Where do the Giants go from here? Braylon Edwards... draft...?

I am not surprised at all

I actually think the Giants were ok to bring him back, but the killer was Plax sueing for his bonus money last year. I think that was the final thing that brought him undone. I don't think Plax's head was in the right place for this team.


Firstlt, this lets us put this whole Plaxico saga behind us. We can focus entirely on getting ready for the season

Secondly, I think the front office are reasonably happy with the young guys we have at WR; the only thing we lack is a genuine #1

The Giants have looked into trading for players such as Anquan Boldin and Braylon Edwards; either could happen

I wouldn't be surprised if they have looked into trade options for a recieving TE such as Tony Scheffler


We may draft early, but a rookie is not likely to impact right away, particularly when he will have to compete with alot of other good youngsters who have experience in the system.



I think the main change will be that Gilbride and Coughlin will have to completely overhaul the passing schemes. This is very possible now but it is not something you can do in mid season. Rather then trying to get them to do what Plax does, devise a system that plays to the strengths of the guys we do have - using more motion, genuine speed, precision routes etc. Genuine speed is an element that we didn't have with Toomer and Burress, neither was a threat passed on speed and quickness; but Hixon, Smith, Moss and Manningham are.

Regardless, the Giants have a definate plan moving forward - this will involve several options based on how things play out.

Burress's affect on the salary cap

from http://trainathought.insidefootball.com/2009/04/-burress-effect-on-the-salary-cap.html

Burress' Effect on the Salary Cap

For those wondering about the salary cap ramifications following the release of WR Plaxico Burress, here is the breakdown.

Burress was due to count for $2.85M against the cap this year. That number consists of $1M in base salary, $1M in likely to be earned incentives (which remember given the current state of the NFL labor situation, are automatically factored in until it is obvious that the player won’t earn those incentives); and $850K in prorated bonus money.

So take is 2009 cap number ($2.85M) and subtract the remaining signing bonus of $2.55M (which accelerates into the current year’s cap), and you get a savings of $300K as of this moment.

Depending on the ruling made by the arbitrator who rules on Burress’ case against the Giants concerning the $1M signing bonus that was withheld last December 15, the total cap savings could actually reach as high as $1.3M.

Further, if Burress is sent to jail, I believe the Giants could take page out of the Atlanta Falcons’ book, when the Falcons went after the bonus money paid to QB Michael Vick. You might recall that once Vick was ordered to repay the bonus money, the Falcons came into a major cap windfall. In the case of the Giants, I believe they would have the option to recoup even more of Burress’ signing bonus, though it's unclear if cutting ties with Burress at this point would entitle the Giants to any rebate on his signing bonus.

So basically this means we may have only saved 300k by letting the head case go, if the 1 million can't be recouped?

Maybe we should have kept Plax around at least long enough to keep other teams like Dallas from going after him, because it doesn't sound like there's a lot of money to be saved to make a big enough difference in signing another top notch wide receiver.

Can Plax make a deal with another team that creates certain stipulations on whether he does jail time or not?

I think this is a smart move by Reese, this prevents the entire offseason being constantly overshadowed by the Burress saga (just see how much attention the Cutler saga got)

with Burress situation in limbo, Reese had to start implementing the alternate strategies (which have been planned for some time) for life without Burress

This lets the Giants move forward and do what needs to be done and get everyone focused on actual football preparation 100%

Reese has left the door open for Burress to return if his legal issues are resolved in june