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.

On Wednesday, the New York Giants paid a visit to the White House, one of the perks that come with winning the Super Bowl. The event, held on the South Lawn, was as you might expect: President Bush praised the Giants for their accomplishments, cracked a few lame jokes in the process, and the newly married Eli Manning managed to look as dopey as ever.

Ironically, thanks to Al Gore, you can view the proceedings in all their moving-pictures magnificence from your computer:


Unfortunately, Michael Strahan wasn't there to lead the president in a rousing rendition of "we stomped you out."

New York Giants 2008 Draft Picks:

Round 1 (31): Kenny Phillips, S, Miami
Round 2 (63): Terrell Thomas, CB, USC
Round 3 (95): Mario Manningham, WR, Michigan
Round 4 (123): Bryan Kehl, OLB, BYU
Round 5 (165): Jonathan Goff, LB, Vanderbilt
Round 6 (198): Andre' Woodson, QB, Kentucky
Round 6 (199): Robert Henderson, DE, Southern Miss

The Good: What can you say? On paper, it looks like Jerry Reese has done it again. The Giants needed a safety, so they selected the best one in the draft. They needed a cornerback, so they snatched up the very talented Terrell Thomas in round three. They also needed help at linebacker, so they grabbed two very capable ones in rounds four and five. And with several questions about their backup quarterback situation and the long-term problems they may face there, they went out and hauled in Andre Woodson in round six. All in all, New York did a very good job improving an already talented team.

The Bad: Unlike most questionable selections, the Giants decision to draft Mario Manningham in round three could have a tremendous upside. At the same time, if "Super Mario" doesn't turn his act around, it will ultimately end up being a wasted pick. The 21-year-old has battled many questions about his character over the last few years, and coupled with a score of six on his Wonderlic test, it resulted in him falling down most teams draft charts.

The Grade: B/B+. The actual grade really depends on Manningham. If the Giants get the player - and only the player - they saw at Michigan, their paper grade is easily a B+. However, if they get the same person who scored a six on his Wonderlic and repeatedly failed drug tests, their paper grade is a B ... at best.

Click here to read other draft grades.

At one point early in the off-season, Michigan's Mario Manningham was considered a possible first-rounder and one of the best wide receivers entering the draft. And then he went to the NFL Combine and lied about his dubage usage, and even worse, he ran in the 4.6s on the 40-yard dash.

Suddenly, his first-round status was in jeopardy (despite claims to the contrary), and as it turns out, he ended up not even being a first-day pick. Finally, 95 picks into the proceedings, and the 32nd selection of the third round, the Giants ended Manningham's misery.

"Character concerns" is a term as ubiquitous during the 2008 draft as "upside" has been for some time now, but it was probably Manningham's poor workout numbers that led to him slipping deep into Round 3.

Whatever, the Giants get, as Mike Mayock might say, a value pick, and the off-field stuff shouldn't be an issue; if there's one guy who could make the smooth transition from NFL coach to one of those drill sergeants who terrorizes future felons on the Maury Povich Show, it's Tom Coughlin.

New York's 2007 seventh-rounder Ahmad Bradshaw had -- wait for it -- character concerns coming out of Marshall, but he seamlessly made the adjustment to upstanding citizen after a meet-and-greet with Coughlin. I expect the same will happen with Manningham.

Oh, and he immediately upgrades the wide receivers corps. The talk all weekend has been about how defenses are rolling coverages to Plaxico Burress, so this pick, along with Steve Smith and Sinorice Moss, gives New York one more offensive weapon. Now there's just the issue of deciding what to do with Jeremy Shockey.

We're halfway through the draft (29 percent, actually, but whatever) and Jeremy Shockey is still a New York Giant. Sorta surprising, I guess, but apparently the Saints and Giants couldn't come to an agreement during yesterday's frantic first day.

Presumably, this news makes Michael Strahan very happy:

"Of course I want him back. I love him," Strahan said Saturday morning ... "He's a great teammate, great player, a hard worker." ...

"I think because he gets hurt and we got to the Super Bowl, everyone feels like, in a way, great season, thank God he got hurt," Strahan said. "That's just unfair. I think with him we're a better team without a doubt. I would be surprised if Shockey is not here. Then again, nothing surprises me."

Strahan's right, of course, but I'm guessing that will have very little bearing on Shockey's future. Nothing will probably happen this weekend, but the regular season is four months away and the Saints still have a need for a big-play tight end to wreak havoc in the middle of the field.

That said, the Giants addressed the defense with their first two picks, which leaves Shockey and Kevin Boss as the only tight ends on the roster with any game experience. There are plenty of tight ends on the board, though, and Boss is proof that you can find value later in the draft. We'll see.

... and after all of that talk, Jeremy Shockey is still a Giant.

It was the Saints second-round pick, 40th overall, that has been linked to Shockey for, about, forever now. Each second that ticked off the clock reduced the chances of a trade being worked out, and with about 30 seconds left the Saints decided to hand the card in themselves for cornerback Tracy Porter.

The fact that the pick came in so late leads me to believe that the teams were furiously trying to work out a deal until the end. But Saints GM Mickey Loomis is a stickler; he sets a price and is tough to budge from it. I'd have to imagine the sticking point was an '09 pick -- Roman Harper, the original dealbreaker, was no longer necessary once the Giants drafted Kenny Phillips. The Saints have no third- or fourth- round picks this year to offer the team additionally, and I'd find it hard to believe both sides would have let the deal fall through over a fifth-round pick or later.

This doesn't necessarily mean Shockey will remain a Giant this year -- Randy Moss was dealt on Day 2 last year. I'd imagine these talks will continue into the summer for '09 compensation, but the longer the talks go the less leverage the Giants have.