E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he was one of only three sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls up until last year. Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

JUST LOOKING AROUND FOR NEWS

By Dave Klein
With the draft less than three weeks away, there are reports that the Giants are receiving telephone offers for their 11th spot in the first round.

None of them have been confirmed as of yet, but one of the interested teams appears to be the Chicago Bears, who need a quarterback and apparently have been rebuffed by the teams in the top 10 spots. Chicago's turn comes in the 20th position.

The offer, reportedly, was for the Giants to trade positions with the Bears and receive their first-round selection in the 2022 draft.

Tempting? Somewhat, but unlikely the Giants will take it, since they must have three or four names targeted for No. 11 who won't be there if they agree to dropping down nine more slots.

--- Is this a tiny little edge? New Giants' assistant linebackers coach, Sean Spencer, spent the last six years on the Penn State coaching staff, so he is more than familiar with draft candidate linebacker Micah Parsons (he of the 4.39 time in the 40) and probably has more insight than normal scouts.

--- The oldest living former Giants' player, halfback Herb Johnson, can no longer lay claim to that honor. He passed away two days ago at the age of 92. Johnson played at the U.S. Military Academy as well as the University of Washington, and in his one season with the Giants (1954) played in 11 games, carried 42 times for 168 yards and caught 12 passes for 89 more.

--- The Giants awarded uniform numbers to their 17 new players and standing out among them are cornerback Adoree Jackson (22), quarterback Mike Glennon (3), offensive tackle Jonotthan Harrison (64), defensive tackle Danny Shelton (75) and linebacker Reggie Ragland (55). ... Jackson is wearing old Dick Lynch's number, Glennon has Pete Gogolak's number, Harrison has John Mendenhall's number, Shelton got Jim Katcavage's number and Ragland will wear Ray Wietecha's number.

--- Speaking of uniform numbers, the Giants have only retired 14 uniform numbers in the team's nearly 100-year history. ... They are Ray Flaherty (1), Tuffy Leemans (4), Mel Hein (7), Phil Simms (11), Ward Cuff and Y.A. Tittle (14), Frank Gifford (16), Al Blozis (32), Joe Morrison (40), Charlie Conerly (42), Ken Strong (50) and Lawrence Taylor (56).

Makes you wonder why such all-time team stars such as Kyle Rote (44), Rosey Brown (70), Carl Banks (58), Michael Strahan (92), Sam Huff and Leonard Marshall (70), Andy Robustelli (81) and Harry Carson (53) weren't similarly honored. ... The answer? There just aren't enough numbers available and the NFL said a long time ago it would never go to triple-digit uniform numbers.

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