By Craig J. Santucci | Managing Editor
The New York Giants are cutting costs. Only one week after the NFL combine Giants General Manager and the Giants brass have cut two players.
1. Mathias Kiwanuka – former 1st round draft pick of the Giants in 2006. Kiwi was a much respected player and great teammate according to all sources, including Tom Coughlin who had great things to say about the player.
His career may not have been dominate in New York but Kiwi always sacrificed himself for his team, especially by moving to linebacker when the team was short on talent. On November 6th 2011 I went to New England to watch the Giants beat the Patriots 24 to 20…a Super Bowl preview. Tight End, Jake Ballard and Eli Manning might have won the game with two great passes and receptions; however it was Kiwi who shut down the Pats with 12 tackles, 6 solo and a pass defended.
Kiwanuka had slowed down dramatically over the last two years, resulting in losing playing time to Damontre Moore and Robert Ayers. The Giants will save 4.8 million against the 2015 cap number.
2. Peyton Hillis – added to the team in 2013 when every running back on the roster went down with an injury. Hillis added a bit of spark and proved he could block, catch out of the backfield and run guys over.
However, in 2014 the New York Giants added running back Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams which pushed Hillis to the back burner. Even though he came into camp in fantastic shape, new Offensive Coordinator Ben McAdoo rarely found the need or the desire to put Hillis on the field.
One would think Hillis could take over the short yardage role as Packers running back John Kuhn does in Green Bay. However, Hillis was cut yesterday saving the Giants $945,000. This does tell fans to expect Big Blue to draft a running back in 2015. The Giants have drafted a back 7 times in the last 10 years.
The Giants are currently under the cap by 21 million and could be even higher(upwards of 30MM) by next week. 15 million is expected to slotted for Jason Pierre Paul when he receives the franchise tag.