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Yes, the start of training camps is two months away, but it’s never too early to consider the coming season. A look at the best-case and worst-case scenarios for the Giants in 2012.

Dream scenario (12-4): The last time the the Giants won the Super Bowl, they followed it up with a 12-4 season and claimed the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. It seems a fair bet that, this time, their top wide receiver won't shoot himself in the leg with an unlicensed firearm in a nightclub and severely damage their playoff chances. The Giants remain extremely strong at quarterback, wide receiver and pass-rusher in a pass-heavy NFL era, and for that reason they have reason to believe they can be a much better regular-season team than the one that went 9-7 and made the playoffs on the final day last season. In the Giants' dream scenario, Hakeem Nicks recovers from his broken foot in time to start the season, second-round pick Rueben Randle wins the No. 3 wide receiver spot and someone -- perhaps first-rounder David Wilson -- steps forward to be the running back who can spell Ahmad Bradshaw when he needs a rest. Terrell Thomas comes back healthy and continues along the career path that, this time last year, had him on track to become one of the best cornerbacks in the league. Keith Rivers solidifies the linebacker corps, and Jason Pierre-Paul and Victor Cruz build on their breakout seasons as the Giants get back into the playoffs and make a real run at defending their title.

Nightmare scenario (6-10): The Nicks injury is a reminder that the Giants did lose some depth this offseason. And although they are (a) very strong if their front-line starters are healthy, (b) very good at filling needs internally and (c) always at least in contention even when they miss the playoffs, the likelihood of the nightmare scenario is unimportant to this exercise. This is about imagining, and in the Giants' nightmare scenario their key starters -- such as Nicks, Cruz, Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck and Bradshaw -- struggle with injury or ineffectiveness. Eli Manning reverts to his interception-happy ways of 2011. Thomas struggles to get back to where he was, Prince Amukamara fails to take the next step forward, and they still can't find a reliable middle linebacker from among the crew they bring to camp. The nightmare scenario also sees the offensive line struggle, especially at the left tackle spot, where Will Beatty was a work in progress in 2011 before eye problems ended his season. Should these troubles come to pass, the Giants would have to lean heavily on their rookies, and it's unlikely that Wilson, Randle and Jayron Hosley could all emerge as successful starters in their first year in the NFL. Again, the Giants' nightmare scenario seems unlikely, but if it happens, it will have to do with depth issues behind the starters.

The 2012 draft is so last month, and the 2013 draft is too far away to comprehend, so our draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. is thinking back to the 2011 draft and has come up with some players he thinks could break out in their second NFL seasons. It's an Insider piece, so only those of you with Insider access can read it. But that's OK, because I like you guys better anyway. Just please don't tell the others. I don't want anyone to get upset.

Anyway, Mel has three players on his list from the NFC East, and they are...

Leonard Hankerson, WR, Washington Redskins
I thought Hankerson was just about to really get it going last year when a hip injury derailed his season. While the Redskins went out and made several moves at wide receiver, I think Hankerson could put up big numbers as a down-the-field threat in Mike Shanahan's offense. He's a bigger target, something this offense lacks otherwise, outside of tight end Fred Davis.

My take: Shanahan thinks the same thing, and if Hankerson's healthy, then Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan aren't going to keep him from being a factor.

Tyron Smith, OT, Dallas Cowboys
How could I have Smith here after he started 16 games for the Cowboys in 2011? It's not that he started, it's where he starts. Smith won't be 22 until December, and the Cowboys worked the youngster in on the right side last year. But if he takes over at left tackle, in a division with the kind of pass-rushers the NFC East has, it'll be a true test of his value. I think he'll do well.

My take: Smith was a monster at right tackle last year, one of the best in the league at that position. There's nothing to indicate he can't handle a transition to the more important spot, and if he does he has the talent to excel there for a very long time.

Marvin Austin, DT, New York Giants
This is more of a long shot because Austin isn't even slated to start, but while he got hurt last year and never really got his season on track, I think he can be a big part of the rotation in 2012 if his health is there. This is an immensely talented kid who just needs to keep his motor running; Tom Coughlin will get him going.

