an appearance in Times Square earlier this month.

The cost of attending Giants games has gone up, although not by too much. Especially not for a team that just won the Super Bowl.

Here's the breakdown:

Sections 301-308, 314-328 and 334-340 will be $80 per seat.

Sections 309-313 and 329-333, as well as 101-107, 115-127 and 135-140 will be $85 a seat.

Sections 108, 114, 128 and 134 will be $90 per seat.

Seats in sections 109, 113, 129 and 133 will be $95 apiece.

Sections 110, 111, 112, 130, 131 and 132 will be $100 per seat.

Mezzanine seats will be $105.

According to the team, the net result is an average increase of $7.01. Last season, the gross average price of a Giants ticket was $83.29, which ranked 12th out of the 32 teams in the National Football League.

In addition to their NFC East rivals Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington, the Super Bowl champion Giants will host San Francisco, Seattle, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Carolina in 2008.

Penn State held its pro day today, and plenty of eyes were on linebacker Dan Connor .

I spoke to someone who attended today's workout, and he said Connor ran the 40-yard dash in the "low 4.5's," which is very, very good speed. Connor can play inside or outside, but with 4.5 speed, he projects extremely well on the outside. He also has that patented Penn State toughness as a potential inside guy.

There has been plenty of talk the Giants will seriously consider Connor with the 31st overall pick, although the Giants don't necessarily place as high a value on linebackers as some other teams.

The person who saw the workout said Connor also did well on individual drills, which will clearly improve his stock as teams arrange their draft boards.

The Giants have re-signed running back Derrick Ward, who spent the final month of the regular season and the entire playoffs on injured reserve (fractured fibula).

Ward has agreed to a one-year deal believed to be worth $1.1 million.

... he reduces his contract demands. By a lot.

The Giants remain interested in the Falcons' disgruntled cornerback, but not to the point where they're ready to swing a deal. That's because Hall's contract demands - which come close to $10 mil a year - are just not in the ballpark as far as the Giants are concerned.

"He'd have to come way down," a league source familiar with the Giants situation told me.

That said, it's still not out of the question that Hall is dealt to the Giants. Or another team interested in his services - Washington and Dallas are in the market for a big-time corner, I'm told. It's not unusual for the player to shoot for the moon - especially with so much time remaining before the draft.

But if you've watched Giants GM Jerry Reese operate, you know by now that he plays poker as well as anyone. And he will be content to wait this one out. If the Falcons can't solicit the right trading partner - which means they'd have to agree on draft-choice or player compensation AND Hall would have to agree on a new contract - then the Giants will be a factor in a potential deal.

The best advice on this one: Stay tuned.

Here are a few more nuggets from our talk yesterday morning next to the Oscar Meyer "Weinbermobile" in Times Square. (What can I say? Reporters interview their subjects in some odd places. This was just another one.)

On others telling him he should keep playing because he's still able to perform at a high level: "Trust me, everyody is saying 'Don’t retire.' It's hard. But two years ago, everybody said Brett Favre should have retired, and now they're saying he's a fool for retiring. You've got to retire on your own time. You can’t listen to what other people say, because nobody knows what I’m going through or those other guys are going through to know what it takes to play outside of the person playing. So my decision will be for me."

On Osi Umenyiora saying Strahan will definitely be back: "He always says that. He’d love to see me play for 10 more years so he doesn’t get double-teamed so often."

On why he still works out almost every day: "I have to work out and stretch just to be able to function every day."

On his frantic off-season schedule: "I've been here [in the New York area], in Tennessee, Vail, Colo., Las Vegas, California. I’ve always done a lot of stuff, but now it’s just increased a little bit because of the Super Bowl. I haven't had much time to relax."

On a potential career in television: "There are opportunities there, without a dout. That’s the great thing, that I do have opoprtunities if I retire. At least I'll have an oportunity to do something else somewhat in the same field I've been in."

On his sense of competitiveness: "The competitiveness will never go away. With my mentality, even if a big guy walks up to me on the street and says, 'Hello, Michael, how are you doing?' the first thing in my mind is I would like to challenge him on the field. I don't know why that is. The competitiveness never goes away."

Well, he hasn't made a final decision, but when we talked yesterday at an appearance he made on behalf of Oscar Meyer and its famed "Weinermobile" in Times Square, it certainly sounded as if retirement is a very real possibility.

