Gibril Wilson has signed with the Raiders, according to Foxnews.com. It was just a matter of him putting his name on the dotted line.

Ciao for now.

Well, the Giants anticipated it. Gibril Wilson is on the verge of signing a six-year, $39 million deal—that’s $6.5 million a year with $16 million of guaranteed money if you’re keeping score—with Oakland, which not only is out of the ballpark of where the Giants wanted to play for their starting free safety, but basically out of the country. As far as Wilson goes, the San Jose native can return home, be rich, and officially turn that clothes-modeling career he started this year into a hobby.

They’ll probably step up their efforts to get Sammy Knight of Jacksonville in for a visit now.

Must say, the numbers coming out of the first day are mind-blowing, even moreso than last year when Nate Clements got that $80 million from the Niners, which is actually more like $60 million because the last couple of years are voidable. Asante Samuel, the much-coveted Patriots cornerback, is now an Eagle, thanks to a $60 million deal. And Pittsburgh guard Alan Faneca will reportedly sign with the Jets for four years, $32 million, of which $23 million of that will be guaranteed. That’s after Oakland paid defensive tackle Tommy Kelly a positional record $50 million over seven years to keep him off the market yesterday.

And Madieu Williams, a Bengals safety the Giants had some interest in, got $33 million from the Vikings over six years. Ever heard of Madieu Williams before Thursday? No? Neither had I.

Goodness.

Ciao for now.

The Giants, in search of a backup quarterback to replace Anthony Wright, gave the agents for former Chief and Dolphin Trent Green and former Dolphin Cleo Lemon a call. But it’s not a certainty Green will play at all in ‘08 because of a concussion history, and Lemon was headed to Jacksonville to be David Garrard’s backup.

They also reportedly had interest in Texans DE N.D. Kalu (notoriously, the player who fell on Rich Seubert’s leg and shattered it in 2003) and Bills CB Jason Webster. Not exactly huge names on the NFL landscape.

Here’s another name to keep an eye on, just for kicks. Linebacker Ian Gold was released by the Broncos today. The Giants liked the weakside starter in 2005, when he decided to return to Denver where he spent the first four years of his career before a year’s stay in Tampa Bay. He suffered a knee injury at the end of this season and missed the last two games. But in 2006, he had more tackles than anyone on the Broncos other than Al Wilson, whose ‘07 season was done in by a neck injury.

Ciao for now.

Guess it didn’t take Kawika Mitchell and Reggie Torbor long to find new homes. Mitchell is headed to Buffalo to sign that $3.5 million per year deal we spoke about in the earlier entry, and Torbor appears headed to the Dolphins.

The Giants also expressed interest in Eugene Wilson, the New England safety who started on two Super Bowl winners, but no word on a visit. Sounds like they really have their hearts set on Sammy Knight of Jacksonville because of experience combined with pricetag.

Ciao for now.

Well, looks like there’s some Giants news after all. I’ll give you a quick rundown of things as they stand right now.

That Jeremy Shockey-to-New Orleans trade foray was true in that the Saints did call. But the Giants turned them down. In fact, they’re probably going to turn down anybody who isn’t offering at least a first-rounder, which the Saints were not, or a second-rounder plus a starting player and possibly more than that. The thing is, the Giants regard Shockey as still a Pro Bowl-type player who has also, by some accounts, has become the best blocking tight end in the league. To give up that pairing with a still-developing Kevin Boss would be tantamount to suicide at that spot. Undoubtedly, the Giants will get more calls on Shockey, and will listen. But it’s unlikely anything short of the above will pry him away.

The DeAngelo Hall deal is dead for now because Hall is probably going to look for Asante Samuel numbers. If this was a ragtag team trying to move up to the next level, the Giants might make that move. But to hand over $30 million of guaranteed money to a guy who could come in and disrupt team chemistry, plus leap far ahead of those rostered stars like Osi Umenyiora, Plaxico Burress, and Chris Snee who will be looking for a big bump would be a huge headache. If Hall’s numbers come down later, this could still be a possibility.

The Giants are convinced they’ll lose Gibril Wilson and Kawika Mitchell, the latter of whom could be headed to Buffalo for $3.5 million per year. That’s more than the Giants want to pay him. They’re hopeful of getting Derrick Ward back for a year or two at a reasonable price, and Reggie Torbor could return, too, if he doesn’t find any riches out in the open market.

As far as outside free agents, the Giants have contacted agent Drew Rosenhaus about Jacksonville’s 32-year-old safety Sammy Knight. They think they can get him for a couple of years at $1.5 million per year, but a visit to Giants Stadium hasn’t been settled yet. They like this guy because, when healthy, he’s a smart guy who can make calls back there and would be a good, short-term answer for losing Wilson while Michael Johnson develops.

That’s it.

Ciao for now.