My take: Austin is one of the real wild cards for the Giants this year, and if he can stay on the field he could have a huge impact on the Giants' already excellent defensive line. Kind of like Jason Pierre-Paul last year, he has the ability to make himself a starter if the opportunity for playing time should arise.

The 2011 season was not the most, well, beastly season in NFC East history. It was the first time in a full, 16-game season that no team in the division won at least 10 games, and for much of the year the talk around the division was that it wasn't what it used to be.

Buncha baloney if you ask me. Even forgetting for a second that an NFC East team won the Super Bowl, this division still does one very important thing better than any other: rush the passer. The NFC East's 181 sacks led all NFL divisions in 2011, and by quite a bit. (The AFC North, which had three playoff teams, was second with 160). The Eagles tied for the league lead with 50. The Giants tied for third with 48. The Cowboys tied for seventh with 42, and the Redskins tied for 10th with 41.

Look deeper, into the film-based, number-crunching stats from Pro Football Focus -- stats that take into account more than just sacks when evaluating the extent to which teams rushed, hassled and affected opposing quarterbacks, and the division still rules. The Eagles rank No. 1 in PFF's 2011 team rankings, the Cowboys No. 3, the Giants No. 6 and the Redskins No. 9. No division prizes this critical aspect of the game more than the NFC East does, and it shows up in the numbers.

So, as we slug our way through a slow news month in the NFC East, I thought it'd be a good idea to check in on the pass rushes of our four teams and see how they're doing -- what they've done to get better or worse, what their 2012 prospects look like from this far out and yes, how they rank against each other. You guys asked for more polls, and I promised I'd listen, so there's one right here for you to vote on. After you finish reading, of course. I'm addressing them in order of how many sacks they got in 2011, in case you're wondering how I decided. Seemed fair.

Philadelphia Eagles

Key contributors: DE Trent Cole, DE Jason Babin, DT Cullen Jenkins. PFF ranked Cole the No. 1 overall 4-3 defensive end in the league last year. Babin ranked 10th overall and third in pass rush, finishing third in the league with 18 sacks. Jenkins ranked as the No. 4 pass-rushing defensive tackle, and Derek Landri was No. 10. Defensive line coach Jim Washburn and defensive coordinator Juan Castillo, each of whom is entering his second season in his current position with the Eagles, believe the front four is responsible for the pass rush. And while they got a lot of publicity for how wide they like to line up their defensive ends, they like to get pressure from the defensive tackles as well.

Newcomer: DT Fletcher Cox. The Eagles traded up in the first round to pick Cox because they believed he could be an impact pass-rusher from one of those interior spots right away. They need to toughen up against the run, and that will have to be part of Cox's game. But what appealed to them was his ability to get to the passer. Rookie linebacker Mychal Kendricks could conceivably factor in here too, but the Eagles don't ask their linebackers to rush very much in the new scheme.

Stock watch: UP. The addition of Cox, as well as the possible return to full health of Mike Patterson and 2010 first-round pick Brandon Graham, give the Eagles incredible depth at a position at which they were already very strong in 2011. It's possible they'll rush the passer even better in 2012.

New York Giants

Key contributors: DE Jason Pierre-Paul, DE Justin Tuck, DE Osi Umenyiora, DE/LB Mathias Kiwanuka. No one's roster goes as deep as the Giants' does in terms of star-caliber defensive ends. Pierre-Paul was fourth in the league with 16.5 sacks in just his second NFL season. Umenyiora had nine in just nine games. Tuck turned it on at the end and in the playoffs, and Kiwanuka is a defensive end playing linebacker. The Giants believe a strong pass rush is their heritage and their key to being an annual contender.

Newcomer: DT Marvin Austin. The Giants didn't really bring in anyone this offseason who looks like a 2012 pass-rush contributor, but their 2011 second-round pick missed all of last season due to injury, so we'll call him a newcomer. The Giants would like to get more help from inside. Linval Joseph was their best pass-rushing defensive tackle in 2011, according to PFF's rankings. A healthy Austin could be a difference-maker.