In fact, if Strahan had to make the decision today, he'd probably be done. That's why he wants to take a vacation, clear his head of any thoughts of football, and make a calm, reasoned decision afterward.

Here's a story from today's Newsday with some interesting quotes from the 36-year-old defensive end.

"My body is hurting," he said. "I can get it geared up enough to go out on Sunday. But the problem is I have to live a life the other days of the week. And now, when we're not even playing and you wake up and you're hurting ... you take 10 steps before you can stand up straight and walk right. That's not good at thirty-something years old. Those are things that you have to take into account and realize that is something that goes along with it.

"You think: 'Is this going to go away, or is this just how my life is going to .continue and I'm going to make it worse by sticking around?' There is really .nothing else for me to do and prove, so anything I do from this point out, it's to have fun and be around the guys, .nothing more than that."

I'll be back in a bit to supplement these quotes with a few more.

The 30-year-old free agent linebacker, who last played with the Texans, agreed to terms late last night on a contract. An official announcement will come later this morning.

Clark will most likely compete with Gerris Wilkinson at the weakside linebacker spot vacated by Kawika Mitchell, who signed a free agent deal with Buffalo.

I'll have more in a bit about my interview with Michael Strahan yesterday.

We're getting word that linebacker Danny Clark has drawn interest from another unidentified team, which puts his signing with the Giants into question. Not saying it won't happen, but the Giants are clearly not ready to get into a bidding war for a 30-year-old linebacker.

Stay tuned.

Looks like QB David Carr is going to be Eli Manning's veteran backup, although nothing is official just yet.

(Carr is done. Still waiting on final word with Clark. One more thing about Clark: He'd be a great insurance policy in the event Gerris Wilkinson doesn't work out as the heir apparent to Kawika Mitchell. The coaches still aren't sold on Wilkinson; with Coughlin's familiarity with Clark, it would give the coaching staff a better comfort level.)

All right, I'll give up some of the interview, but not all of it. Remember, we're still trying to make money as a newspaper, and the paper itself pays the majority of the bills these days.

When Strahan does retire, whether it's this year, next year or beyond, he insists won't cry. Strahan was in Vail, Colorado on a promotional trip when Brett Favre tearfully explained his reasons for retirement.

"I'm sitting there watching it and [girlfriend] Nicole looks at me and says, 'If you do retire, just don't cry, because if you do, they will run it over and over.' Every time we turned on the tv, [Favre] is there crying. When I retire, I won't cry. I've had a great career. I'm happy. I'm satisfied. What is there to cry about? Will I miss football? Yes. But at the same time, I've played enough football for myself and a lot of people. If I don't play any more, part of me will be sad, but another part of me will be excited, because there's life after football."

(PS: I took the liberty of posting this picture of Strahan and his attractive girlfriend, partly to appease any disgruntled readers of Best's blog, which included a disturbing picture for some readers, particularly Islander505.)

The 30-year-old journeyman linebacker, most recently a member of the Texans, is visiting with the team today. A league source familiar with the Giants told me he has not yet been signed (as of 12:30 p.m.), but indications are that he could be on the team shortly. Maybe within a matter of hours.

Clark would offer another option at outside linebacker after the Giants lost Kawika Mitchell (Bills) and Reggie Torbor (Dolphins) in free agency.

He was drafted by the Jaguars in 2000, when Tom Coughlin was the team's head coach.

Yet another reason blogging can be so much fun: After all, how else do you get a headline like that out into the public domain.

It's true. Strahan drove the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile today, and he offered me a ride. I would have taken him up on it, but the Weinermobile folks are a bit protective with their unique vehicle. On this day, you had to be a famous pro football player who had just won the Super Bowl to gain entry into it.

Strahan had a few good quips about the Weinermobile during his appearance this morning in Times Square.

"Eli Manning got a Cadillac. I get the Weinermobile."

"I'm not afraid of getting car-jacked in this thing. You know someone's going to find it somewhere. It's not easy to hide."

Strahan is continuing his whirlwind tour of promotional activities in the wake of the Giants' Super Bowl win.

And in answer to the question all Giants' fans want to know: No, he has not yet made a final decision about whether to play next year or whether to retire.

But he did have some very neat things to say on the subject, so I will eventually share them with you. Because we still have a newspaper that hundreds of thousands of people still read, my inclination is to wait until then to share his thoughts.

Of course, if there is a big enough outcry in the "comments" section, I will have to re-think that strategy.

