First Training Camp Practice; Giants Officially Announce Roster Moves

New York Giants Officially Announce Roster Moves: The Giants officially announced the following signings yesterday:

• OC/OG David Baas (unrestricted free agent from 49ers)
• OC/OG Chris White (released by Seahawks yesterday)
• OL Brant Clouser (rookie free agent from Villanova)
• TE Christian Hopkins (played in UFL)
• P Steve Weatherford (unrestricted free agent from Jets)

First Training Camp Practice Held Last Night: The Giants held their first training camp practice last night at the Timex Performance Center outside the New Meadowlands Stadium. For a listing of upcoming training camp practices, please see the link in our Training Camp section of the website.

With a number of signed/re-structured players not able to practice until August 4th because of the new CBA rules and unsigned unrestricted free agents, the starting offense and defense looked like this last night:

Offense: QB Eli Manning, HB D.J. Ware, FB Henry Hynoski, TE Travis Beckum, WRs Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham, RT Kareem McKenzie, RG Mitch Petrus, C Chris Snee, LG David Diehl, LT Will Beatty.

Defense: DEs Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul, DTs Chris Canty and Linval Joseph, LBs Jonathan Goff, Michael Boley and Clint Sintim, CBs Corey Webster and Terrell Thomas and Ss Kenny Phillips and Antrel Rolle.

Injury Report: OC Adam Koets (knee) did not practice. “Supposed to be ready when he got here,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “This was one today that hit me right over the head. It’s the patella tendon (tendonitis). It’s the same thing (tendonitis resulting from his ACL surgery).”

WR Ramses Barden (ankle) remains on the Active/Physically-Unable-to-Perform (PUP) List.

Amukamara Still Unsigned: Giants’ first-round draft pick CB Prince Amukamara was expected to be signed an on the practice field yesterday but was still a no-show. “I haven’t heard much today but he better get in here,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin

Umenyiora Ends Holdout: DE Osi Umenyiora ended his 1-day holdout yesterday. He did not practice, but is expected to practice today. The $30,000 per day fine that Umenyiora was vulnerable to probably encouraged him to come in sooner than later. However, Umenyiora would still like a new contract or be traded (or released) to a new team that will give him a larger contract. Umenyiora has two years and $7.1 million left on his current contract. According to Umenyiora’s agent, he is so angry with General Manager Jerry Reese that he will not speak to him.

Plaxico Burress Drama Continues: Unrestricted free agent WR Plaxico Burress met with the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday. Rumors persist that he is very interested in signing with the Steelers, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, and Philadelphia Eagles.

“Plaxico and I did have a nice conversation,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin last night. “I was very happy that he came in and we visited. I told him that the conversation would be confidential and that will be my position on it…I did enjoy the conversation.”

When asked if he was still considering bringing Burress back to the Giants, Coughlin responded, “Possibly.”

For more on this situation, see Eli’s the Guy to Say Plaxi-Go or Plaxi-No by Ian O’Connor of ESPNNewYork.com.

NY Post Q&A With General Manager Jerry Reese: Serby’s Sunday Q&A with…Jerry Reese by Steve Serby of The New York Post

Head Coach Tom Coughlin’s Saturday Press Conference: The transcript and video of yesterday’s press conference with Head Coach Tom Coughlin are available at Giants.com.

Player Media Q&As: The transcripts and video of yesterday’s media Q&A sessions with the following players are available at Giants.com:

• QB Eli Manning (Video)
• HB D.J. Ware (Video)
• WR Domenik Hixon (Video)
• OC David Baas (Video)
• OG Chris Snee (Video)
• OT Will Beatty (Video)
• DE Justin Tuck (Video)
• LB Mark Herzlich (Video)
• S Antrel Rolle (Video)

Giants Give Away Tollefson’s, Blackburn’s, and Hagan’s Jersey Numbers: In what is possibly an indication that they will not be re-signed, the Giants have given away the jersey numbers for unrestricted free agents DE Dave Tollefson, LB Chase Blackburn, and WR Derek Hagan. Tollefson’s number (#71) was given to DE Justin Trattou and Blackburn’s number (#57) to LB Jacquian Williams. TE Jake Ballard’s jersey number was changed to #85 – Hagan’s number last season.

Article on the Giants’ Offensive Line: Beatty Ready to Play by Michael Eisen of Giants.com