Giants general manager Jerry Reese is faced with two opposite conundrums. He has way too many draft picks (10 for sure, perhaps 11 depending on compensatory assignments) and he has a team strong and young enough at most positions so that a flood of new blood isn't exactly mandatory.
The Giants received an additional second and fifth from New Orleans in the trade of tight end Jeremy Shockey last summer, and will certainly receive one for running back Derrick Ward, who signed in Tampa Bay. Pending other UFA developments (such as strong safety James Butler, who reportedly signed with St. Louis), there might be a total of 11.
So Reese dropped a minor bombshell the other day. "Maybe we won't have that many picks by the time the draft arrives," he said, cryptically.
That opened the door to the expected wave of speculation, and shortly thereafter rumors wafted by the team's offices concerning wide receivers Braylon Edwards of Cleveland and Torry Holt of St. Louis. The Giants appear desperate in their need of an impact wideout to replace Plaxico Burress, who might be back but must negotiate through a legal morass first. He has a March 31 hearing stemming from gun changes last Nov. 29.
Without Burress, as well as the probable departure of 34-year-old veteran Amani Toomer, both starters who opened the season will be gone. There simply isn't a proven, accomplished replacement on the roster, and the Giants will have to do one (or more) of three things: make do with the likes of Steve Smith, Sinorice Moss, Domenik Hixon, Mario Manningham and a few others; spend a first-round draft pick (and probably another one later on) to find a replacement; or make a trade.
"You know we don't talk about trades," said Reese. "Things like that are always so speculative and we don't even announce a player signing until we have an official contract in our hands."
