Eight million bucks. That's all it will take to stave off the Michael Strahan retirement talk for one more season. At least according to the New York Daily News' Ralph Vacchiano, who has it on good authority from TWO sources (got that, Tomase?). On Wednesday, Strahan said he pretty much knew what he was going to do but wanted to be 100 percent certain about his decision.

He's scheduled to make $4 million in 2008, and the Giants gave him assurances back in March that they'd be willing to throw him a few extra dollars, although exact numbers were apparently never discussed. Vacchiano also points out that he just didn't arbitrarily make up the $8 million figure; that's what dance sensation Jason Taylor will earn next season.

Strahan also said earlier this week that coming back in '08 had nothing to do with money because he could make a comfortable living on the teevees. And as I mentioned yesterday, working as a broadcaster doesn't have a mandatory training camp in the month leading up to the season.

Vacchiano, citing a source, writes that Strahan hasn't been given permission by the team to miss training camp. Of course, he didn't need permission to miss it last year and everything worked out fine.

With Brett Favre out of football for the moment, Michael Strahan has emerged as the next future Hall of Famer to annually contemplate retirement. Last week, it looked like Strahan was set to leave the NFL for the teevees, but now that seems less certain. Or more specifically, Strahan's plans are more nebulous.

"I'll be honest with you, I pretty much know what I'm going to do right now," Strahan said Wednesday night ... "But you know what the thing is? If I say it, I can't change my mind. So I would rather wait until I know I'm 100% sure that when I say what I'm going to do, I'm going to do it."

It's hard to argue with that reasoning, and since it's May, there's no urgency to the decision. And unlike, say, the Ravens, who might've benefited from knowing Jonathan Ogden's retirement plans back in April so they could adjust their draft board accordingly, the Giants are pretty well stocked along the defensive line.

That's not to say Strahan won't be missed, just that his loss won't have the same effect as Odgen's loss would have for the Ravens' already suspect offense.

Unless you're a scout or front-office type, it's hard to know exactly when Andre Woodson went from a potential first-round pick to second-day afterthought. For us non-scout-yy/front-office-y types, the transition seemingly happened sometime around the Senior Bowl.

Woodson had a pedestrian performance there, and was unable to participate at the NFL Combine, and by the time his Pro Day rolled around, his fate was apparently already determined. To everybody but Woodson, anyway.

"It was kind of tough to swallow as the draft was going on," the 6-4, 227-pounder said. "As it went past the third round, fourth round, I still couldn't believe I hadn't been taken off the board yet. You know, those types of things happen. Unfortunately it happened to me. But I'm just going to be very positive about it and try to be a better quarterback so maybe possibly down the road I'll get an opportunity to get back on the field."

Currently, Woodson is looking up at Eli Manning, David Carr, Anthony Wright, and around Jared Lorenzen on the depth chart. If you're an optimist, you might roll out the tired "hey, Tom Brady was a sixth-rounder and look how he turned out!" comparison; if you're a realist, it's pretty clear that Woodson's immediate future is probably on the taxi squad.

That's not to say Carr, Wright and Lorenzen are anything more than warm bodies, but they have experience and a better understanding of the offense. That will change in time, and hell, maybe Woodson will be Brady to Eli Manning's Drew Bledsoe. Not likely, I know; it's just too bad the Bears didn't take him

Hat tip: PFT

When I say "who wears #21 for the New York Giants" ... your response will most likely be retired running back Tiki Barber. Well, not anymore.

Rookie safety Kenny Phillips will be wearing that number (well, he at least was during the rookie minicamp). Interesting that the team just gives away the jersey number of their all-time rushing and receptions leader just one year after he retires. Sure, most NFL teams don't retire numbers often ... many do choose not to issue those numbers to just anyone at anytime.

However, Phillips isn't wearing it to honor or slight Tiki. He's doing it to honor fellow Miami Hurricanes safety, the late Sean Taylor.

"He was a guy who my whole career, even in high school, I had pictures of him in my locker," Phillips said. "I wanted to get a chance to meet him, and I never did. I watch him on film and he was just an exceptional athlete. The plays he made were crazy. I just wanted to pay my respects by having his number and trying to live up to that."

Awesome gesture by Phillips who could be the first of several Canes players that may do the same. Taylor was beloved by his teammates and someone that younger guys were in awe of.

Phillips, who was drafted with the final pick of the first round, will hope to become the next in a line of outstanding Miami safeties: Taylor, Baltimore's Ed Reed and New England's Brandon Meriwether.

When the New York Giants drafted Andre Woodson in the sixth round of last month's draft, it meant that the G-men would have two quarterbacks from the University of Kentucky on their roster.

The one that was already there -- Jared Lorenzen -- was a bit shocked when the pick was made:

"Well, first of all, I was shocked that Andre fell so low," Lorenzen said this week. "And then I was shocked from the standpoint that we already have four quarterbacks. But I do think it was a great value pick. Andre is a second- or third-round guy and you get him in the sixth round."

"This is for a job," Lorenzen said. "This is your livelihood. At Kentucky, I knew if I lost the quarterback job, I had a chance to win it back. But this is all about your career, your future, and taking care of your family."

