FanHouse JimFinn

Barring injury, the New York Giants will not have to worry about their fullback position for the next four and a half years.

In a somewhat unexpected move, the team extended the contract of Madison Hedgecock; a fullback that was picked up off of waiver from the St. Louis Rams in early September.

The extension will go through 2012, and all but ends the Giants career of Jim Finn, who is currently on injured reserve with a bad back.

One of the huge concerns early in the offseason was the lack of a quality fullback; a concern that only got worse when Robert Douglas was lost for the season with a knee injury. But to date, Hedgecock has been a godsend. Thanks in large part to his superb blocking ability, the Giants have been averaging 137.8 yards rushing per game and have many people asking "Tiki who?"

The most frustrating part of being a Giants fan over the last three years has been the overwhelming amount of injuries. Not once in those three years have the Giants managed to play through a season without a significant injury. In fact, they'd consider it a good year if they only suffered a single significant injury.

Unfortunately, with a little over a week to go until the regular season begins, the Giants are once again facing those injury demons. It began early in the offseason when fullback Jim Finn was placed on injured reserve with a torn labrum and was promptly followed by cornerback Michael Stone going down with a hip injury.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the Giants lost tight end Darcy Johnson (knee), wide receiver Michael Jennings (Achilles), defensive tackle Marcus Bell (knee) and defensive end Dek Bake (back).

As I feared, the Giants Jim Finn is finished for the season.

New York placed their starting fullback on the season-ending injured reserve list earlier today; only two days after having "successful" surgery to repair a shoulder tear.

With Finn now out for the year, the Giants have precious few options at fullback. In fact, only one currently resides on their roster: Robert Douglas.

This obviously leaves the Giants in a bit of a bind. Do they go out and get another fullback? Do they eliminate the position all together? Or do they just deal with what they have and possibly use both Brandon Jacobs and Reuben Droughns as a fullback in different situations?

There are plenty of questions that need answering before next months training camp begins. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see how this works out.

The mystery surrounding fullback Jim Finn's absence from the Giants organized team activities has finally been solved. Coach Tom Coughlin told the media yesterday that Finn has been held out of all practices because of a shoulder injury he suffered late last month.

According to the report, Finn was making a routine block during one the drills when he heard and felt a "pop" in his shoulder. The Giants medical staff did check him out but Finn wanted a second opinion from a West Coast doctor.

Apparently the news wasn't much better and Finn will require surgery -- although exactly what kind of surgery is not yet know. It could be something as simple as a scope (if you consider that simple) or something much more extravagant.

The worst case scenario has Finn missing at much as 10 weeks, while the best case could be as little as a few weeks. Either way, there is a good chance that this untimely injury may end his Giants career.

The Giants have made it extremely clear throughout the offseason that they want a bigger, stronger fullback. With Finn going down with an injury, the Giants may just decide to phase out the traditional fullback completely and use a variety of schemes to compensate for the change.

Along with Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey, defensive end Michael Strahan and fullback Jim Finn were also reportedly missing from the Giants organized team activities this past week.

No indication was given as to why either player was missing and when asked, Tom Coughlin insisted that he only wanted to talk about players who were there.

"I'm only going to talk about the guys that are here," Coughlin said twice.

Finn is usually leading the pack during practices, so this is certainly unusual. Perhaps he's expressing his displeasure with the Giants because of their relentless search to find a fullback to replace him.

Strahan, on the other hand, doesn't really have a good reason to avoid the OTA's other than the fact that they're voluntary. Perhaps he's still reeling from an awful offseason where his name was endlessly drug through the mud.

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

"Mr. Irrelevant" Jim Finn could care less if the Giants search for another fullback. He knows he's the starter and fully believes he can keep the job even though the style of the running game has changed.

"I was a good fullback for Edgerrin James in a slashy-type offense and then I come here and we're talking about being a power team in the NFC East. Tiki Barber was supposed to be a small back, but I think we did a pretty well with a power-style offense in the NFC East for so many years. That's all just talk and what people perceive," said Finn.

You would think he'd be a little bitter after the Giants offered Vonta Leach a ton of money to take over for him, but that's not Finn's style. He's always been about maintaining his composure and overcoming the odds. To him this is just another test.

"Any time money is thrown at a guy at your position it's a little hard to swallow for a minute," Finn said. "That's just your own pride. Of course, that's going to have an effect on you, but (when) the smoke clears and everything settles, I'm here and he's not."

I have always been a Jim Finn fan and that has not changed. While I am not entirely sure if he's the right man for the job, I have no major concerns with him keeping the fullback role. He'll find a way to adapt and help his team wrack up 1,700-2,000 rushing yards next season as he always does.