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NY Giants Almost Traded DT Barry Cofield To Saints

by Craig Santucci on May 12th, 2010 at 2:08 am

So how good is the Giants second round draft pick,  Linval “The Anvil” Joseph?  The Giants must have thought pretty highly of the young defensive tackle from East Carolina if veteran DT, Barry Cofield became trade worthy.

Similar to the safety situation of 2009, The Giants are very thin at Defensive Tackle and putting Barry Cofield out there to the point where the New Orleans Saints and the Giants agreed to send Cofield to “The Big Easy” in exchange for the Saints’ second-round pick in 2010 has me scrathing my head.

The talks only fell apart because the Saints’ contract offer to Cofield wasn’t even close to what he wanted otherwise Mr. Cofield would have been wearing black & gold this season.  Loosing Fred Robbins was disappointing because he was a fan favorite; however, understandable because of his age and his recent knee surgery, but loosing Cofield just doesn’t make sense.

Without Cofield, the Giants would have started the season with Canty, Alford, and Benard as their experienced starting three.  That my fellow Giants fans is sorry.  Canty, who accepted a huge payday to come to the Giants in 2009 was non-existent all year and rumors of him being soft, so far ring true.

Alford is coming off knee surgery and his production and health are yet to be measured.  Rocky Bernard…well, the 8 year veteran from Texas A&M looked out of shape last season and produced only sparingly in limited playing time.  If you’re looking for a bright side…he couldn’t play any worse than he did in 2009.

Outside of that…the Giants are bringing two “rookie” defensive tackles, Collins(Virginia) and Hendricks(Miami) to camp to join second round draft pick,  Linval Joseph.

The ’09 season was a terrible showcase for the Giants defense.   Rookie Defensive Coordinator Bill Sheridan was a disaster, MLB Antonio Pierce aged before our eyes, safety James Butler left for St, Louis, Osi Umenyiora  all but disappeared and former first round draft pick, Kenny Philips had a season ending knee injury.  And lets not forget the CC Brown/Arron Rouse experiment.

Yes, the trade offer fell through but I have to ask, “What is Jerry Reese thinking?”.  We need the big boys upfront.
  • igs

    So Craig,

    What you’re saying is that this was a terrible personnel move by Jerry Reese and thank god it didn’t go down? Not thanks to jerry Reese?

    • touchdownmaker

      I would take that risk if you could bring in a second round pick in a draft this deep.

      Herea are a few names that could have been had with Saints second round pick:

      Charles Brown OT USC
      Jared Veldheer OT Hillsdale
      Donald Butler ILB Washington
      Navarro Bowman OLB Penn State
      Jon Asamoah OG Illinoise
      Ed Dickson TE Nike U (the TE was added for you, I know how much you like them)
      Brandon Ghee CB Wake Forrest

      Thats a lot of talent still on teh board. I would pull the trigger. Coefield is not coming back after this year, so why not get talent that will contribute long term.

      • http://www.profootballnyc.com John Fennelly

        The trigger was pulled according to Garafolo….the deal was contingent on the Saints and Cofield working out a contract – which they couldn’t do in time, so the deal was killed.

        • touchdownmaker

          I know John. I am saying that If I were Reese, I would have done the same thing.

          Would you have made the trade? If so, who would you have drafted with the Saints pick?

        • http://www.profootballnyc.com John Fennelly

          hard to say b/c the players taken in the 12 spots in between that pick and the Giants’ next pick are all nice players, but not better than Cofield is right at this second

        • igs

          So John,

          You’re saying that it was a terrible decision by Reese and that the Giants are just lucky that NO and Cofield couldn’t agree on the contract?

        • http://www.profootballnyc.com/ Craig Santucci

          Thanks for dropping in TD…I also like the leadership and consistency Cofield brings to the D-line. Yes, another pick in the second round would be very nice, but guessing how quickly the acquired talent could contribute is frankly nothing but guess work.

          Cofield is not flashy and he’s not a pro-bowler; however one thing is certain. The Giants made it clear that they are not going to pay for a stand out college or free agent Middle Linebacker….so whoever wins the job…Goff, Blackburn, Campbell, Micah Johnson, Dillard or Kehl, they are heavily relying on stopping the run by the big boys upfront.

