from espn.com

Ahmad Bradshaw a 'priority' to re-sign

By Ohm Youngmisuk
ESPNNewYork.com

Ahmad Bradshaw wants to remain in New York and he says the Giants want the exact same thing.

Bradshaw's contract is up and general manager Jerry Reese has said that he will not proceed with free agents until a new collective bargaining agreement is reached. However, Bradshaw said he has been told he is a priority.

"I talked to the Giants on exit day and they said I was a big priority for them to come back," the running back told a group of Giants beat writers at the Super Bowl media center in Dallas on Thursday. "I'm just letting them handle it. All I can do really is be ready for next year and be fully prepared."

And in order to be ready for next season, Bradshaw said he will undergo surgery to clean out his left ankle on Feb. 12. Bradshaw had the same surgery on his right ankle last year in addition to surgeries on both of his feet.

"It was something that bothered me," Bradshaw said of his left ankle. "It wasn't a big factor unless someone really got a hold of it. It was really no problem because I could fight through it and I'd been fighting through it for years. I'm just ready to get it fixed."

Bradshaw also revealed that he played with a fractured wrist. While he admitted he favored it at times, Bradshaw refused to blame the wrist injury for losing six of his seven fumbles. Bradshaw lost only one of those fumbles in the last six games.

Still, the fumbles forced coach Tom Coughlin to start Brandon Jacobs ahead of Bradshaw in late November. On Thursday, Bradshaw told reporters that he and his good friend Jacobs can still excel as a tandem.

Bradshaw finished with 1,235 yards and eight touchdowns in his first season as the lead running back. Jacobs rushed for 823 yards and nine touchdowns despite seeing significantly less touches than Bradshaw.

Financially, the tandem might not make much sense since Jacobs is slated to earn $4.65 million in 2011 and $4.9 million in 2012.

"I don't think they'll be able to finance both of us financially," Bradshaw admitted. "But you just never know. It may be possible. There's even talk they might keep both of us. You just never know."

"Brandon and I, we're brothers," Bradshaw added. "We love to play together. We feel we're a great duo together. It's just the nature of the business. You just never know what's going to happen with things."

Bradshaw may have plenty of time to get healthy with a potential work stoppage looming. He can use the time off since he will undergo surgery for the second straight offseason.

"At the end of the year, I felt a lot of easy tackles I could break at the beginning of the year, it was just bringing me down," Bradshaw said. "I had to lay down on certain tackles just because [the ankle] gave out on me or I felt it was about to get rolled up under me. It was different things and playing around injuries. That's what I was doing toward the end of the year."

Coughlin loves Bradshaw because he plays through injuries and always plays hard, sometimes to a fault as he tries to churn out every yard, which can lead to being stripped at times.

And the Giants' seventh-round pick in 2007 made it clear he loves New York and the Giants.

"Oh yeah. I would love to," he said of remaining. "I love New York, man. I love New York more than anything. All I can do is hope for the best."

"I'm happy with what I've done yards-wise, receiving-wise, helping the team out as much as I can," he added of his first year as the primary back. "The only thing I look back on is fumbles, which was a negative thing for me, which I can work on, which I can get better at. Other than that I feel good about the season I had last year in the starting role I had."

Not really surprising, but it looks like Bradshaw will be here.

This is very interesting considering the Jacobs situation and his salary. It could well be that Jacobs is on the way out (which isn't a huge shock).

I would imagine we will have a new 3rd RB (I don't see Ware wanting to return to sit behind Ahmad and Brandon, nor do I think the front office are overly enamoured with Ware.

This is no shock to me either...seeing how losing Bradshaw would be a tremendous shock to the running game and the offense as whole. The fumbles happened, but that can never take away how explosive he is and how he had developed into one of the scariest RBs in the NFL. He WILL fix the fumble probs (whatever they may be)and probably become an even better runner. He's young and I see him having at least a few more productive seasons.

Bradshaw is a special talent. You gotta keep the runningbacks that can cut on a dime and excell so quickly like he does.
Yes, the fumbles have to stop though.

I don't see Bradshaw as a full time runningback though.
His style of running is much like that of Marion Barbers, and them players need a breather every now and again or they tend to wear out in the second half.
Jacobs is the perfect compliment to AB.

"I don't think they'll be able to finance both of us financially,"

He'll ask more than we should be willing to sign him for. He has maybe 2 years left in him and I don't think he will fix his fumbling issues. Honestly IMO he isn't anything special. Backs like him are very easy to replace especially with our oline. I would prefer an upgrade there anyway to take more pressure off of Eli because Eli obviously can't handle the load. We need a more reliable running back.

And how he puts it, if its him or Jacobs I much rather Jacobs.

here are thoughts from Tiki

Tiki’s Choice: Giants Should Drop Bradshaw
Search Metropolis

By Aditi Kinkhabwala

ARLINGTON, Tex. — Brandon Jacobs is his protégé, the running back he thought of as his “little” brother. Ahmad Bradshaw is his heir apparent, the running back with the matching small-but-tough frame that had made him one of the Giants’ best.

But former Giants running back Tiki Barber doesn’t think his old team can keep both.

“I don’t see how they can,” Barber said Tuesday, as he took in Super Bowl Media Day at Cowboys Stadium.

Jacobs had been the Giants’ premier running back since Barber’s 2006 retirement, rushing for over 1,000 yards in 2007 and 2008 before signing a four-year $25 million contract. This past year, though, the Giants had Bradshaw take the bulk of the carries; he started more frequently and finished with 1,235 yards and eight touchdowns on 276 rushes. Jacobs had just 147 carries, but still netted 823 yards (a 5.6 per carry average) and nine touchdowns.

