David Tyree at Safety? If Not Then Who?
I just came across a very interesting article over at the Giants Blog on LoHud.com. Ernie Palladino is trying to figure out who is going to play Safety for the Giants in ‘08. Palladino expects Sammy Knight to play in the place of Gibril Wilson. However, Ernie doesn’t know about the other side. Palladino stated that he read a lot of theories about what could take place, but he didn’t provide his sources. Here’s some of what he said could happen:
- Aaron Ross drops back to Safety.
- Move David Tyree to Safety.
- Corey Webster drops back to Safety.
- R.W. McQuarters drops back to Safety.
Ernie does not believe that Ross will play Safety because he’s only going into his second year and why mess around with a good thing. Palladino thinks that Tyree would play the position if asked because Tyree is a team guy and plays on Special Teams and Wide Receiver, but Tyree would be like a rookie back there as a Safety. Ernie doesn’t feel comfortable with Sammy Knight and James Butler back there, and he doesn’t really like the other suggestions that he read about so he says that the Giants should just draft a Safety and develop him “ala Michael Johnson”.
For the most part, I agree with Palladino’s perspective. I would leave Ross where he is because he’s young and played his position really well as a Rookie. After watching Tyree play so well on the Special Teams unit, I always thought he would’ve been a better receiver than he has been. In Super Bowl XLII, Tyree was so effective because of the ‘element of surprise’ rather than his receiver skills. I’m sure that the Patriots were not studying film about Tyree catching a touch down in the Super Bowl or making the greatest catch in Super Bowl history even though Tyree is listed as a Wide Receiver. I would want to know if Tyree can tackle if he was going to play defense. As far as moving the other Corners to Safeties, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to me as long as the Giants have depth at both positions. Drafting a Safety also doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me if the Giants signed somebody high in the first or second round like they did with Ross last year. Ross was able to make a big impact in his first year, after getting Star Struck in Big D in Week 1.
On the road to Super Bowl XLII, it was very evident that the old dogs like Madison and McQuarters were able to teach the young guys in the secondary how to stop guys like Galloway, Owens, Driver, and Moss. Madison and McQuarters were injured in some of those games, but their knowledge of the game cannot be overlooked. Hopefully Knight and McQuarters can do the same thing in ‘08, especially if the Giants are drafting a rookie or are going to drop a corner back to safety.
The biggest news for the fans of the New York Football Giants was the signing of Sammy Knight. You can check all of that out below. Bigger NFL news was Brett Favre announcing his retirement this morning. Favre is going out after leading a young team to the NFC Championship game before getting beat by the Big Blue Wrecking Crew in Lambeau Field. Favre threw an interception to our boy, Corey Webster, in Overtime. This interception is what led to Bob Papa saying “Lawrence Tynes just kicked the Giants to the Super Bowl”. Favre is a classy dude. Die Hard Giants Fan would like to wish him well in retirement. We’ll miss what he does out there on the field, but we don’t have to face him head-to-head anymore either…