          If the Giants lost Cofield’s solid play, you would see a ton of rookie mistakes that will be costly as inexperienced linebackers attempt to scrape.

          Canty, Robbins and Benard are not up to the job and Linval will be mentored by Cofield whether the writing is on the wall for Barry or not.

        • touchdownmaker

          You bring up an excellent point about the scraping. That really does make a difference.

          I think Canty will play a lot better this year. Another year in a 4-3 and he if healthy, he will be a versitile DT for us. Fred Robbin will be ok too, but that does leave us velnerable to injury. The last time they left themselves open for that, everything went wrong. Poor CC Brown.

          Its important for us to maintain D-line dpeth I agree. I would have taken the pick but you guys are certainly not wrong.

      • http://www.profootballnyc.com/ Craig Santucci

        Hey TD…I gotta ask.

        What’s up with the TE comment?

        Have we been jousting over tight ends?

        • touchdownmaker

          No Criag that was for Iggs. He love them. He is like how John Gruden with QBs.

  • igs

    yeah, TD, sounds great.

    I would have loved for them to pick up Dickson or Butler. I actually was high on all those prospects. But in reality, these are all guys that Reese looked past in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th round anyway. So who exactly was he angling for?

    Butler, a proven leader, a proven starter, coming off his first injury, some speed, good coverage skills, heady. Sound good right? Can’t miss right? He’s there in the 3rd round and the Giants take Chad Jones. Now considering the signing of Antrelle Rolle, where is the bigger need, MLB or Safety? But Reese had his eye on Jones. I don’t get Reese, and outside of you, I feel like guys here are reluctant to hold him to task when his decisions look bad, even when they work out badly.

    Me, I would stick with Cofield because he’s young and he’s proven.If Joseph emerges or Canty is at full health, DT will be a real strength for the Giants this season.

    • touchdownmaker

      I would love to know what was Jerry Reese’s board. It would actually be fun to guess who he would have picked with that Saints pick. Jimmy Graham maybe? Awesome body, hasn’t played football very long. Lol.

      Its funny though the Chad Jones pick is one of the few moves I actually liked. My thinking is that he will be better than a guy we can take next year. With KPs knee, I would like the insurance. The disclaimer is that I played secondary in college so, I am biased.

      I played Will in high school so, I love the LBs too, plus I was raised on great LB play being a Giants fan. I would rather they look for an LB next year. Trade some picks if you have too. Do you know how the LB college crop is looking for next year? May be would could pull a San Diego and grab our guy. Who am I kidding Reese never does that.

      I am also anxious to see how Goff does with one full year at the helm.

      • igs

        TD,

        well I certainly like the Chad jones pick in a bubble. But looking at it logically, I think MLB at that point was the biggest need – and a certain kind of MLB to be specific.

        The 2011 MLB class looks pretty week. There certainly isn’t a blue chip player there but are a few Donald butler type prospects. Really the season has to play out before you can make a fair assessment. But that’s why you can’t pass on the Ray mauluga’s of the world wh they’re there, because they may not be there net season.

        • touchdownmaker

          I think the Giants would have picked him if he had dropped to them. Did you think that he was a three down backer? Is he one now with the Bengals? I think they have him at the Sam. He would have been perfect for us instead of Sintim.

          So, say the Giants take Mauluga with their first pick, what do they do about the WR spot? Masaqoui or Derick Butler? Or may be they trade up to the top of the second. I am not sure what that woudl have taken though.

          I thought the Giants draft was perfect save for Beckham. I would have gone Kaluka Maiva or Shawn Nelson with that pick.

    • http://www.profootballnyc.com/ Craig Santucci

      Amen. Nice follow up.

  • igs

    Mauluga’s excelled as a MLB for cincy. He was very productive until he broke his leg around week 10. Ironically he was liquored up the whole time he wasn’t on the feild. He’s an alcoholic. Now he’s sober, back at full strengh, it seems maturing, so he’s pannin out and he’s a rock in the middle.