The contract numbers were, as expected, astronomical. Especially for defensive players. Giants free agent safety Gibril Wilson got a six-year, $39 million deal with the Raiders. Oakland re-signed unheralded defensive end Tommy Kelly to a seven-year, $50.5 million deal. Free agent cornerback Asante Samuel got nearly $10 million a year with the Eagles.

Justin Tuck might have cashed in on that financial feeding frenzy, especially if he’d waited to become an unrestricted free agent after next season. Even if he'd waited until later this year to renegotiate his deal with the Giants, the price would surely have gone up.

But there is no second-guessing on Tuck’s part for re-upping to stay with Big Blue in January by agreeing to a five-year, $30 million extension.

“I realize that things happen for a reason,” Tuck told me yesterday at a read-in at the Secaucus Public Library benefitting a Toys for Tots program. "I was excited about my deal and about being with the Giants for a long time. I’m happy for all the other guys making all their money. That means the market will go up for me on the next contract.”

Why not wait?

“What if I didn’t sign and got hurt?” he said. “It would be a whole different ball game. The Giants made a great offer at that point in time, it’s what I was looking for and I signed it.”

Initial reports said Tuck’s deal included $16 million in guaranteed money, but Tuck told me there are actually $23 million in guarantees. The total value of the package is $30 million, but it can go as high as $38 million if he hits several incentives.

Bottom line: Tuck has it all in perspective.

“Thirty million dollars is thirty million dollars,” said Tuck, who grew up in the small town of Kellyton, Alabama. “It’s a lot of money. You know how far that money goes in Alabama?”

In retrospect, the Giants got a very affordable deal with Tuck, who turns 25 later this month. He is coming off a career-high 10 sacks, and showed plenty of versatility by playing both defensive end and defensive tackle. Had Giants GM Jerry Reese not gotten this deal done before the end of the playoffs, Tuck’s pricetag would have spiked considerably, especially after the recent flurry of free agent deals.

The fact that Tuck isn’t second-guessing himself over the timing of the deal makes it even better. That’s what you call win-win.

The Giants will visit with former No. 1 overall pick David Carr tomorrow and Wednesday. It's not certain whether they'll sign Carr, who has been a major disappointment throughout his career with Houston and then Carolina, where he was beaten out last year by 44-year-old Vinny Testaverde and undrafted free agent Matt Moore.

The Giants had expressed some interest in Trent Green, but he's off the market, having signed with St. Louis.

There were a couple of things I found cool about the way Tom Coughlin handled his four-year, $21 million contract.

The first was that he didn't have a press conference. Or even a conference call with reporters. Just a statement in a press release. That's it.

In today's world of me-me-me, it was a refreshing change. For Coughlin, it's always been about team-team-team.

The second thing I found interesting was Giants director of communications Pat Hanlon's quotes to me about the whole Coughlin situation. I'm not ordinarily in the habit of quoting public relations folks, but Hanlon had some interesting things to say when I asked him why the low-key approach from TC.

"Tom is from the old school," Hanlon said. "What a person makes is between him and his employer . . . While anybody who knows anything about the Giants spent at least a minute over the course of the last year wondering about the head coach's future, Tom, even in his most private moments, never gave his future a thought beyond: What can I do to be a better head coach and what can I do to make this team the best team it can be? Not once did he wonder out loud about his personal circumstance or what may or may not happen contractually. Not at 0-2 and not as we prepared for the Super Bowl. The beautiful thing about him is that it ain't that complicated."

Hanlon's take is also important because he was instrumental in helping Coughlin re-shape his image last off-season. Coughlin took the initiative in attempting to come across better, but Hanlon helped draw up the blueprint to get it done, especially with the media.

Coughlin sat down individually with nearly a dozen beat reporters and NFL columnists - even Best was consulted (of course, he wrote about it and took a very public bow) - as was yours truly.

Hanlon, one of the top PR men in pro sports, along with his capable right-hand man, Peter John-Baptiste, as well as Avis Roper, helped put the plan in motion. And Coughlin did the rest, showing his softer side and reaching out to the players and the media in what turned into a wildly successful transformation, punctuated by a Super Bowl championship and now a well-deserved new contract.

(UPDATE: I've noticed that a few folks posting comments on BBI, which has been kind enough to provide a link to our item, had questions about why it seemed to take so long for the Coughlin contract to be finalized.