Stock watch: DOWN. Not by much, but a little, because of the loss of reliable, underrated reserve DE Dave Tollefson. If Tuck and Umenyiora have injury problems again, or if Umenyiora holds out, they could get kind of thin at defensive end pretty quickly without Tollefson there to fill in this time. Now, this is the Giants, and they'll probably figure it out. The addition of linebacker Keith Rivers could allow them to move Kiwanuka back to end in case of injury. But it's worth pointing out that they did lose a somewhat important piece of the pass rush and didn't replace him.

Dallas Cowboys

Key contributors: LB DeMarcus Ware, LB Anthony Spencer, DE Jason Hatcher, NT Jay Ratliff. There's no one like Ware, who rang up another 19.5 sacks in 2011. That's nearly half the team total, and the conventional wisdom says he needs more help. But PFF ranked Spencer its 11th-best 3-4 outside linebacker in the pass rush and Hatcher as its eighth-best 3-4 pass-rushing defensive end. Add in Ratliff, who can generate pressure up the middle, and the Cowboys look better in this area than we tend to think.

Newcomer: DE Tyrone Crawford. Dallas' third-round pick is looked at by many as a project, but as one that can eventually help with the pass rush whether he ends up as a 3-4 end or standing up as an outside linebacker. Whether he can help in 2012 remains a question, but the Cowboys didn't see a first-round or second-round pass-rusher they liked better than Spencer, so they focused on the secondary instead and picked up some down-the-road guys for the pass rush.

Stock watch: EVEN. They're bringing back basically the same group, and while there's a theory that the improvements at defensive back will help the pass rush by giving it extra time to get sacks, we have yet to see that in action. Spencer must play with more aggressiveness if this unit is to take a step forward into the upper tier with the Eagles and Giants.

Washington Redskins

Key contributors: LB Brian Orakpo, LB Ryan Kerrigan, DE Stephen Bowen. The Redskins' pass rush is all about those young outside linebackers, and they are fearsome. But with only 16.5 sacks between them in 2011, their numbers have a ways to go to get into the big-time stratosphere we're talking about in the NFC East. PFF did rank Orakpo fifth and Kerrigan ninth among pass-rushing 3-4 OLBs in 2011, so they do a lot of things well in that area. Bowen had six sacks and DE Adam Carriker came up with 5.5.

Newcomer: DE Jarvis Jenkins. Just as we did with the Giants, we'll go with a 2011 second-round pick who missed his rookie season due to injury. Jenkins may not be a pass-rusher, but adding him to the defensive line rotation could help free up more room for the linebackers and maybe help the other linemen get to the passer more often as well.

Stock watch: EVEN. This is really all about how much and how quickly Orakpo and especially Kerrigan continue to develop as elite pass-rushers. They've both shown flashes of incredible raw ability, and they have to continue to hone their craft so they can play at the level of the other pass-rushers in their division. Ware, Cole, Pierre-Paul and the rest of these guys are setting a high bar, and the Redskins know they have to have their own pass-rush monsters if they want to hang with them year in and year out.

Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com, a closet baseball fan who covers the Dallas Cowboys, was looking over his 2012 Cowboys' schedule the other day. Calvin was probably planning travel, and deciding which restaurants to patronize in the various road cities to which the Cowboys will be traveling, but while he was doing this he had an idea to list five opposing players who stand out as potential problems for the Cowboys in 2012. These are individual players Calvin thinks will cause matchup problems for the Cowboys, mind you, not necessarily games he's predicting them to lose.

Anyway, the guys over at ESPNDallas.com are real good about plugging my stuff, so in the spirit of symbiosis, I like to give you a look at theirs when it seems appropriate. And on a slow, rainy offseason day such as this, it did. Calvin's list includes Carolina quarterback Cam Newton, Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton, Baltimore rookie linebacker Courtney Upshaw and two players from the NFC East -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis and New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. Here's Calvin's take on Davis:

The Redskins tight end had seven catches in two games against the Cowboys last season. He's a threat to the linebackers and safeties who might cover him. Does Brodney Pool cover Davis? Gerald Sensabaugh? Anthony Spencer? Davis is athletic enough to provide matchup problems and with Robert Griffin III moving around the pocket, Davis becomes a target to find on the run.

