"With the deadline approaching it was the right business thing to do at this point, although we are hopeful to get a longer term deal hammered out in the near future," general manager Jerry Reese said. "I did speak to Brandon and we had a very good conversation today."

With the franchise tag, Jacobs is almost guaranteed to return to the Giants. Any team that signed him would have to give the Giants two first-round draft picks.

--The Giants signed QB David Carr to a one-year contract worth a total of $2.1 million. That includes $1 million in salary, $1 million in a signing bonus and $100,000 in a roster bonus. He spent last year with the team as the backup to Eli Manning. Carr was also a first overall draft pick in 2002, two years earlier than Manning. He saw limited action but impressed the coaching staff and the feeling is that since he has been a frequent starter in the past he is ideal as a backup now.

--Former Giants QB Jeff Rutledge, who was being talked about as the new Arizona Cardinals' offensive coordinator a week ago, was fired by the team last Wednesday. He was one of two former Giants on the Cardinals' staff, the other (still there) RB coach Maurice Carthon.

--The Giants added their final assistant coach, Al Holcomb, as defensive quality control. He spent the last three seasons as D-line coach at Lafayette College and from 1992-97 worked with D-coordinator Bill Sheridan at West Point. Sheridan took over for Steve Spagnuolo, who left to become head coach in St. Louis (and took defensive quality control assistant Andre Curtis with him.

--Former Giants' Pro Bowl and Hall of Fame OLB Lawrence Taylor has agreed to become part of the 2009 "Dancing with the Stars" program, following in the footsteps (tap shoes?) of other NFL stars such as Jason Taylor, Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice and Warren Sapp.