Late in January, there was an unsubstantiated rumor that the New York Giants were making a run to trade for Chad Johnson. It was simply a rumor, and it was never followed up, looked into, by anyone. It was off-season gossip fodder that many of us enjoy passing the time, or in our case, dissect it completely while doing our trademark sidewinding tangent missiles. In the end, nothing new came of it and it was forgotten, at least outside respective front offices.
That's not to say that the New York Giants aren't interested in a Bengals receiver. The Cincinnati Enquirer writes the headline, "Report: T.J. No. 1 target for Giants." Really? The report itself says that "there is no way to find a comparable replacement to Plaxico Burress, as 6-5 receivers with speed and a huge wingspan are almost impossible to find. Burress faces a serious legal battle and possible jail time as a result of illegal gun charges."
It actually doesn't say anything from the Giants perspective. Maybe we missed some introduction of accumulated lists of what teams are prioritizing.
When the NFL's free-agency period begins Feb. 27, teams will start combing the market for players essential to their 2009 season. Sporting News' NFL correspondents provide names you must know for every team. Today we begin with the NFC East (below) and the four teams of the AFC East.
There's no reference of the Sporting News' piece in which the Giants are actually prioritizing anything; it's likely a piece that shows a team's need, while filling the content gaps with available free agents. While others are going to simply claim that the Giants have Houshmandzadeh ranked as their first primary target in free agency, and they very well might, one must know that the Enquirer headline is very misleading. Again.