Keith Rivers Trade Official: The Giants officially announced the acquisition of LB Keith Rivers yesterday. The Giants traded their 5th round pick in the upcoming draft to the Cincinnati Bengals for Rivers. The Star-Ledger is also reporting that the Giants have re-structured Rivers’ contract which was scheduled to pay him $2.16 million in salary in 2012. However, there are no details available yet of how the contract was restructured.
“We’re excited to have another talented player in the mix for our defensive staff to work with,” said General Manager Jerry Reese. “We try to create competition at every position, and Keith will definitely bring some competition to our linebacker group.”
“This is an excellent opportunity for him to have a fresh start,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “Keith is versatile enough to play the outside on first and second down and he can play on third down because he runs well. And he’s fast enough to rush the passer.”
“I’m excited to get a fresh start and brand new beginning,” Rivers said. “You can’t ask for more than to be playing for the defending world champions and be in New York.”
“You definitely look forward to playing with (the Giants’ defensive line),” Rivers said. “When you’re in coverage you know you don’t have to cover that long and when you’re in the run game you know if you’re not making the play it’s getting stopped in the backfield by one of those D-linemen.”
Rivers missed the entire 2011 season with a wrist injury that required surgery.
“Last year was very frustrating,” Rivers said. “The more and more you sit and watch, going through the games and getting that feeling you get before a game and not being able to go out there and play football really hurts. But it’s all behind me and I’m excited about this new opportunity.”
Rivers also addressed his injury-prone past. “I’ve been working really hard this offseason and it’s not about my past,” said Rivers. “It’s about what I’ve been doing to prepare myself for this year and I’m really excited about it. I just haven’t been able to stay on the field as much as I would like. Hopefully, like I said, it’s a new beginning and everything is behind me and I’m ready to do it on the big stage here in New York.”
Umenyiora May Not Attend OTAs, Wants to Start: DE Osi Umenyiora, who has made it known for the last few years that he is not happy with his current contract, said yesterday that he was not sure if he will attend the team’s “voluntary” Organized Team Activity (OTA) practices which start on Monday.
The Star-Ledger is reporting that Umenyiora will not attend the OTAs.
“You never really know what’s going to happen,” said Umenyiora. “We’ll see what happens on Monday.”
Umenyiora is in the final year of his current contract. He is currently scheduled to earn $3.975 million in salary in 2012. Umenyiora said that “nothing has been done” in terms of a possible new contract. “I’m still discussing with my agent as to exactly what it is I’m going to do, what the best strategy is, but we’ll figure out and go from there,” said Umenyiora.
Umenyiora also said he does not want to be a back-up to DE Jason Pierre-Paul. “It would be a wonderful thing to do to start your career with one team and finish it with one team. I would love to do it,” said Umenyiora. “Is it realistic? Is it reality? Who knows. I don’t like being a backup, I can tell you that. It worked for us last year, but I was coming of an injury or whatever. But I see myself as a starter in the NFL. I see myself as a Pro Bowl type player. That’s the way I see myself. I don’t like being on the bench. I’m not OK with that…So, who knows how that is going to shake out. Hopefully I’ll be able to stay here and finish out my career, but I just don’t know. I don’t know if it is going to happen.”
“There’s no anger,” Umenyiora said. “The anger was more, maybe, 2009?…That’s when I was pretty frustrated. But, at this point, I’m resigned to whatever’s gonna happen. I know what I see myself as. I know what I perceive my value to be, and if they don’t see it that way, I completely understand. As you get older, you start to see it for what it really is. It’s a business…They don’t owe anybody anything. It’s all business. That’s pretty much it. You sign a contract, they cut you, they release you, they do whatever. Man, it’s all business.”
Article on Former Giants’ DE Michael Strahan: Strahan’s Second Act by Aditi Kinkhabwala of The Wall Street Journal
Eric Kennedy
Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.
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