It’s early, and Jerry Reese is in Tennessee to be inducted into the Tennessee-Martin Hall of Fame. But he’s got a blackberry, so if the Giants want to make any inroads into free agency or the trade route, they still can.

The key word is WANT. No responses yet on any visits from the legion of the available, but those will be coming. As expected, though, the Giants were very quiet last night. Certainly no big splashes like the Jets’ trade proposal for Pittsburgh guard Alan Faneca or the expected trade of Jonathan Vilma to the Saints.

There is a rumor that the Saints called the Giants on Jeremy Shockey. Still trying to track down the validity of that.

Keep ya posted.

Ciao for now.

Sounds like there’s a very slim, but still existant, chance that Derrick Ward might take what the Giants are offering before free agency begins. According to his agent, Peter Schaffer, “Everything is fluid right now. Nothing concrete.” Sounds like they’re going over their options. But chances are they’ll test the market, since the Giants aren’t likely to pull whatever offer they’ve made off the table.

In truth, Ward may not get much more than the Giants are offering, anyway.

Ciao for now.

Looks like Gibril Wilson definitely will head into the open market. According to an e-mail from his agent, Alvin Keels, the Giants made a good try at signing him before tomorrow’s opening of free agency, but Wilson wants to see where the open market takes him.

“The plan as it stands now is for us to test the free agent market,” Keels wrote. “The Giants are a great organization and have made an effort to keep Gibril. However, we find it in our best interests to explore our options via free agency.

“We will definitely keep the Giants in the loop and see where this all goes.”

That’s right in keeping with general manager Jerry Reese’s statements at the NFL scouting combine that indicated all the team’s unsigned free agents have agreed to give the Giants a final shot before they sign with another team. But we all know how these things go. If Wilson, the class of a weak safety crop, gets in a room with, say, the Eagles or Jaguars, and they give him a monster offer with the proviso that if he walks out the door, the deal’s off the table, well, no last shot.

It’s a gamble. But not a big one with Wilson. He’ll probably find a much bigger payday out there than the Giants are willing to give him. They’ll probably have much better luck getting Kawika Mitchell and Derrick Ward back, which wouldn’t be a bad thing. Unless something happens later today, looks like both will hit the open market along with linebacker Reggie Torbor, who apparently has drawn some interest from the Dolphins.

As Keels said, we’ll see where it all goes.

Ciao for now.

So, just how much do you think strong safety James Butler was worth to keep out of the open market, which starts Friday?

Apparently, the Giants think a lot. They tendered ths restricted free agent at $1.47 million, which would bring them a second-round draft pick if another team signs the tough but coverage-challenged three-year veteran to an offer sheet.

Backup quarterback Jared Lorenzen received the lowest tender at $927,000, while defensive lineman Adrian Awasom was not tendered at all, leaving him free to negotiate with anyone he wishes. No surprise there. Awasom was the guy who was picked up during Super Bowl week for suspicion of driving under the influence and was sent home. The Giants tend to frown on those things from borderline players.

The deadline for tendering restricted free agents is tomorrow, and the Giants have the right of first refusal on both tendered contracts. That means if they match the offer sheet, they keep the player.

The opening gun for the free-for-all goes off at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning.

Ciao for now.

Giants GM Jerry Reese didn’t exactly lay out the whole offseason for reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, but he did say he might make a few more free agent deals than last season.

His only acquisition of note last year was, of course, linebacker Kawika Mitchell, who came on exceedingly strong at the end of the season and the playoffs. And with $20 million of cap space to play with—well, considerably less if he re-signs Mitchell, Gibril Wilson, Derrick Ward, and Reggie Torbor, and bends to Michael Strahan’s and Plaxico Burress’ anticipated demands for renegotiations—he said he wouldn’t be shy about going after anybody who might help the Giants.

“There’s no template,” Reese said, meaning he won’t necessarily follow his philosophy from last season. “You try to do what’s best for your team each year. If you can get the thing done through free agency, you try to get it done. If not, you know you’re going to get draft picks, and you try to do the best with the draft. It’s different each year.

“There’s a lot of possibilities for us. We’ll consider everything.”

Among the considerations right now are a trade for Falcons cornerback DeAngelo Hall and some reported interest in Seattle’s franchised cornerback Marcus Trufant. Hard to believe the Giants would be into Trufant, whose pricetag is going to come in above the $9.465 million franchise number. And they’ve said they wouldn’t want to spend much more than the first-round pick (No. 31 overall) to get Hall.

But you never know. Reese isn’t afraid to trade, or at least talk things over with other teams. And he does recognize that the Giants need shoring up in certain spots, like cornerback.

“We’re not going to lay dead and just say we’ve got a pretty pat hand,” Reese said. “We’re going to keep working and try to improve.”

Ciao for now.