And here's his take on Pierre-Paul:

The New York Giants defensive end is the new Cowboys killer. In two games last year, Pierre-Paul had 13 tackles, three sacks and a blocked field goal. The Cowboys couldn't contain this man. Last year, Doug Free had trouble with Pierre-Paul. Now, Tyron Smith gets his turn at one of the better young defensive players in the game.

I think Smith is fantastic, will have no trouble transitioning to left tackle and can be one of the best in the league at the position in short order. But I agree with the sentiment that Pierre-Paul seems like the kind of player who raises his game when the lights are brightest, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him terrorize the Cowboys again this year, even if they are better at left tackle. His talent is such that he always finds himself in the middle of the big play, and he's the kind of player around whom the Cowboys and the rest of the division are going to have to game-plan for years to come.

And yeah, on Davis -- his size and athleticism at the tight end position are an under-discussed advantage for Griffin in his rookie season. Davis was the Redskins' best receiving threat in 2011, and it's no slight against the upgrades they've made at wide receiver to predict that he could be again in 2012. People may have forgotten about Davis after his four-game drug suspension at the end of last season. But assuming he can stay clean, there's little reason to think he won't be a difficult force with which to contend for opposing defenses.

The defending Super Bowl champions get back to work this weekend, as the New York Giants hold their rookie minicamp in East Rutherford, N.J. Repeating is hard work, though, and there are good reasons why only one team this century has been able to do it.

You lose players. You lose coaches. You become the No. 1 target for teams that have identified you as the biggest obstacle standing in their way of getting what they want. The people who run the Giants, and many of the people who play for the Giants, were in this position four years ago, and they know all about the challenges that face the defending Super Bowl champs.

But this year's Giants are not your ordinary defending champ. They were, speaking strictly in terms of winning percentage, the weakest Super Bowl champion in history. They didn't even secure their playoff spot until the final game of the regular season. With two weeks to go, they were 7-7 and in real danger of finishing under .500.

All of these things are facts, just as much as the title they won. So as they get back to work this spring and summer, the Giants face the seemingly incongruous dual task of maintaining the magic that brought them their title while also improving a 9-7 team.

They have some things going for them, and I'm not just talking about Eli Manning, Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul. The Giants run their franchise as one that's perpetually in transition.

Rather than wait for problems to present themselves, or roster holes to open, the Giants constantly churn the middle and the back end of their roster, developing players in their system so they're ready to step in when need arises. There are running backs and wide receivers on the roster who have been waiting for the opportunity created by the free-agent defections of Brandon Jacobs and Mario Manningham, and those players will get the chance to do what Cruz and Pierre-Paul did last year when presented with similar chances. The Giants never allow themselves to get so thin at any one position that they don't at least have options for replacing those who leave or get hurt or decide to sit out training camp.

That said, this Giants team does have holes to fill and problems to solve. They finished 32nd in the league in rushing offense -- a fact that, while mitigated by the improvements the run game showed in December and January -- didn't sit well with their running backs and their offensive linemen. They will need to get better there, and to do so they'll need Ahmad Bradshaw's feet to stay healthy for the first time in years. Plus, they must find someone to replace the 167 touches and eight touchdowns Jacobs contributed to last season's cause.

They'll need to shuffle the offensive line again. While Kareem McKenzie was not what he used to be, he was the starting right tackle on a team that won the Super Bowl, and they did not replace him. They hope that Will Beatty (a) comes back healthy from his eye injury and (b) plays better than he did at left tackle in the first 10 games of last season.

David Diehl isn't around to slide over and bail him out this time. Diehl's got to play right tackle in place of McKenzie. The Giants have some offensive linemen they like for the long-term, but this looks like another transition year on the line. While they have enough good veterans in place to pull it off, that's a tough tightrope act to try too many years in a row.

