The New York Giants’ defensive housecleaning is picking up steam.
A month after defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was let go, the team cut defensive captain Antonio Pierce Thursday, according to Mike Garafolo of the Newark Star-Ledger.
The move will come as a surprise to Pierce. “With everything I gave New York the past five years, I feel I’ll be here,” he said in December.
But NFL teams don’t pay on past performance and Pierce’s salary ($4.75 million) was tough for the Giants to absorb considering his declining play and health questions. Pierce missed the final seven games of the 2009 season with a bulging disc in his neck.
Pierce lobbied for a pay raise the last two offseasons, and the Giants look very wise in retrospect to ignore him.
Pierce’s production declined after the team’s Super Bowl run, but he still proved to be a fantastic free agent acquisition by Ernie Accorsi in 2005 from the Redskins. The team is expected to confirm Pierce’s release Thursday afternoon.