Giants General Manager Jerry Reese may be fielding some anger about the loss of Jake Ballard, but if things work out with linebacker Keith Rivers he might find himself in prison.
That’s Rivers’ opinion, anyway. The Giants traded a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft to the Bengals for the linebacker, who was the ninth overall pick in 2008. Rivers said that the deal will turn out to be “armed robbery” if he can play like the player Cincinnati took at such a high position.
“It’s a situation where when you’ve been hurt, you always want to show people what they’ve been missing,” Rivers said, via Tom Rock of Newsday. “I’m excited to get out there and prove a lot of things to myself. Whenever you get hurt, there’s always a little bit of ‘Will I come back the same way?’ And you work hard to make sure that you do.”
Rivers is right about the Giants getting a steal if he recaptures his form after missing all of 2011 with a wrist injury, and not just because of the mid-round pick it took to acquire him. The Giants also voided the final year of Rivers’ deal and cut almost $1 million from his 2011 salary when they made the trade. A good year could land Rivers more money in 2013 and beyond, giving him plenty of motivation beyond getting Reese accused of armed robbery.
He’ll need to find a spot to do that, though, Right now, Rivers is running at outside linebacker behind Michael Boley. There’s been talk about Boley moving to the middle, where the Giants currently have Chase Blackburn and Mark Herzlich. There’s also been talk about Rivers playing in the middle so there’s plenty about Rivers’ chances to make good on his prediction that remains up in the air.