44-year old punter Jeff Feagles has retired from the NFL.  Feagles played in all 16 games for the Giants last season and he punted the ball 64 times for 2,604 yards (40.7 avg).  Feagles only had 2 touchbacks (3.1%) and he had 23 punts downed inside the opposing 20-yard line (35.9%) last season.  Feagles ends his career having played in 352 games in which he punted the ball 1,713 times for 71,211 yards (41.6 avg).  He had 114 touchbacks (6.7%) and downed punts inside the opposing 20-yard line 497 times (29%) in his career.  The Giants drafted punter Matt Dodge in the 7th round of the NFL Draft out of East Carolina and he will replace Feagles as the starting punter in 2010.

The Giants have selected safety Chad Jones out of LSU with the 76th overall pick (3rd round) of the NFL Draft.  He is a athletic marvel at 6’3″, 220 pounds and he runs a 4.4 40.  Coach Coughlin and the rest of the Giants’ coaches will have to help Jones get more aggressive against the running game as he is a tad soft against it.  But, he is a good center fielder of a defense and he will likely develop into a starter down the road.  For this season though Jones will likely learn from veterans Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant while helping the Giants a lot on special teams.  Jones played in 12 games (all starts) for the Tigers last season and he had 66 tackles, broke up 5 passes and he had 3 interceptions.  He played in 39 games (18 starts) in his three years at LSU and he finished up there with 150 tackles, he broke up 15 passes, had 5 interceptions and he forced 3 fumbles.  Jones was a good pick for the Giants in the third round because he has a nice upside.

UPDATE:  (6/27/2010) – Chad Jones has been seriously injured in a car crash.  He fractured his tibia and fibula in the car wreck.  He will likely miss all of his rookie season and he has been talking about playing baseball instead of football as it would cause less stress on his legs.  This is a huge loss for the Giants who were going to let Jones compete for a starting job as a rookie.

The Giants have picked DT Linval Joseph out of East Carolina with the 46th overall pick (2nd round) of the NFL Draft.  Joseph is a big guy at 6’6″, 325 pounds but he doesn’t have a mean streak yet.  That shouldn’t be a problem as head coach Tom Coughlin will likely be on his butt from day #1 to help him develop one.  Joseph played in 14 games (all starts) for East Carolina last season and he finished up with 60 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks and 1 batted down pass.  He has improved every single year in college and the Giants hope that trend continues.  Joseph played in 41 games (27 starts) in his three years at East Carolina and he finished up with 143 tackles, 29.5 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks, he batted down 2 passes, forced 1 fumble and he recovered 2 fumbles.  Joseph has a good upside and he will likely help out on the Giants’ D-Line for a long time.

The New York Giants have selected DE Jason Pierre-Paul with the 15th pick of the first round of the NFL Draft.  Pierre-Paul is a physical freak as he runs a 4.65 40 despite being 6’5″, 260 pounds.  His game is speed around the edge attacking the QB but he has a weakness in his game in trying to deal with a power running game.  Look for the Giants to try to get him to add a few pounds in a effort to make him a more complete player.  Pierre-Paul only played 1 year at South Florida appearing in 13 games (7 starts) in which he had 45 tackles, 16.5 tackles for a loss, he had 6.5 sacks, batted down 3 passes and he forced 2 fumbles.  Pierre-Paul has a huge upside but he only started 1/2 a season in his only year in Division One football so he is probably a tad raw and will need the Giants to coach him up.

The Giants are definitely looking to add to a defense that was a sieve last season.  They already addressed the safety position in free agency adding Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant but they still need help at DT, DE and MLB.  On offense the Giants have needs at OT and C but I have a feeling they will address those needs in the middle rounds of the draft.  LB Rolando McClain, LB Sean Lee, DE Jason Pierre-Paul and DT Jared Odrick are the likely targets of the Giants in the first round.

PROJECTED FIRST ROUND PICK:  DE, Jason Pierre-Paul, South Florida 

The New York Giants have not signed a lot of free agents this off-season but they have spent their money smartly.  The biggest hole on the team was at the safety spots so the Giants decided to address it in free agency.  They signed free safety Antrel Rolle and strong safety Deon Grant giving them a very nice paring for 2010 as both of these guys are big time playmakers who also defend the run well.  The Giants let backup QB David Carr leave for San Francisco and then they signed Jim Sorgi to serve as Eli Manning’s backup.  Sorgi doesn’t have the upside of Carr but Eli Manning never gets hurt so it won’t likely matter much.

The Giants have signed 31-year old strong safety Deon Grant to a 1-year deal.  Grant played in all 16 games for the Seahawks last season and he finished up with 78 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 forced fumble, he defensed 8 passes and he had 3 interceptions.  Grant has now played in 144 games in his NFL career and he has made 640 tackles, defensed 92 passes, he had 4.5 sacks, forced 2 fumbles and he had 26 interceptions.  This was a excellent move for the Giants as Grant will team with Antrel Rolle to give them a very nice set of safeties for 2010.