New York Giants News and Notes: Post Draft Edition

Good morning fellow Giants fans. The draft is history and now all the pundits have delivered or are delivering report cards. Ed will have more on that later today. Meanwhile, how do you feel about the Giants' draft picks? Were we able to take the best players available and still fill needs? I'm not a draftnik, but personally I feel like Jerry Reese, Marc Ross, Tom Coughlin and company did a very good job. I would have liked to have seen the O-line addressed sooner, but just about every draft pick is a roll of the dice anyway. Let's see what else is being said this morning....

NY Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora rips GM Jerry Reese, saying GM is making him look like 'greedy pig' - NY Daily News
The war between Osi Umenyiora and Jerry Reese is heating up again. One day after the Giants’ GM insisted the team has offered Umenyiora a contract extension in each of the last two seasons, the unhappy defensive end fired back, saying Reese was distorting the truth to make him look like "a greedy pig." In an email to the Daily News on Sunday, Umenyiora said the Giants’ offer last summer wasn’t actually an extension, and their offer this year wasn’t much of an offer at all. Umenyiora didn’t go as far as he did last spring, when he accused Reese of being a liar in a court affidavit, but his anger was still clear. "Last year I was offered incentives. This year they offered me in guaranteed money, HALF of what they just gave Kiwi guaranteed. HALF," Umenyiora wrote. "I’m not making that up. Then Jerry tells the world they offered me an extension and I turned it down. And I look like a greedy pig for turning it down. Hilarious."

Yikes. This drama is likely just beginning.

2012 NFL Draft — Giants Stick With Script and Fill Needs - NYTimes.com
And thus the Super Bowl champions worked down their draft list as if they were tidily applying caulk to a leaky roof.

Now that is putting it exactly in perspective.

Giants fill two more needs in Round 4 | New York Daily News
The Giants keep swearing that all they do is draft the "best player available" on their draft board, but miraculously their first five draft picks have no all filled their most glaring needs.

Giants address needs in draft with characters - WSJ.com
The Super Bowl-champion New York Giants got more than value and need in the NFL Draft. They got characters, too. First-round draft pick David Wilson does backflips and chases rabbits. Receiver Rueben Randle is coming to camp with a chip on his shoulder after a draft slip. Cornerback Jayron Hosley, the third round pick, failed his combine drug test and vows not to let it happen again The Giants also drafted a tight end who didn't catch many passes but has Jason Pierre-Paul-type potential, two offensive linemen who had academic problems in their college careers and a German defensive tackle who speaks three languages and is still learning the game.

New York Giants' draft strategy, needs come together - NFL.com
Coach Tom Coughlin said the New York Giants' draft philosophy is to take the best-available player. This year, that just also happens to match the Super Bowl champions' needs. "You typically go for the best-available player, and in this situation, we've been able to match up a need with the best-available player," Coughlin told NFL Network on Saturday. "So it's worked out well for us in that capacity. It doesn't always work that way, especially as you well know, when you're waiting to pick 32nd."

New York Giants take LSU Tigers' Rueben Randle at end of second round | NOLA.com
LSU wide receiver Rueben Randle went from last to first in a hurry Friday night. The last of 26 players left in the NFL draft Green Room was the last player picked in the second round. But he landed on the first-place team when the world champion New York Giants made him their second-round choice at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Seven-time Pro Bowl defensive end and former Giant Michael Strahan made the announcement, which drew cheers from Giants fans in attendance. He was the fifth receiver selected in the round and the ninth overall. Randle posted the follwing to his Twitter account, "NY looks like I'm here to stay."

Jake Muasau signs with the New York Giants | Georgia State Sports
Georgia State linebacker Jake Muasau signed a free-agent contract with the New York Giants earlier today. Muasau wasn’t drafted but is the second Panther to join a NFL team after Christo Bilukidi was selected by the Raiders in the sixth round of the NFL draft on Saturday.

Reese: Giants draft the 'JPP of tight ends' - Giants Blog - ESPN New York
Just looking at his statistics, Cincinnati tight end Adrien Robinson didn't appear to do much offensively. But the Giants were ecstatic to land a tight end who had a total of 12 catches for 183 yards and three touchdowns last season. General manager Jerry Reese says Robinson is kind of like the "JPP of tight ends" in terms of raw athleticism and potential. That's high praise, considering Jason Pierre-Paul was a first-round project who emerged into a Pro Bowl defensive end in his second season.

It's not like Jerry to say things like that, which makes it kind of cool that he did.

New Giant Rivers makes ER rescue - Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com
At about 10:30am local time, Rivers was spotted leaving the hospital with an attractive, dark-haired woman in her mid-20s who was wearing heels and a short skirt, which appeared to be her clothes from the night before spent partying. The unidentified woman appeared haggard, and her makeup was smeared after a rough night. Rivers protectively put his arm around her and walked her down the street. When asked if he had seen Young in the emergency room, Rivers candidly replied, "I am dealing with my own problems." Then he and the woman sped away in a cab.

Uh-oh. Not that we want to read too much into this article, but uh-oh.

NY Giants' Eli Manning, two-time Super Bowl champion, prepares to host Saturday Night Live - NY Daily News
Despite his controlled and sometimes boring public persona, his teammates have always said he’s a funny man behind the scenes. Even Hall of Famer Deion Sanders says he saw signs of Eli’s comedic genius during the four days they worked on their commercial together last week. "He really is hilarious, man," Sanders says. "I can see what they’re saying now. His timing is impeccable. He’s hilarious. He’s a professional. He threw some one-liners out there that are really going to take this commercial to another level."

I saw the photo of Eli and Deion and thought to myself, this is going to be hilarious. The commercial will likely centered around Sanders' man-love for Manning, and his signature "I beLIEVE in Eli!" line.