It seems the Giants are always on the lookout for a dangerous return man to enliven their special teams, and on Tuesday, the first day of NFL free agency, they landed Dwayne Harris, who has excelled on kickoff and punt returns in his four years with the Cowboys.
The Giants decided Harris, 27, is worth a five-year, $17.5 million deal, with $7.1 million in guaranteed money.
The Giants also agreed to terms with two linebackers, Jonathan Casillas (three years, $10.5 million) and J.T. Thomas (three years, $12 million), a right tackle, Marshall Newhouse (two years, $3.25 million), in addition to running back Shane Vereen (three years, $12.35 million). The Giants will make the moves official Wednesday after the players take physicals and sign their deals.
Harris has career averages of 26.6 yards on kickoffs and 11.1 yards on punt returns. He also has two punt returns for touchdowns — the Giants have only two of them in the past six years. In the 2013 season opener, Harris was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance against the Giants. It’s no wonder Giants kicker Josh Brown took to Twitter to praise the deal:
Harris has not developed much as a receiver, with only 33 career receptions for 418 yards. His arrival would seem to indicate the days of Odell Beckham Jr. returning punts are at an end. Harris was also a gunner on coverage teams for the Cowboys.
The addition of two linebackers likely means the Giants will not be bringing back Mark Herzlich, Jacquian Williams and Spencer Paysinger, unrestricted free agents who have been with the team since 2011.
Casillas, 27, is a much-traveled linebacker who has two Super Bowl rings (one with the Saints, a second with the Patriots last month). He’s a Jersey City native who went to New Brunswick High School and has mostly been a special teams player with the Saints, Buccaneers and Patriots, starting only 18 games in his six NFL seasons.
Thomas, 26, was a 2011 sixth-round pick of the Bears and spent the past two seasons with the Jaguars, where he started 10 games in 2014.
In Newhouse, the Giants acquired a 26-year old who has started 36 games in his five-year NFL career, the first four with the Packers and last season with the Bengals. The 6-foot-4, 328-pound Newhouse is primarily a right tackle and he could not hold down starting jobs in Green Bay and Cincinnati.
The Giants sniffed around about Steelers linebacker Jason Worilds, a native of Rahway, NJ, who played at Carteret High School. Worilds, 27, had 15.5 sacks the past two seasons and last year became a full-time starter for the first time in his five-year career. At 262 pounds, Worilds is big enough to play up at the line as a defensive end and is adept at pass-rushing off the edge.