They have bodies at linebacker, with Keith Rivers brought in as a good veteran reinforcement and some of last year's promising rookies hopefully ready to take a next step, but they have no clear man for the middle. They have bodies at cornerback, but they have question marks there, too.

Corey Webster was awesome in 2011. Can he repeat that performance? Is Terrell Thomas fully recovered from the preseason knee injury that cost him the whole season? Will Prince Amukamara make more of a contribution?

Don't think for a second that GM Jerry Reese isn't concerned. He used each of his first three draft picks on positions at which he lost a player in free agency -- running back (David Wilson for Jacobs), wide receiver (Rueben Randle for Mario Manningham) and cornerback (Jayron Hosley for Aaron Ross). And he's smart to be concerned, because while these Giants rightfully consider themselves a championship team, they're also a team that won one less regular-season game in 2011 than it won in 2010. Had someone in the NFC East won 10 and the Giants missed the playoffs, their offseason narrative would have been that of a team moving in the wrong direction.

Instead, the Giants have a two-front problem to solve. They have a division and a conference and a league full of teams that saw what they did and now consider Super Bowl glory more attainable than ever. And they have an internal mandate to be better this year than 9-7, because they know first-hand that it's not usually good enough to get you the chance to make a Super Bowl run.

They're capable of doing it, and they'll deservedly enter the season among the favorites to win it all again. They have superstars at quarterback, wide receiver and defensive end, and in this day and age that can carry you a long way. But as far as defending Super Bowl champions go, these Giants have more issues than most -- and more work to do.

This is the part where I check the mailbag, pick out a few of your questions and do the best I can to answer them before we all get on with our nice spring weekends. I hope you enjoy it.

Joe D from Panama City, Fla., asks why I keep talking about the Dallas Cowboys' need to improve their pass rush, given that they finished tied for seventh in the league in sacks last year.

Dan Graziano: Touché, Joe D. The overall sack numbers were nice -- 42 in 16 games. But when the Cowboys talk about improving their pass rush (and believe me, they do), I think the concern is rooted in the extent to which the responsibility for that aspect of the defense continues to fall on one man. As a team, the Cowboys had 42 sacks, but DeMarcus Ware had 19.5 by himself. And 12 of those came in the first seven games of the season. The concern over the pass rush in Dallas isn't about the overall numbers, but rather on an effort to get Ware some help so that maybe he can see one or two plays a game on which he's not double-teamed and so that he can perhaps avoid seeing his sack numbers drop as the season goes along. They'd like to see Anthony Spencer be a more credible threat from the other outside linebacker spot, or get more pressure on the passer from their defensive line. But on plays when the opposing offense can find a way to account for Ware, the quarterback tends to have too much time to throw. Your point is well taken, but the Cowboys are looking for more players who can help their pass rush bring more pressure from more different spots on the field.

Tramell from Bowie, Md., was rankled by something I wrote Thursday about "question in the secondary" for the Washington Redskins. He likes DeAngelo Hall and Josh Wilson as the starting corners, thinks Tanard Jackson will be an upgrade over O.J. Atogwe at safety and that DeJon Gomes shows promise.

DG: Even if everything you write is true, Tramell, that doesn't mean they don't have questions to answer in the secondary. Jackson was cut for attitude reasons in Tampa Bay (though they claimed it was for injury reasons), and the theory is that he'll click with former Bucs coach and new Redskins secondary coach Raheem Morris, but we don't know that that'll be the case. I do know that they like Gomes as a starting-caliber safety, but they don't know if he'll be ready for that this year or if he may need some more time before taking on that full-time role. Brandon Meriweather, Madieu Williams... there are going to be a lot of bodies in that secondary in training camp, and I think it's fair to say there are questions about how it will all shake out.

Kenya from NY noticed a mention Friday about the fact that Philadelphia Eagles offensive line coach Howard Mudd likes his quarterback to call out the protections at the line of scrimmage, and that last year (Mudd's first in Philadelphia) was the first year Michael Vick was asked to handle that responsibility. Kenya wants to know why an offensive line coach would prefer this arrangement.