    If I was running that draft I’d have taken mauluga and a developmental x reciever and tried to swing somehing for Braylon Edwards. I would not have drafted Ramses Barden. The giants are not 3 years away. They are here now and they Need to realize That.

    I liked the Travis beckum pickup. It made sense. Hopefully he pans out because boss does not have a long career ahead of him.

    • touchdownmaker

      Wasn’t Barden the developmental X?

      I thought Dhani Jones was calling the signals for Cincy?

      Its funny, because last year I was hankering for the Braylon trade. I believe the Browns were asking for a second round pick from us. I wanted them to do, but hindsight tells us that it would have been a bad move. Braylon is too inconsistent for my taste. Edwards is the anti Hakeem Nicks.

      As for Beckum. Why do you like him more than Shawn Nelson. I thought Nelson was a guy how had the athleticism, but just needed to fill out. Beckum is more of an H-back than a TE. I don’t like H-backs too much.

      • igs

        TD,

        Good questions. Well Barden is a novelty act. he may pan out, he may not. But he’s too much of a mystery imo. I would have much preferred a Louis Murphy, who I thought would have a bright future, and is all things considered.

        Dhani Jones? He still plays football? lmao. That must have been after mauluga was hurt. Mauluga actually played 15 games before he got hurt and put up descent stats, especially considering the drinking:

        http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/9302/career;_ylt=AiDOh0DRnOs.lCeGCcbF0XX.uLYF

        As far as Braylon, a true X with either excessive speed or size opens your offense so much (in a way that a posession reciever cant) that his presence is just as important if not more important than his production. If you look at the Jets last season, Braylon produced little but the running game, TE play, ball control, and other WRs improved because of his presence.
        Also consider that was his first year in NY and he played with a rookie QB, his numbers are actually pretty good. Imagine the coming season.

        Could you honestly say that this team right now would not be better if they had Ray Mauluga and Braylon Edwards instead of Hakeem Nicks and Phillip Dillard?

        I didn’t like Beckum over Nelson. I agree with you there. They both had similar traits but Nelson has a little more speed and he seemed to have a little more fight during all the pre-draft hoopla. I remember mayock was very high on him too.

        • touchdownmaker

          I like your question regarding Edwards/Mauluga vs Nicks/Dillard.

          2009
          So with Mauluga you take him in the first, then trade for Braylon, assuming the Browns did only ask for a second.

          2010
          You still need a Mike, but the Giants take JPP, Lival Josph, and Chad Jones, and Dillard.

          I think the improvement is marginal. I think the big difference is at the SAM. Is Mauluga better than Sintim, YES. Is Braylon better than Nick…………..IDK

          Nick Rec 47 Yds 790 TD 6
          Braylon Rec 45 Yds 680 TD 4

          Braylon’s numbers were about the same as his previous in Cleveland. Yes the QB play was spotty that year, but his drops made it worse. Not to mention Nicks did this as a rookie. Braylon has the perfect size, speed, and route running, but lacks the concentration. Its sad.

        • igs

          ITD,

          Well your argument is still built on more bad drafting. Here’s how I would play it.

          2009 – I’d take Mauluga in the 1st round and cement the Mike position for the next 10 years. I take Louis Murphy in the 4th round and trade for Braylon Edwards after the draft is over and Clevland realizes he’s not a first worth a 1st round trade. I’d have never draft Sintim on Ramses Barden.

          2010 – I take a Sam somewhere around Mid-draft maybe navarro Bowman or Perry Riley. My 1st round pick in that case is probably Dan Williams or the best available round 1 guard. (I think Baluga was available). I also walk away with a safety with some star power like Morgan Burnett in the 2nd round. He’s twice the safety Chad jones is.

          I think you see an entirely different offense with Braylon in Nick’s place. He would not have put up Nick’s numbers but the offense overall would have been way more productive, particularly the Running game and the TEs. I don’t think the diffrence is at all marginal. Our Mike play last season was horrible and it went along with horrible DT play. mauluga had the body to handle all that beef coming down the middle. And Braylon is a diffrence maker for the entire offense. Just look at the Jets overall offensive stats after game 5.