Woodson and Lorenzen's paths crossed in 2003 when Woodson was a redshirt freshman during Lorenzen's senior year at Kentucky. Right now, Woodson shouldn't post any threat to Lorenzen's job. Lorenzen is Eli Manning's backup and Woodson will probably wind up on the practice squad. However, if the Giants commit to developing Woodson, then there could be a changing of the guard. Remember that Lorenzen went undrafted in 2004 but was scooped up by New York and has stuck.

"It can be a friendly competition. Andre's a Kentucky guy, so I want him to do well. I'm hoping that we can help each other out."

Will Jeremy Shockey be a New York Giant in 2008? When the draft came and went and Shockey wasn't traded, most people figured that meant Shockey was going to stay with Big Blue, even if he wasn't particularly happy about it.

But Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride doesn't know if he can count on having Shockey available to him. From the New York Daily News, via PFT:

"It's so nebulous right now, you just have no idea," Gilbride said. "Right now he's on our team. We're planning on him being there. He'll be one of the guys that we'll look to feature and one of the guys that we'll look to depend on. Hopefully he'll be here in good spirits and ready to do the things that we know he's capable of doing. But who knows? It's certainly beyond my hands."

Although the Giants won three playoff games and the Super Bowl without Shockey, who broke his leg in December, he's still a good player and almost certainly would contribute more to the team in 2008 than whoever they could get for him in a trade. For that reason, it seems unlikely that Shockey will be traded. But, as Gilbride says, who knows?

Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants certainly do have an interesting dilemma facing them this offseason. For the first time in many years, they won't be struggling to find quality depth at the wide receiver position. Instead, they'll be struggling to find enough room on their roster for the impressive amount of depth they suddenly do have.

And although it's only been one day since rookie mini-camp opened, that task appears to have become a little bit harder.

According to Ralph Vacchiano of The Blue Screen, undrafted rookie free agent D.J. Hall from Alabama stole the show with several impressive catches and an amazing display of natural athleticism.

Hall made several outstanding catches, including one leaping, fully stretched grab along the sidelines in the afternoon. A few times he had to leap to make the catch and not only did, but seemed to hit the ground and keep moving without missing a stride. He was smooth, he had good hands and at 6-2, 195, has decent size. On any other team, I'd say he was a free-agent steal.

With all the talk about Mario Manningham and his great value in round three, many people overlooked the signing of D.J. Hall. But if value picks and value signings really are what makes a team great, then it looks like General Manager Jerry Reese has hit the jackpot again.

A number of you aren't going read this because as Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says, the public prefers to follow news of celebs and sports figures who are "[expletived] up." The rise of the sports blog generally hasn't be driven by fans' desire to read do-gooder stories. (Though I have to say, I think that would be an interesting niche sports blog).

In any event, I want to highlight a few stories in the news this week that talk about NFL players doing good in the world.

The New York Times had a great article yesterday about four NFL players with ties to Nigeria visiting the country in March. They must have been an impressive display of defensive linemen big people: NY Giants' Osi Umenyiora, Houston Texans' Amobi Okoye, and Chicago Bears' Adewale Ogunleye and Israel Idonije.

It was Okoye's idea for them to all go to Nigeria as a group, figuring they could do more good works together than separately. They also could get scared together as the bus they were traveling in got broadsided by a truck on the first day of their trip. The article is certainly worth a read.

Another article worth checking out is the continuing help that Tampa Bay running back Warrick Dunn gives to single parents looking to purchase their first homes. He does this to honor his police officer mother who never owned a house. She was shot while working her off-duty security job, and a 17-year-old Dunn along with his grandmother found themselves taking care of his five siblings. To date, his foundation has helped 77 single parents buy their first homes by providing a down payment and home furnishings. (Here's the donation link).

The next time you feel like ragging on athletes for being a bunch of "turds", ask yourself what you are doing to make this world a better place. Athletes are like the rest of us imperfect people. Some do good, some do bad, and some get busted for being a smiling black guy who loves his mom on a boat full of white women in bikinis boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest.

(Photo of Dunn as the first winner of the Home Depot Neighborhood MVP award in January. Photo Credit: Scott Halleran, Getty Images).

Giants defensive end Michael Strahan is making the media rounds and talking about the possibility that he's done playing football. Here he is yesterday on Fox and Friends:

"I know where I'm leaning, but I don't want to say until I'm sure," Strahan said. But he sure looked like a guy who was comfortable on television and more than happy to be away from the grind of playing in the NFL. Strahan is good enough on TV that he'll be able to make almost as much money in broadcasting as he does in the NFL.

Strahan's teammate, Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce, says he thinks Strahan is retiring as well. Another teammate, Osi Umenyiora, says he thinks Strahan will be back. We might not know until August or even September, but my money is on Strahan retiring.

The New York Giants and David Diehl have reached an agreement on a six-year contract with an unusual structure that will pay him significantly more money if he plays tackle than it will if he plays guard.

Diehl settled in at left tackle last season after previously having played left guard, right guard and right tackle. According to John Clayton of ESPN, the contract is a six-year, $31 million deal with annual escalator clauses that increase his salaries between $750,000 and $1.1 million a year as long as he plays offensive tackle.

That makes sense -- tackle is a more important position than guard -- but couldn't it lead to problems down the road? If the coaches decide Diehl will help the team more at guard than he will at tackle, they may have a tough time convincing Diehl to agree with them.

Diehl has a good reputation as a team-first guy, and the Giants expect him to stay at tackle, so maybe this won't ever be a problem. But it sure is unusual.