Giants Waive Domenik Hixon

by Ed Valentine on Jul 15, 2010 7:40 PM EDT in New York Giants News

The Giants today waived injured wide receiver/kick returner Domenik Hixon. Here is part of the report from Mike Garafolo.

Today, the team announced Hixon was waived/injured, which is a prerequisite to his being placed on injured reserve if he clears waivers.

The Giants replaced Hixon on the roster with Adam Jennings, a 2006 Atlanta Falcons draft pick who played last season and part of 2008 with the Detroit Lions. With only six career receptions (all in 2007 with the Falcons) the 5-9 Jennings primarily functions as a return specialist.

This, I am pretty sure, is not something the Giants wanted to do. Rather, it is something they had to do in order to head into training camp with a full complement of 80 players on their roster. If I understand the NFL rules correctly, the Giants could not simply place Hixon, who suffered a season-ending knee injury during mini-camp, on Injured Reserve. They have to try to waive him first, meaning his Giants career could be over.

Hixon caught 15 passes in 2009 and averaged 15 yards per punt return and 22.6 yards per kickoff return. He caught 43 passes in 2008.

Jennings is 28, and has been almost exclusively a return man. He has a career average of 6.2 yards on 54 punt returns, and a 22.4 yard average on 25 kickoff returns. He has only six career pass receptions, all with Atlanta in 2007. At least he provides another option in the return game.

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Does he get paid after getting injured like that?

by jessie1 on Jul 15, 2010 8:16 PM EDT reply actions

I believe so

In these ‘waived/injured’ situations there is always some sort of injury settlement.

by Ed Valentine on Jul 15, 2010 8:22 PM EDT up reply actions

what are the chances that someone claims him off waivers

after he just tore his ACL?

"Throw the damn ball to Kevin Boss" - Andiamo708

by andiamo708 on Jul 15, 2010 8:19 PM EDT reply actions

Don't really know

Not sure if another team can claim and then IR him.

by Ed Valentine on Jul 15, 2010 8:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Thinking more about it

I remember last season the Giants went through a couple of weeks of training camp short players after Andre Brown and Jay Alford got hurt. They could not be IR’d until the end of camp, and the Giants did not think either guy would get thru waivers. So, guys do get claimed when they are hurt.

by Ed Valentine on Jul 15, 2010 8:24 PM EDT up reply actions

This is it

With all the issues of last season, the Giants want to have a full compliment of players at camp. There are battles on the O-line, at LB, CB, DE, WR, RB, and PR. There are too many uncertainties to go to camp without taking advantage of the full 80-man roster.

by GhostDini on Jul 15, 2010 9:24 PM EDT up reply actions

But if another team IR's Hixon

Wouldn’t they have to waive him first? Then we could claim him back… Still less confusing than the NBA salary cap.

by Charles L on Jul 15, 2010 8:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Once he's waived by the Giants

he’s fair game to be picked up by anyone else. The new team could then sign Hixon to a low multi-year contract.

by GhostDini on Jul 15, 2010 9:22 PM EDT up reply actions

I think our chances our decent or placing him on IR

don’t see why the Giants would just want to dump him.

and i don’t see another team wanting to sign him only to take up a roster spot….or sign him just to than waive him and try to IR him.

"Throw the damn ball to Kevin Boss" - Andiamo708

by andiamo708 on Jul 15, 2010 8:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Not his first injury to his legs

Not sure he’ll even hold much value as a return man. I really hate to say that. I hope he can make a successful return to the NFL next season.

by YankeeDudeL on Jul 16, 2010 4:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Not good at least for this year. Giants waive wide receiver Domenik Hixon‎

by Guru506 on Jul 16, 2010 10:07 PM EDT up reply actions

I had assumed if you got waived that the team didn’t have to pay you, which doesn’t seem fair if you got injured during a team activity.

by jessie1 on Jul 15, 2010 8:26 PM EDT reply actions

Its a low risk roster space move

Since Hixon has no more years on his contract, if someone claims him, they are on the hook for his 1.7M salary. And they would have no guarantee that he will play for them next season. He’d be a free agent.

So its a move the Giants made figuring no one else would want to pay him, and it frees up the roster spot.

But it is remotely possible that some team would want him so badly that they’d pay him 1.7M this year, plus say another 2-3M in signing bonus to get him on a 3 year contract, in the hopes that he will be good for 2011.

by trueblue63 on Jul 15, 2010 10:23 PM EDT reply actions

well said

it is a calculated risk worh taking

by MSP Giant on Jul 15, 2010 10:47 PM EDT up reply actions

agreed

No one will take a risk on a major injury. They would be paying him $1.7 million just to get the RFA advantage next year, but even then it is only a one-year rental, so you’re talking about $3.6 million for one year of work.

by ct17 on Jul 16, 2010 12:02 AM EDT up reply actions