The dilemma for the Giants now is that Jacobs has two years remaining on a hefty contract. Bradshaw, meanwhile, is due a new contract whenever the NFL and the union sign a new collective bargaining agreement.

“Ahmad deserves a contract that is representative of his talent and his production over the last couple of years and I just don’t see how the Giants can pay both of them,” Barber said. “I don’t see how any team can pay both of them.”

The solution? Barber says as much as coach Tom Coughlin loves Bradshaw, the 6-4, 264-pound Jacobs stays, while the Giants say good-bye to Bradshaw.

“I think they stick with Brandon because he’s such a unique player, and he actually played really well at the end of last year,” Barber said. “I think he just needs a complementary guy.”

and thoughts from insidefootball.com

Super Bowl Week Notebook: Tiki Has the Right Idea, Wrong Guy

Is it just me or is whenever former Giants RB Tiki Barber says something regarding the Giants, the opposite happens?

For instance, when the Giants started slowly in 2010, Barber opined that head coach Tom Coughlin was on the hot seat.

The result? Coughlin and the Giants turned it around and, well, got hot.

Later in the year when Barber suggested Coughlin might be a candidate for coach of the year, the Giants suddenly began to struggle down the stretch.

Barber’s latest? He believes that the Giants won’t be able to keep both running backs, Ahmad Bradshaw, whose contract will expire in March, and Brandon Jacobs, who is still under contract.

Of the two, Barber opined that Bradshaw should be the one to go.

Well, if history repeats itself, I guess we know how this is going to work out. If it does work out that way (with Bradshaw re-signing and Jacobs leaving), it won't be a surprise.

While I agree with the idea that Jacobs is a unique athlete, that and a dollar bill will get you a cup of coffee.

In the NFL it's all about production, and Jacobs' production obviously wasn't good enough for the coaches who demoted him this past year.

Barber is likely correct when he says the Giants probably won’t be able to keep both running backs. However, it’s not so much about what skills you have as it is about results.

The Giants got some nice results from Bradshaw, fumbles aside (bad ankle and broken wrist aside). And the Giants would be foolish if they let Bradshaw walk.

Jacobs? He’s due a base salary of $4.65M in 2011, the guaranteed money part of his contract completed last year.

That’s a big number for a guy who probably won't be a starter in 2011 and who has seen his carries decline since inking that deal.

Can the Giants keep both Bradshaw and Jacobs? If there is no salary cap, then sure, it's possible. But then the Giants create a new problem for themselves as Bradshaw is surely going to want a base salary that's equal or better than Jacobs' and that's where the dilemma comes in.

I don’t see it happening unless Jacobs agreed to take a huge pay cut (which I doubt he would).
Although GM Jerry Reese has reportedly said that Jacobs is still it the team's plans, as we found out last year, he doesn't close the door on anyone until he has a backup plan in place.

Remember how we were all shocked that Reese tendered then RFA safety C.C. Brown a one-year deal? Once Reese landed Deon Grant, he was able to withdraw that offer, thereby bidding Brown farewell.

I would not be surprised to see the same thing happening with the running back

Read more: http://trainathought.insidefootball.com/2011/02/super-bowl-week-notebook-tiki-has-the-right-idea-wrong-guy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Train-aThought+%28Inside+Football%27s+%22Train-a+Thought%22%29#ixzz1D2pnnZwB

Personally

There are reports that Carolina will not tag DeAngelo Williams.

I would rather have DeAngelo over Ahmad or Jacobs, but that's me.

InsideFootball.coms' articles get worse each time I read them. That guy over there needs to pick out a new hobby.

Big_Pete wrote:Personally

There are reports that Carolina will not tag DeAngelo Williams.

I would rather have DeAngelo over Ahmad or Jacobs, but that's me.

DeAngelo has shown to be a great back, but he seems to be a little more affected by any injuries than Ahmad. I think Bradshaw just carries himself like a Giant, ready to do some cruising and bruising, able to tough it out with some injuries over the course of a season. Plus I think the front office likes Bradshaw over Jacobs because hes quiet and doesn't complain...he's a worker not a talker. Either way I don't see them making any rash ill advised moves. Jerry's much too smart for that.

Dangelo Williams is awesome but isn't he going to request as much if not more money than Bradshaw? So if it's a money issue with the Giants how would they sign him?

I don't think Bradshaw will be offered as much money as many people think anyways.

Teams will be hesitant:
-AB has never proven to be a full time starter.
-AB lost his starting job due to fumbling issues.
-AB always has nagging injuries.

So with that list why then would the Giants want him back? Because he fits their system, plays well even when injured, and provides plays that Jacobs isn't as capable of.
Your not going to get an equivalent to AB out of Danny Ware, Charles Scott, or some unproven rookie.

I don't think we'll offer him a lot of money, at least I hope we are smarter than that. I think Bradshaw (from his statements) is expecting a big contract. He's just not worth it IMO. He's a 25 year old running back playing on 35 year old ankles/feet. He has maybe 2 or 3 years left of above average play. On any other team he isn't even a 1,000 yard runner and still a fumbler.

Bradshaw averaged 3.7 yards per carry after the bye (9 games). Those stats would have been much worse had he not broken off those two big runs vs the Vikings.

In comparison Jacobs averaged 6 yards per carry the final 9 games.

Our oline was the 6th ranked rushing line in the league (tied for 1st in pass blocking).

I know Bradshaw developed into a fan favorite with his toughness but he doesn't get it done as far as running the ball and protecting it just to top it off with his messed up ankles its not a smart investment.

just wondering... any of you guys hear mention of which free agent Giants players if any, that Reese has spoke of as a priority to re-sign this offseason?

Any direct quotes from Reese? Nope not one. It gives the player too much leverage.