Mathias Kiwanuka Cleared to Play Football Again: DE Mathias Kiwanuka, who suffered a career-threatening herniated disc injury to his neck last season, has been cleared to play football again according to General Manager Jerry Reese.
“The consensus of all of the spine physicians and Dr. (Russel) Warren is that it is safe for Mathias to return to play,” said Reese. “I have talked to Mathias, and he is fully committed to returning to football.”
A few hours earlier in the day, Reese had been much more negative about Kiwanuka’s return to the playing field, saying there was a possibility he would not play again. “He’s got to make a decision: Do I want to play?” Reese said. “He’s got to make that decision himself,” said Reese. “There’s some risk probably involved. There’s risk, period, but when you have a neck injury you have to be careful.”
Kiwanuka is currently not under contract with the Giants.
General Manager Jerry Reese NFL Combine Press Conference: General Manager Jerry Reese addressed the press yesterday at the NFL’s Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Here are some tidbits from Reese:
- On QB Eli Manning’s 25 inceptions: “I think Eli tried to do too much at the end when the offensive line was a mixed bag and the receiving corps was a little bit of a mixed bag. I thought he tried to do too much and I think that cost him some interceptions, yes.”
- On the division of labor at halfback: “I think Brandon (Jacobs) ended up with maybe 150 carries. Maybe he should be a 200-carry guy. We gave (Ahmad Bradshaw) probably too many carries. He’s a little tough guy, maybe too tough for his own good. You like that about them, but you give those little guys too many carries, at the end of the season, you can start to see them slow down.”
- On WR Ramses Barden: “We think he’s going to be a terrific player. He gets his chance and then he has the injury, but he’s playing pretty good in the game he got hurt in. He has the size, the skill set that we like. We expect him to come back from his ankle injury and contribute in a big way for us.”
- On possibly bringing back WR Plaxico Burress: “We investigate everything. Right now that’s really nothing to talk about. His situation is what it is until that changes. If that changes, we’ll investigate that.”
- On OT/OG Shawn Andrews, who has career-threatening back issues: “I think when you have the back issues you probably are going to always have some issues that you have to deal with and you have to manage. So the rest of his career, I think that is just a problem he’s going to have to manage.”
- On LB Jonathan Goff: “Jon did OK. I think he can play better. I think we can get better production from that position, but all things considered, a first-year starter, Jon did well.”
Article on WR Ramses Barden: Giants WR Ramses Barden’s Leg in Need of Cleanup Procedure by Mike Garafolo of The Star-Ledger
