There’s not a whole lot of down time for Giant GM Jerry Reese, but when he pushes aside the work, he enjoys watching nature shows. Invariably, what he sees on the screen he relates to his Super Bowl champions.
“Team chemistry was a major factor in last year’s success,” Reese yesterday told The Post. “The job is much easier to accomplish when everybody pulls in the same direction. Even ants know that. I’m a big Discovery Channel watcher. The players on last year’s team genuinely liked each other and pulled for each other.”
With the start tomorrow of the free-agency signing period, it is Reese’s job to upgrade the talent level on the roster and fill any holes he sees without disrupting the team harmony that was so crucial to the improbable playoff run.
Inevitable player additions and defections will change the feel of the locker room, and it will be difficult to keep all those worker ants moving toward a common goal.
“In free agency, I just hope we bring in guys that want to win,” linebacker Antonio Pierce said. “We don’t need no negative attitudes. We don’t need guys who can come and cause problems. We’ve got good team chemistry and a good thing going on here. As long as they come in here and adopt the Giants attitude, we’re great.”
That leads to one name that has surfaced prior to free agency that has piqued the interest of the Giants. Falcon corner back DeAngelo Hall is not a free agent, but he is on the trading block. He says the chances he’ll return to Atlanta are “slim and none.”
An unquestioned talent and two-time Pro Bowler, Hall is only 24 years old, but his brief NFL career has been marked by more than the occasional outburst. An infamous sideline diatribe directed at unpopular coach Bobby Petrino led to a fine and partial suspension for Hall.
It’s not likely the Falcons would let Hall go for the Giants’ first-round (31st overall) draft pick, but the issue of talent vs. attitude is a large part of the free-agent process.
“I don’t know him at all,” Pierce said of Hall. “I’ve played with him in the Pro Bowl, and that’s about it. But as long as we bring in a guy that has the same mentality as the 53 guys we have on this team and fits well in the chemistry … we don’t need no more distractions, we don’t need no more guys coming in with their own agendas.”
When Michael Strahan heard rumblings about Hall, he hit the Internet and could not believe Hall was only 24.
“DeAngelo Hall would be a great fit for this team,” Strahan said. “To be that talented at that age and have so much ahead of you, I think he’s worth the risk of whatever you feel like the risk may be to get him, and what you have to give up.”
Reese had no problem in the seventh round of last year’s draft taking a shot with Ahmad Bradshaw, an intriguing running-back prospect who was arrested twice in college. Reese did his research and made the call. That’s the way he’ll handle free-agent or trade scenarios as they develop.
“Sure, we try to research and predict the right fit,” Reese said. “It’s hard for one player to disrupt an entire team but one can quickly become two and two can quickly become three. We try to guard against that.”
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The Giants gave restricted free agent safety James Butler the second-round tender of $1.47 million, meaning they have the right to match any offer and any team that signs him will have to give up their second-round draft pick to the Giants. That virtually assures Butler will be back. QB Jared Lorenzen was tendered at $927,000, but DE Adrian Awasom – injured all season and arrested for suspicion of DUI during his one day at the Super Bowl in Arizona – was not.