        • touchdownmaker

          I guess I missread your question. I did not know you wanted to know what I would. The question you posed is tough because hindsight gives us a huge advantage. The Giants essentially tried to call the Browns bluff last year. They decided to wait for Browns asking price to come down, but they also did not want to leave themselves overexposed by not having a WR(which is smart). Don’t forget the Browns got a draft pick, Chansi Stuckey, and a warm body at LB.

          The Giants don’t have a Chanci Stuckey type. I doubt thet would have taken Hagan. So who do you think they would have wanted? What type of draft pick would they have wanted? You just assumed that Braylons’ price was going to go down without a hedge.

          So I assumed the Giants would be without a second rounder pick.

          I also had to assume that the Giants would take the same exact players they did this year in the 2010 draft because Jerry Reese would be making the picks not me.

          Also, what makes you so sure that Braylon would have transformed the offense, all the while putting up less numbers than Nicks? If I were a defensive coordinator, I would still load up the box even with Braylon until he forces me to.

          Oh and there is a reason Morgan Burnett went so late in the draft. But hey, we really don’t agree on S ranking for this draft

        • touchdownmaker

          Here is what I would do:
          2009
          1. Nicks
          trade up to 34 from 45
          2. Rey Mauluga
          2. William Beatty
          3.Ramses “The Great”
          4. Traded
          5. Traded
          6. DeAndre Wright

          2010
          trade down
          1.Spoon
          2. Linval
          3.Chad Jones
          3.Everson Griffen
          4.Geno Atkins/Cam Thomas
          5.Mitch Patreus/Mat Tennat
          6.Dan “the Flower” LaFluer
          7.Matt Dodge

        • touchdownmaker

          Oh and disregard the Burnett comment. I was thinking about someone else. You are right, Burnett is a beast.

        • igs

          TD,

          Not to be more smug than I usually am, but for you guys it might be hindsight. For me, it’s not so much. I called it when it happened. And now we’re seeing the results. The MLB position has continued to fester as, draft after draft, and FA period after FA period, the GM continues to thing he’s going to strike AP-type gold. It’s not likely. mauluga, laurinitis, I called those ones. And I called that if the giants did take a WR, it should be an X because they just effect defenses differently, especially when they’re as big and fast as Braylon is.

          That’s a great point about Braylon’s trade value though. Cleveland got hosed by the Jets, lol. Still, Reese needs to get more of a feel for the big move here and there. I don’t want him to become Mike T., but a little more pro-activeness would be nice.

          However had the Braylon trade gone down, considering the Giants wouldn’t have had a 2nd round pick, then I would like to think that they make a much safer pick in the 1st round of 2010, hence the brian baluga or Dan WIlliams projection.

        • igs

          You also have to understand my POV. While the Giants won a SB in 2007, I think the FO doesn’t really realize how close this team has consistently been to winning a championship. I think if you keep Kerry Collins on the roster and starting in 2005 you make a serious run there and likely win a ring. I think in 2008, if the Giants are more active about filling the Palxico Burress hole, you probably have a ring there or a realistic run. I think in 2010, with the DT position healing up, adding a couple of FAs and guys developing, the Giants had another chance to be a championship team. They needed to draft the MLB to make all that come together. I feel like Reese is cought up in building for the future, when this team has been a couple pieces away for a long time. How long are you going to be a couple of pieces away though?
          \
          Look at the ravens. How long has WR and QB been an issue for that team? Now Ossie Newsome is a great GM, but how long do you let an apparent hole, hold your team back. Reese needs to get it together.

    • touchdownmaker

      Oh, and I verified with a Bengals blogs.
      Dahni was the Mike
      Mauluga was the Sam
      Rivers was the Will

      However, Mauluga is being groomed to be the Mike.

      http://draftcountdown.com/forum/showthread.php?t=914&page=39

      • touchdownmaker

        Well its not a Bengals, more like a Bengals forum in a draft blog.

      • igs

        Thanks TD,

        well spilt milk right… I just want them to do something that looks like it has some substance to it George Young.

        • touchdownmaker

          Goerge Young was the man.

        • igs

          Young was great. He always made sense to me. He was very ABC. I appreciated it. I could predict him. Accorsi was descent at his best. Reese is fastly cruising into the land of Ernie Accorsi mediocrity.