Giants: Personnel moves

I mentioned in yesterday's blog post that the Giants would not go into a game with only 2 RB's and would probably sign Allen Patrick off the practice squad. Instead, they signed Gartrell Johnson, who had been waived by the San Diego Chargers. Apparently they really like Johnson - he is a very good pass catcher out of the backfield, he is a very good blocker and good at blitz pickups, even though he is not really big. That makes him a perfect 3rd down back and the Giants plan to feed him part of the playbook and use him right away, not just sit him on the bench as an emergency fill in. It is evident that they like him because they released Patrick off the practice squad. Johnson was a 4-year player at Colorado State and was drafted 4 slots after the Giants drafted Brown in the 2009 draft.

The Giants also activated Michael Boley. Because Ware is still on the roster, they had to deactivate 2 players. As I suspected yesterday, it was DT Leger Douzable and an OL-man, Tutan Reyes. The Giants had a surplus at both the OL and DL, so this was the logical move. I was a little surprised that Reyes went, I thought it might be Boothe, because Reyes looked so good in the preseason games. But Boothe is younger and gives the Giants a little more flexibility, since he can play both T and G, so that was probably a factor in his favor. Furthermore, if they really get into trouble, Reyes will probably be available, as another team would not be likely to pick up an 11 year veteran and pay the minimum veteran salary required.

LB Gerris Wilkinson is not in the clear yet, IMHO. Boley has been activated, but is probably not ready to play a full turn at LB, since he was out virtually all of training camp. It's hard to imagine that he is in game shape and that he has mastered the defense. So, they will stay this way for a few weeks. If Gartrell Johnson, the new RB that the Giants just signed shows them enough and they like the way he plays, when Ware comes back they could keep Johnson on the roster and dress 4 RBs. Then, when Boley does get up to full speed, if the Giants need to add another DB, which I think they might, Wilkinson could still be at risk.