New York Giants Lose Jack Bicknell, Jr. to Kansas City Chiefs

New York Giants Lose Jack Bicknell, Jr. to Kansas City Chiefs: The Star-Ledger is reporting that the Kansas City Chiefs will hire Giants’ Assistant Offensive Line Coach Jack Bicknell, Jr. as their new offensive line coach. In 2009, the Bicknell joined the Giants as Offensive Line Coach Pat Flaherty’s assistant.

Reaction to the Loss of Mike Sullivan: As we reported last week, the Giants have lost Quarterbacks Coach Mike Sullivan to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sullivan will serve as Tampa Bay’s new offensive coordinator.

“We appreciate everything he’s done with us and wish him well in his new assignment,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “He will bring a lot to the Buccaneers program. He’s disciplined, he’s hard-working, he’s efficient, he’s smart, he makes good decisions. He’ll have an immediate impact on all the players in that program because he comes from a background which speaks for itself. Mike is a graduate of West Point. He was a Ranger, so he certainly knows about discipline, sacrifice, self-denial, all those things. We’re sorry to lose him, but we do understand the nature of this business. We wish he and his wife Julie and his two daughters great success in their new assignment.”

“I’m extremely excited for Coach Sullivan, but I’m sad to see him go,” QB Eli Manning said. “We had a great relationship. He is a tremendous coach who pays attention to every little detail. He always had us well-prepared.”

Sullivan served as the Giants’ quarterbacks coach in 2010-2011 and the Giants’ wide receivers coach in 2004-2009.

“Words can’t really describe how blessed I feel about these past eight years with the Giants organization,” Sullivan said, “the tremendous ownership of the Mara and Tisch families, the front office with Jerry Reese and, of course, Coach Coughlin. He’s been such a great man. He’s my mentor, my role model, he gave me an opportunity in Jacksonville, he gave me the opportunity to come up here and coach receivers, gave me the opportunity to coach quarterbacks. And at a time when a lot of coaches and a lot of general managers are blocking assistants from having a chance to pursue other opportunities, advancements if you will, I will be eternally grateful for Coach Coughlin and Jerry Reese supporting me in this. I think the world of Tom Coughlin. I love him. I wish him and the rest of this organization the very best.”

More Roster Moves: The Giants announced the signing of the following three players to reserve/future contracts:

• TE Ryan Purvis
• OC/OG Chris White
• DE Craig Marshall

Purvis was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2009. He spent his rookie season on Tampa Bay’s Practice Squad and was on the active roster for 10 games in 2010. The Buccaneers waived him before the 2011 season.

White spent time with the Giants in training camp last year. White originally signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2005. Since that time, he has played with the Packers (2005-06), Texans (2006-09), and Seahawks (2010). In six NFL seasons, he has played in 33 games with eight starts.

Marshall was also with the Giants in training camp last year as an undrafted rookie free agent and spent some time on the team’s Practice Squad.

David Diehl Has Hand/Finger Surgery: OT David Diehl had surgery this week on his broken left hand/finger. Diehl had been playing with the broken hand/finger for about two months. He had six surgical screws inserted into the hand during the operation.

Jacobs Says He’s Open to Re-Structuring His Contract: HB Brandon Jacobs is currently scheduled to make a $500,000 roster bonus on March 17 and $4.4 million in salary in 2012. He said yesterday that he is open to possibly re-structuring his contract in order to remain a Giant.

“As long as it is fair,” said Jacobs. “I just want everything to be fair. I feel like I put a lot of hard work and dedication into what I do as well and whatever their plans are to try to keep me around here, hopefully we can get it discussed and get things figured out because this is where I want to be.”

“I wish things can go great to where I can continue to be a Giant,” said Jacobs. “I started with the Giants, I would like to finish with them…As an organization, they have been doing this stuff for years and they know what they have to do if they want to keep me around and indeed I want to be around. I want to retire as a Giant. Those guys have been working in the business long enough to know what they have to do to make it happen.”

“I want to finish a Giant and my kids can finish going to school where they are going to school,” said Jacobs. “My wife loves it here. I want to finish up here. I don’t know what their plans are, I do know it is a business first. I am just waiting to hear what is going to happen.”

Article on the 2011 New York Giants: Giants Take a Superstitious Route to Super Bowl Title by Mike Garafolo of The Star-Ledger

Article on QB Eli Manning: Giants Learned a Long Time Ago of Eli Manning’s Poise, Toughness by Peter King of SI.com

Articles on the Giants and the Offseason:

• Part I: Ten Questions Facing the Giants by Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com
• Part II: Ten Questions Facing the Giants by Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com

Article on the Giants and Looking Ahead: These Giants Found Magic Again by Paul Schwartz of The New York Post