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OTA Report for Wednesday, May 30
Coughlin non-committal on left tackle spot; Giants make roster move.
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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May 30, 2007

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Tom Coughlin is in no hurry to name the Giants' starting left tackle for the 2007 season.

David Diehl

"We're just going to work - everybody is going to work at all the positions," Coughlin said. "That's the way we'll go about this spring."

Coughlin said rookie sixth-round draft choice Adam Koets or Oregon State is "one of the options."

But barring the acquisition of a player from another team, it appears Whimper will get a chance to win the left tackle job. If the coaches are not satisfied with his progress, they can move Diehl over from guard. It has been assumed by many outside the organization that Diehl, who is entering his fifth season, would have the inside track on the job because of his experience. The opening at tackle was created when Luke Petitgout was released in February.

Asked if he told Diehl about a potential move to tackle, Coughlin said, "There's nothing to tell. We've told them everything we're going to tell them. He plays left tackle and he plays left guard. We're going to evaluate everyone that's out here. We're going to try to come up with the best combination. I've been pleased with David at left guard and David at left tackle. As we get into this, we'll see more about Whimper. But he's handled everything we've thrown at him well."

Responding to another question, Coughlin said, "It's not going to behoove him to know until there's a time when he really has to. At this point in time, that's not the point. He knows exactly what he needs to know.

"It (the time when Diehl needs to know where he's playing) might be the third game, it might beyond that. I think you're always ready. Let's say it's game day and you have seven offensive linemen. What you try to accomplish throughout the course of the preseason is for guys to be able to go into different spots."

Few linemen are as versatile as Diehl, who has played every position but center while starting all 66 regular season and postseason games since joining the Giants as a fifth-round draft choice in 2003. Last year, he started the first 15 games at left guard before moving out to tackle for the regular season finale and the NFC Wild Card Game.

Diehl said he does not have a preference regarding where he lines up this year.

"I'm getting work at both (positions)," Diehl said. "I'm doing whatever it takes during our individual drills and watching film to be prepared to play both. Time will tell. It's still early. We're still not fully into it. But I'm working hard to get my technique right at left tackle and doing whatever it takes to prepare to play the position. I'm still getting reps at left guard which I figured would happen."

When would Diehl like to know which position will be his when the season begins?

"Time will tell," he said. "I'd like to know. But however it plays out, I know I'm working as hard as I can and doing what I need to do to be prepared."

Which is all Coughlin asks for.

"David has to continue to know pretty much three spots up front- he's played four," Coughlin said. "He handles it well, so I don't think there's anything different in the way we go about it. He took snaps at left tackle and he took snaps at left guard this morning."

The great unknown in this equation is the play of Whimper. A fourth-round draft choice in 2006, he played in eight games as a rookie, with all his action coming on special teams. At East Carolina, he played only his senior season at left tackle after previously lining up at outside linebacker, defensive end and tight end.

The coaches want to be absolutely certain Whimper is prepared to protect Eli Manning's blind side before handing him the job.

"I still have more work to do, but I feel myself getting better every day," Whimper said. "I do a little extra work every day. It goes a long way when you do the little stuff that they ask you to do - or they don't ask you to do.

I've gotten a whole lot better from this time last year. I was a lost puppy dog. I didn't know about anything. But now I have a better understanding."

That knowledge should come in handy for both him and the Giants this season.

NOTES
 This was actually the Giants' third OTA (organized team activity). The first two were devoted to individual drills and special teams. The Giants have another OTA on Friday, four next week and one on June 11, two days before the mandatory three-day mini-camp opens.

"Today we worked against each other for the first time," Coughlin said. "That's always good, to see some people in different positions and to get the young guys out there. They get a lot of stuff thrown at them and we see how they handle it."

 The linebackers and defensive backs were noticeably frenetic throughout the practice. After every pass play - even incompletions - someone would scoop up the ball and with an escort of six or seven players they would sprint about 50 yards up the field. The post-play drill was instituted by new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

"We call it scoop and score," cornerback R.W. McQuarters said. "We don't get enough work during practice, because the offense does a good job catching the ball and securing it and tucking it away. We figured if it's an incomplete pass or however the ball is on the ground, we'll pick it up as if it were a fumble or somebody knocked it out.

"It's another level of conditioning. It gets guys running to the football. Even though you're on the backside and it's an incomplete pass, or you're on the right or the left and it's an incomplete pass in the middle of the field, when you see the ball hit the ground you think, 'Run, go get it, pick it up and go.' Even if it's incomplete, you keep going because you're going for the scoop and score."

 Perhaps the strangest sight in the locker room is McQuarters with a shaved head. For

8½ years, he had dreadlocks that hung down to the middle of his back and were often in a ponytail. But this year he decided to go for a new look.

"I wanted to cut off my locks - it was time for a change," McQuarters said. "I thought about it for a year. "My kids cut it - I let them grab one and just cut. I donated my hair to Locks for Love (a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis). I kept a couple of them, though. I feel good. I was getting older and they were trying to run me out of the league. I had to cut my hair so I look younger. Now when I'm in the locker room everyone thinks I'm a rookie. So I think I bought myself two more years."

However, there was complication.

'My helmet was a little big," he said. "I got it readjusted, but I think I'm going to have to get a new helmet.

 The Giants signed rookie tight end Rodney Burgess of Coastal Carolina and waived rookie tackle Rob Austin of Troy State.

Burgess, 6-4 and 230 pounds, played in 39 games with 14 starts in four seasons with the Chanticleers and caught 52 passes for 701 yards and three touchdowns. He played both football and basketball at Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, S.C. Burgess was signed as a rookie free agent by the Detroit Lions on May 4, but released 10 days later. He was born on Nov. 27, 1984.