FanHouse JerryReese

About ten days ago, it appeared that Braylon Edwards was going to become a New York Giant. The word was that the deal would go down before the NFL Draft, and it would give the Giants a bona-fide starter to help pick up the slack from the loss of Plaxico Burress.

Instead, it appears that if the Giants are to acquire such a playmaker, it will have to be through the draft itself. The deal that looked like a certainty not even two weeks ago is anything but.

Plaxico Burress has yet to make his way through the legal system, but assuming he's a free man this fall, the Giants will gladly welcome him back. General manager Jerry Reese told the New York Daily News that he, head coach Tom Coughlin, and the rest of the organization are "on board" with keeping Burress around -- as long as he's willing to follow the team rules.

You know, the same team rules he so thoughtlessly disregarded right up to the moment he shot himself in the leg last November.

When free agency opened last week, the New York Giants liked free agent defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and planned to make him a lucrative offer that would make him among the highest-paid defensive players in the NFL.

But once the Giants found out about the offer the Redskins had on the table, they knew they couldn't compete.

NFL super-agent Drew Rosenhaus is currently the general manager of zero NFL teams. Amazingly, that's not stopping him from sending out e-mails to the 32 gentlemen that are general managers of NFL teams and informing them as to which of his clients are currently available via trade. Even if they aren't.

According to Mike Garafolo of the Star-Ledger, Rosenhaus notified every team in the league that wide receivers Plaxico Burress, Anquan Boldin and Chad Johnson were all available, and apparently, the Giants aren't exactly amused by this development.

Plaxico Burress has been very busy these past five months, even though he hasn't suited up for an NFL game since Nov. 23. A quick refresher: hours before Burress took the field for the season opener, the club signed him to a five-year, $35 million deal. Less than a month later, the team slapped him with a two-week suspension for insubordination. We also learned that Plax stiffed a rental car company out of almost $800, and racked up a $45,000 fine from the NFL for, well, a lot of stuff.

And then, days after Thanksgiving, he accidentally blew a hole in his leg. The Giants promptly "Keyshawn-ed" Burress for the rest of the season. There's more: New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg threatened to throw the proverbial book at Plaxico, another lawsuit, and the news that Burress' home doubled as an armory.

The New York Giants' season is over, and when they look back on this year, Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg will stand alone as the moment that transformed them from defending champs and No. 1 team in the league to just another postseason also ran.

But that doesn't mean the Giants are done with Burress. In fact, Giants general manager Jerry Reese said it's "absolutely" possible that Burress could be a Giant in 2009, and he told the New York Daily News that he thinks Burress is a huge part of the offense.

A few weeks ago, when the Giants were 11-1 and cruising through the last third of their schedule, most of us (me included) thought they'd have no trouble getting along without Plaxico Burress. Even though the team suspended Eli Manning's favorite target for the rest of the year, and general manager Jerry Reese never explicitly ruled out Burress' return, conventional wisdom had Burress playing elsewhere in 2009.

Shockingly, conventional wisdom isn't always right. Particularly after the Giants dropped two in a row. And now, not only are they playing for homefield advantage, but if they lose to the Panthers tonight, next week's game against the Vikings could decide who gets a first-round bye.

In any event, NFL.com's Adam Schefter thinks Burress could be staying put.

But now, if Burress can avoid being incarcerated - and that's a mighty big if - the Giants might consider recycling. ...

Coaches around the league agree that New York's offense just is not the same without Burress. Without him, teams can stick more defenders in the box, shut down New York's running game and worry less about the Giants' passing game.

Plus, the franchise always has shown an inclination to work with troubled but talented players, from Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor to Super Bowl hero David Tyree.

A day after the news broke that Giants wideout Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg, Sports Illustrated's Peter King, on NBC's Football Night in America, reported that "There's a $1 million part of money in guaranteed signing bonus due to Plaxico Burress on Dec. 10. The first real test of the Giants' love of Plaxico Burress is gonna be whether they pay him that million dollars 10 days from now."

Yesterday was Dec. 10 and the Giants opted to keep their million bucks. Which prompted union spokesman Carl Francis to announce that "We will file a claim in the appropriate forum to enforce his right to receive and keep the moneys entitled to him under his player contract."

Two days ago, the NFLPA filed a grievance after the Giants suspended Burress for the season, and according to Newsday, this latest issue will be handled separately.

The bigger issue, as King mentioned nearly two weeks ago, is what this all means for Burress' future in New York. General manager Jerry Reese sounds open to the idea, given Plax is willing to conform (good luck with that). If not, I'm guessing the Giants will cut ties and move on, and another team (anybody but the Redskins, apparently) will likely give Burress his next chance.

Holdouts don't report for camp, typically. So it was sort of a good faith move on behalf of Plaxico Burress to show up to Giants training camp this year, even if his hurt ankle is keeping him off the field (and keeping any shred of his negotiating leverage in tact). Burress has long been optimistic about getting a new deal. That optimism is now gone.

But Jerry Reese disagrees, indicating something could very possibly be done before the season. So what gives?

The holdup, over guarantees and bonuses, isn't far apart, yet the two sides remain adrift.

Though the Giants have surely dragged their feet in the matter, it'd shock me if Burress doesn't have a new deal before the season starts.

Because even though the team can't be happy with the precedent reworking a contract so early into its terms sets for the rest of the team, Burress might be less inclined to sacrifice his body for the team as he did last year (or more likely to bitch about it) if he's not happy with his contract. The Giants will give in on this matter and renegotiate Burress' deal ridiculously early, but they're going to make the experience as grating and painful as possible while they're at it.

Maybe that three-team trade rumor had some substance after all. Is it just a coincidence that after months of talk about the Giants sending Jeremy Shockey to the Saints, the deal happened to go down the day after the Dolphins shipped Jason Taylor to the Redskins? Or is it a sign that the two teams were working on something else (with, possibly, those Dolphins) and decided to just finally get it done on their own after Miami strayed from the plan?

Regardless. Shockey is now a Saint, for the price of a second- and fifth-round pick in 2009.

If Kevin Boss is really the player he was at the end of last year, the Giants are sitting pretty. But to assume that on such a small sample size is dubious, especially since it seemed that everything was clicking for the team during that stretch. But they obviously couldn't exist with Shockey, and Jerry Reese recently practically admitted his time in New York was short.

The Saints get a big talent with a bigger attitude, but don't underestimate the vengeance factor, as Shockey (who seems the vindictive type) tries to prove the Giants wrong -- especially playing in the system, for the coach, and with the quarterback he wants. Sean Payton has desperately wanted a playmaking tight end, and Shockey can do wonders for his offense. But one has to wonder why the Saints gave up the exact same steep cost they were offering before the draft, with the Giants losing leverage with each passing day.

Either way, like the Taylor trade, a long-bandied domino has fallen, and we're getting closer to inner peace as the season approaches. It's your turn, Brett.