Starting DT Cofield sees writing on wall with Giants
Defensive tackle Barry Cofield will be a free agent once the lockout ends, and appears resigned to the fact he will be playing elsewhere in 2011, although his priority is to re-sign with the Giants.
Cofield has started 78 of 80 games since being a fourth-round pick in 2006, and says he is fully recovered from shoulder surgery he underwent after last season.
But with the Giants always loading up on depth along the offensive line and with several key players on the roster also set to become free agents, Cofield knows returning to the Giants is likely not in the cards.
"I think they think I'm a good player," Cofield said in a story Wednesday in the New York Post. "Obviously they don't view me as indispensable. They place a premium on certain positions. Let's be honest, defensive end is the name of the game in New York.
"It starts with [Michael Strahan] since I've been here and goes all the way down to JPP [Jason Pierre-Paul], so it's like those guys are going to come first. There's not money for everyone. When they invested the amount of money they invested in Chris [Canty], that kind of handcuffed them to a certain extent."
Cofield would have been a free agent after the 2009 season, but with the league heading into an uncapped year, the free-agent bar moved to six years in the league. The Giants then worked a trade with New Orleans during the 2010 draft, but it was contingent on Cofield signing a new contract with the Saints.
That didn't happen, and he ended up playing for a one-year, $1.76 million tender, and said in April he would consider asking to be traded if free-agency rules in 2011 are the same as in 2010. But indications are that a new labor deal will include going back to four years to become eligible for free agency.
The Giants also have to deal with likely free agents wide receiver Steve Smith, running back Ahmad Bradshaw, tight end Kevin Boss and defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka. There might not be enough money to go around to keep Cofield in the fold.
"I would love to re-sign with the Giants," Cofield said. "But you don't get to script out your career. Not everyone can be Michael Strahan, be a lifetime Giant, ride off into the sunset after the Super Bowl. Some of us don't get that luxury."
