Asante Samuel Won't Be Replacing Terrell Thomas

With the unfortunate season-ending injury Monday night to Terrell Thomas I woke up this morning to a message in Big Blue View's Twitter inbox asking if the New York Giants would not trade Osi Umenyiora to the Philadelphia Eagles for cornerback Asante Samuel. Umm ... no, gang, that is not going to happen.

Yes, with Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in addition to Samuel the Eagles have an embarrassment of riches at the corner. But, why would Philadelphia send Samuel to their NFC East rivals? And why would they take Umenyiora, whom they not only don't need but would have to sign to a rich new contract. On top of which, why would the Giants send Umenyiora to a place where he could try to terrorize Eli Manning twice a year?

So, you can forget that idea. Unless the Eagles are dumb enough to just cut Samuel -- which they won't be -- he won't be a Giant.

The Giants have to find reinforcements at the cornerback spot, though. With Thomas and Bruce Johnson (Achilles) down for the season, Prince Amukamara weeks away from returning from his broken foot and Brian Witherspoon having suffered an MCL injury of still-to-be determined severity, the Giants have serious issues at the corner right now.

"We have to address it," said Giants head coach Tom Coughlin. "We just have to make some decisions, whether or not there is anybody out there that we can bring in, and shuffle some guys around."

One name to watch has to be veteran cornerback Kelvin Hayden. The 28-year-old six-year veteran is still a free agent despite having been a starter for the Indianapolis Colts for the past four seasons. Hayden has missed time with injuries in each of the past three seasons, but a look at the list of available free-agent cornerbacks makes it pretty clear he is the most talented corner currently on the market. If the Giants are going to get in on the Hayden derby that seems to be developing, they had best move quickly.

In the meantime the Giants will turn to veteran Aaron Ross and hope that they oft-injured, sometimes disappointing 2007 first-round pick can both play well and stay healthy. They will also hope that Amukamara makes a quick recovery from his broken foot, and that once he gets back on the field will not take long to work his way into the defensive backfield rotation.

Ross was matter-of-fact about the situation.

"Teammate went down, now it's my job to fill-in. I'm ready. I'm ready to get back on the field and hopefully coaches have confidence in me still," he said. "Corners go down like flies around here. It's unfortunate, but Michael Coe, he's ready to step in and do a great job. We also have Joe Burnett. We're pretty set."

We will see about that.