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.

GIANTS APPEAR TO HAVE ACQUIRED BENGALS' LINEBACKER KEITH RIVERS

By Dave Klein
This might have been major news a few years ago, but now it's, well, it's nice and it has a chance of working out. And perhaps most important, it didn't cost the Giants much at all.

The Giants seem to have acquired linebacker Keith Rivers from the Cincinnati Bengals for their fifth-round draft pick on April 28, when the fourth through seventh rounds will be completed. That fifth round pick is 32nd and last in the round. This is pending official confirmation by the Giants, who won't acknowledge anything until all the contracts are signed.

Why so cheap for a kid who was drafted as the ninth overall selection in the 2008 player draft? Injuries, injuries and more injuries. He missed all of last season with a broken wrist, various ailments, including a broken jaw delivered by the now-retired Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward, who blew him up from the side with a helmet to the head. That was in his rookie season of 2008 and the injury caused him to miss the final nine games.

The penalty for that is now called the Hines Ward Rule, which prohibits "blindside" hits to the head or neck area.

Rivers became even more available when the Bengals re-signed veteran linebacker Manny Lawson, a first-round choice of the San Francisco 49ers in 2006. ... Lawson had become a free agent at the end of the 2011 season, tested the market but re-signed with the Bengals.

Rivers, 6-2 and 240, played at USC and may be used at weakside linebacker, which would free up Michael Boley, currently the WILL, to move into the middle. That would leave Mathias Kiwanuka, a more natural defensive end, at strongside. The defection of defensive end Dave Tollefson (to Oakland) could have paved the way for Kiwi's move back to end and enable the trade of Osi Umenyiora as well, perhaps on draft day (April 26). That would allow the Giants to move up in the first or second round.

It is the way general manager Jerry Reese has chosen to work recently, taking low risks for potentially high reward. Hey, the Giants went into the Super Bowl with a starting lineup that included middle linebacker Chase Blackburn (a free agent cut and re-signed), Antrel Rolle at free safety (a free agent), Victor Cruz at wide receiver (undrafted free agent), Kevin Boothe at left guard (waiver pickup), tight end Jake Ballard (undrafted free agent) and Bear Pascoe at fullback (free agent).

(Despite the uncertainty as to the official nature of the trade at this time, there were enough "positive" indications from various respected sources to allow us to go ahead and proclaim Rivers as a Giant.)

EXTRA POINTS - Another example of doing it the Reese Way also surfaced Wednesday with the announcement that the Giants had signed veteran free agent offensive tackle Sean Locklear to a one-year contract. ... The eight-year veteran (6-4, 310) was a third round draft pick out of North Carolina State (84th overall) by Seattle, where he spent the first seven years of his NFL career. ... He was released and signed by the Redskins last season (he played in eight games, starting four).

"I can play either tackle position but I prefer right," he said, lending credence to the popular belief that veteran Kareem McKenzie, who became a free agent at the conclusion of the 2011 season, is not scheduled to return. ... It does not, however, preclude the possibility that the Giants will draft an offensive tackle in the first or second round of the draft in two weeks.

Giants' linebacker Jonathan Goff, who was in line to assume the starting role in the middle, visited the Miami Dolphins Tuesday. ... A recent poll released by NFL.com offers the top five quarterbacks going into the 2012 season - (in order), Eli Manning, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers.

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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