Actually, it really didn't take all that long. Consider that the Giants had won the Super Bowl less than five weeks before the new contract was announced. In the grand scheme of things, this was actually a very quick negotiation. I did inquire about the time between the overall agreement to the deal - which we had about three weeks ago - until the time it was signed. And there was nothing contentious about any of the talks. The fact was the Giants were busy with the scouting combine and preparations for free agency, and team president John Mara, who did the bulk of the negotiating, was also busy with competition committee issues. As with many contracts, the devil is in the details, and some time was needed to dot the i's and cross the t's.

Hope that helps.)

It's probably a good thing Brian Kelly has a Super Bowl ring with Tampa, because he's never going to get another one. Not after opting to sign with Detroit over the Giants.

A very low-key reaction from TC on his new deal. In fact, Coughlin decided not to even have a conference call or a press conference, but to put his statements in a press release.

Not surprising, actually, because Coughlin is a big believer in not putting himself ahead of the team. In fact, whenever we'd ask him about his personal feelings about the Giants' success during the Giants' run-up to Super Bowl XLII, he'd deflect the attention and talked more about how it was the team that mattered, not him.

"I was thrilled to become the head coach of the New York Giants in 2004, after my interviews with John Mara, Ernie Accorsi and Mr. (Wellington) Mara and Mr. (Bob) Tisch,” Coughlin said. "It would be difficult for me to capture the emotions for the opportunity I was given back in 1988 to be an assistant coach with the Giants. And then to have the opportunity to be the head coach was the fulfillment of a dream of a lifetime. And now to be able to continue in that capacity – with this organization, with this leadership, with this football team and with my coaching staff in place – is something my family and I are extremely excited about."

I'll have more on the TC signing in tomorrow's Newsday.

A very low-key reaction from TC on his new deal. In fact, Coughlin decided not to even have a conference call or a press conference, but to put his statements in a press release.

Not surprising, actually, because Coughlin is a big believer in not putting himself ahead of the team. In fact, whenever we'd ask him about his personal feelings about the Giants' success during the Giants' run-up to Super Bowl XLII, he'd deflect the attention and talked more about how it was the team that mattered, not him.

"I was thrilled to become the head coach of the New York Giants in 2004, after my interviews with John Mara, Ernie Accorsi and Mr. (Wellington) Mara and Mr. (Bob) Tisch,” Coughlin said. "It would be difficult for me to capture the emotions for the opportunity I was given back in 1988 to be an assistant coach with the Giants. And then to have the opportunity to be the head coach was the fulfillment of a dream of a lifetime. And now to be able to continue in that capacity – with this organization, with this leadership, with this football team and with my coaching staff in place – is something my family and I are extremely excited about."

I'll have more on the TC signing in tomorrow's Newsday.

The Giants have expressed an interest in quarterback Trent Green to serve as a veteran backup for Eli Manning, but the Rams believe they'll have him under contract by the end of the weekend. We'll see.

Green, released last month by the Dolphins, has been cleared to resume playing after suffering a second serious concussion. The four teams interested in him: St. Louis, New Orleans, Green Bay and the Rams.

The Packers' interest is obvious; they're looking for a veteran backup for Aaron Rodgers now that Brett Favre has called it a career.

Green was the Rams' starter when he suffered a season-ending knee injury early in the 1999 season. He was replaced by unheralded backup Kurt Warner, who led the Rams to a Super Bowl championship.

Tom Coughlin has finalized a four-year, $21 million contract extension with the Giants that has been widely anticipated for the last several days.

A formal announcement will be made tomorrow morning, according to a person familiar with the situation.

There was never any question that Coughlin would receive the extension; it was only a matter of how much it would be worth and how long it would run.

The new deal will replace his previous agreement, which was scheduled to run through 2008. Coughlin will now be under contract through 2011.

The Giants aren't out of the running to land free agent cornerback Brian Kelly (Bucs), but they aren't about to get into a bidding war either. Not for a 32-year-old cornerback entering his 11th NFL season.

A league source familiar with the Giants situation tells us that Kelly, who visited with the Giants yesterday but left without signing a contract, is "waiting for the best deal."

The Lions are in the best position to do that, although it's not inconceivable the Giants make a more concerted effort to land Kelly. But there seems to be no rush on their part, and they appear content to bide their time. Kelly has already visited with the Lions and head coach Rod Marinelli, the former Bucs defensive line coach who has great admiration for the cornerback's abilities.