E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer
for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of
only four sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN IN 2010 IF IT BECOMES A CAP-LESS SEASON?

By Dave Klein
Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that an uncapped season in 2010 is virtually certain, which means the league and the NFL Players Association will not have reached agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement by March 5, the agreed upon deadline. So without a salary cap, some teams are going to be spending wildly. This will not apply, however, to those teams who finished in the final eight, meaning they advanced in the playoffs. Good or bad, the Giants didnt make the Final Eight, so they will have few if any restrictions on spending in regard to free agents.

There are, however, other partial restrictions, because in order to prevent total chaos from tearing apart the mainframe of the league, the definition of Unrestricted Free Agent will change. One such will require a player qualifying for UFA status to have played six years, not four. Regardless, one can almost predict such teams as Seattle (its owner is Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, with Bill Gates), Washington, Miami and a few others to take the lead in spending and spending and spending. What about the Giants? Sure, theyll take a shot. Why not? They didnt get to the final eight and this is a quick way to get a jump on the Cowboys, who did.

Two of the restrictions built into the final eight include the provision that a final eight team can sign an Unrestricted Free Agent ONLY IF it has lost a big-contract free agent first, which doesnt seem to be happening in the case of the biggest contracts that will soon be out there for the taking. Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers springs immediately to mind, and wouldnt he look good if the Giants should happen to trade, for instance, the unhappy Osi Umenyiora? Oh, and even if one of those eight teams does lose a player via free agency, the replacement cannot earn more than the first-year salary of the player who departed. Somehow, it seems inevitable that Peppers would not fit in that category.

There are a handful of other soon-to-be available veterans who might be of interest to the Giants. They include safety Darren Sharper, kicker Sebastian Janikowski, wide receiver (hang on tight) Terrell Owens, linebacker Karlos Dansby and defensive tackle Vince WIlfork. The other shoe to drop would be if the teams who own the contracts of those players choose to exercise a Franchise or Transition tag. That, too, is a costly procedure.

Say the Giants have an interest in Arizonas Dansby but the Cardinals just dont want to lose him (and why would they?). It would cost them, in terms of a one-year contract, $9.68 million to keep him as a franchise player and $8.373 million to keep him on the transition list. Its not easy, but it there is no salary cap, meaning no limit on how much a teams payroll can be, it might work for some.

Quick note: If there is an uncapped season and if players must have six years of experience to qualify as an Unrestricted Free Agent, those with four or five years of experience would be considered Restricted Free Agent for 2010 only (assuming a new CBA is hammered out in time for 2011).

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David Diehl, the Giants left tackle who everybody thinks should be their left guard, played the entire game Sunday night at right tackle -- in the Pro Bowl and played well. He allowed one sack of Dallas quarterback Tony Romo by Houstons Mario Williams but otherwise his performance was sack-less. Nevertheless, the Giants are going to see about replacing him at the left tackle position in order to move him to left guard, which would mean moving Rich Seubert from left guard to the bench. I play where the coaches tell me to play, Diehl has said. I like to think left tackle is my position but it doesnt have to be.

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The newest Rex Ryan tumult, not involving naming the new stadium for his Jets, happened the other day in Miami. He was on the field during a Pro Bowl practice when a group of Dolphin fans began razzing him. Not noted for his gentility, Rex turned, shouted a biologically impossible instruction and then followed it with a finger sign, usually indicated the I.Q. score of the person using it. He has been reprimanded by the Jets management and Monday issued an apology calling his actions inappropriate Ya think?

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Just throwing this out for the sake of a weird word. Have you ever heard of RISGRYNGROT? Well, courtesy of D. Calhoun in San Diego, it is a traditional Swedish rice pudding served around the holidays with a single almond hidden in it. The person who finds it in his or her bowl is entitled to make a wish or will marry in the coming year. All right, wise guys. What if the wish is NOT to marry in the coming year? Thats kind of like killing two birds with one stone (or wish) is it not?

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The NFL is being particularly insensitive and cash-motivated with the slogan-mantra of New Orleans Saints fans: WHO DEY? The league is trying to shut down the sale of Super Bowl t-shirts that use the phrase, claiming it is an infringement of a league-owned trademark. Nonsense. In its entirety, and in the peculiar Cajun dialect still spoken there, it reads: Who dey, who dey, who dey say they gone beat dem Saints?

Kind of catchy, isnt it. Trips liltingly off the tongue, doesnt it? So how come the NFL (National Financial League) didnt jump all over this thing 40 years ago when the Saints were horrible and referred to as The Aint by the fans? And if Who Dey? is now a league copyright, what happens to GO GIANTS and J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets and similarly inane fan chants? Just asking.

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

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