New York Giants News: Kenny Phillips, Kevin Boothe
Although he would like to stay with the New York Giants, it sounds like free safety Kenny Phillips will be testing the free agent market this year. Ralph Vacciano of the New York Daily News wrote that the Giants and Phillips cannot agree on the right price tag, and the chances of the Giants signing Phillips before the March 12 deadline “appear gone” per Vacciano.
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Phillips missed nine games last season with a sprained MCL in his right knee, and that wasn’t the first major knee injury of Phillips’s career. One of the league’s best safeties in coverage, Phillips played well overall last year and continues to be assured in his coverage duties. He is also a good all-around safety and makes an impact in run defense when asked to. Losing Phillips wouldn’t be a travesty for the Giants, but it would certainly negatively impact this team in a significant manner. Phillips is, in my opinion, the best defensive back on the Giants for sure and probably the team’s second-best player on defense.
The problem is that Phillips’s severe knee injury last season is what is holding the New York Giants back from making the type of commitment Kenny Phillips probably wants them to make. He is just 26 years old, but major knee injuries will always hurt a player’s value no matter how young and talented they are. Vacciano’s league source tells the tale of a pessimistic outlook for Phillips’s future with the Giants, because I bet another team will pay Phillips more than the Giants if he hits the open market- it looks like he almost certainly will.
The New York Giants locked up their most important free agent this offseason in left tackle Will Beatty, and now their focus turns to another solid offensive lineman on the left side in steady run-blocking force Kevin Boothe. The New York Daily News is reporting that the 29-year-old Cornell grad would like to stay and that both sides are having “positive” talks per Boothe’s agent. A deal, however, “does not appear imminent”, per Vacciano.
Boothe has a better chance of sticking with the Giants this offseason, and I think we’ll see him playing for the G-men for the near future. I am optimistic that both sides will get a deal done at some point, even if Boothe does end up hitting the free agent waters. As for Phillips, another team will most likely end up adding the talented free safety to a lucrative deal despite injury issues.
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