Land of the Giants: Vacation time

Mini-camp is over, and our New York Giants won't be together again until they arrive in Albany for training camp in August. Let's look at a few stories making news around the Giants as they head off for summer vacation.

• Newsday's Bob Glauber really likes what he sees from the Giants right now. Glauber's take brought a smile to my face.
• Current giants' tight end Kevin Boss and the greatest tight end the Giants have ever had -- Mark Bavaro -- met recently, and seem to have bonded. Here's Bavaro on Boss.

"He has a natural feel for the position," Bavaro said. "Jeremy Shockey was kind of like a bull charging through a china shop, but Kevin meanders his way around through open spaces. He doesn't draw a lot of attention to himself, which is an asset as a tight end because you want to sneak up on people. Plus, he has great, soft hands. ...

"I don't think he needs to improve, I think he's very good now. If he was back with us, (offensive coordinator) Ron Erhardt and (quarterback) Phil Simms, he would have my numbers and more. But a lot of it depends on the game plan."

Paging Kevin Gilbride! Paging Kevin Gilbride! In case you didn't catch that, Bavaro is telling you to get Boss the football. It's a good idea.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Boss had plenty of nice things to say about Bavaro.

"He's created such a legacy here," Boss said. "It's something I hope to create when everything is said and done for me. That's kind of what I'm hoping for this year, to get a little more involved. ...

"I still feel honored to even wear his (Bavaro's) number," Boss said. "When he told me he was proud of me, that really meant a lot, and that he's going to keep watching. It was just an honor to have that opportunity to sit down and talk with him."

• Cornerback DeAndre Wright, the sixth-round pick from New Mexico, is the first 2009 Giants' draft choice to sign a contract.
• Defensive tackle Barry Cofield knows he will have to fight for playing time with newly-acquired tackles Rocky Bernard and Chris Canty now on the team.
• Giants' General Manager Jerry Reese sat down with Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports for a Q&A the other day. It reads like it was a fairly fiesty exchange between Reese and the veteran football writer. Some of that, of course dealt with questions about the Giants' wide receivers.

Cole: Do you have a No. 1 receiver?

Reese: Do we have Larry Fitzgerald? Do we have Calvin Johnson? Do we have Andre Johnson? Those are No. 1 receivers. We don’t have those guys, but a lot of teams don’t have those guys.

Cole: But this is a wide-receiver-driven league right now.

Reese: I don’t agree with that. Why do you say that?

Cole: Because it’s a passing league right now. You have to throw to score and then control the clock. With so many teams playing three- and four-receiver base sets, you have to be able to attack with wide receivers. Your team has running back Brandon Jacobs, who is unique in his ability to change field position and the X’s and O’s of the game, but most teams don’t have that. Arizona plays wide open. New England plays wide open. Indianapolis plays wide open and even Pittsburgh played wide open at critical times last season because its running game was poor.

Reese: We have capable receivers who can give us big plays during the game. This is what I call No. 1 receivers: Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson. I will go on the record saying those guys are blue-goose, No. 1 receivers. Do we have anybody in that category? Maybe not; time will tell. But we have very capable wide receivers we can win games with.