DG: As I understand it, Kenya, part of Mudd's philosophy is that the quarterback and the line have to function in concert with each other. His offensive line meetings always include the quarterback as an active participant, and having Vick identify the middle linebacker and change the protection if he feels it's warranted is another way of making him feel invested in and aware of what his linemen are doing. In theory, it should help Vick identify throwing lanes and intelligent opportunities to run. But put simply, I believe Mudd likes the quarterback to feel as though the line functions as an extension of what he's doing on each play. Kenya, you also asked whether I believe Vick is good enough to do this, and my answer is yes -- Vick is "good enough" to do anything he wants to do on a football field, as long as he's continually committed to improving and honing his craft as a quarterback.

Kyle from Boston, Mass., wondered what the status is on contract extension talks between the New York Giants and head coach Tom Coughlin, as well as long-term deals for young stars such as Hakeem Nicks, Jason Pierre-Paul and Victor Cruz.

DG: The Giants have a deliberate way of doing things, and an order in which things need to be done. There is an understanding between Coughlin and team management that a contract extension will be done, probably between now and the start of training camp. My guess is that it'll be a three-year deal, and neither side is stressed out about it. But when you start asking about the players, you get some sense of why they're not eager to do a new deal with Osi Umenyiora. Already up against this year's cap, the Giants are looking down the road at new contract situations that will need to be addressed. You name a few, and Giants management is obviously aware that they are on the horizon. But you have to prove it in New York -- and for more than one year. Cruz and Pierre-Paul are not near the front of the line for new contracts. Nicks is closer than either of them. Mathias Kiwanuka just quietly got one. They take care of their own cornerstone pieces, but they do so only after (a) making sure that they really are cornerstones and (b) when the time is right. I wouldn't expect to see any extensions for any of the guys you named this offseason. Except Coughlin, of course.

New York Giants GM Jerry Reese said on ESPN radio in New York that the contract dispute between the team and defensive end Osi Umenyiora is not personal -- at least from his end -- and reiterated that he'd like Umenyiora to "retire as a Giant." Ohm was listening to the interview on ESPN radio's new spot at 98.7 on the FM dial:

"I don't carry grudges," Reese said in an interview with Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco on ESPN New York 98.7. "In the offseason, there is always some controversy about contracts. It is not just one person, it can be several different people with contract situations. That is part of my job, it is never personal, I don't think it is personal with respect to players and it definitely is not personal with respect to me."

"I call it offseason chatter," he continued. "There is always some chatter about different situations about contracts during the offseason. That is what happened. It is never personal with me."

Which is really nice, especially since Reese was the one being called a liar by Umenyiora this time last year in a sworn affidavit as part of the Brady vs. NFL lockout suit. But whether it's personal from Reese's standpoint really isn't the issue at this point. Because other than that affidavit, there have been very few (if any) points during this three-year drama at which Reese felt he had cause to feel like the wronged party. Umenyiora's discontent over his contract has had no discernible impact on the Giants whatsoever. He's played, and played well. The times he's sat out practice in protest have had no effect on his teammates. The games he's missed due to injury have been ably handled by people such as Mathias Kiwanuka, Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul. Pierre-Paul, in fact, surpassed Umenyiora as a starter last year, which is part of the basis for the current disagreement between Umenyiora and the Giants about what he should be getting paid.

It is clearly personal from Umenyiora's end, and has been for some time now. He feels disrespected by what he considers insufficient compensation. He has said he doesn't like being a backup. And it is clear that he intends to continue making an issue of his contract in this, its final season. I can't imagine a circumstance, barring some shocking new development that results in a new deal, under which Umenyiora attends all of the Giants' offseason or training camp practices. This isn't going away anytime soon, because whether it's personal from Reese's end or not, it clearly is from Umenyiora's.

In the end, what I believe will happen is Umenyiora will play out the final year of his contract on the Giants' terms. He has no leverage, and if he wants to sit out, the Giants believe they have coverage with their other excellent pass rushers. But that doesn't mean he's going to stop kicking about it anytime soon. At this point, it wouldn't be a Giants offseason if Umenyiora weren't upset.

Good morning, and welcome to May, which for those who can't remember back two years is minicamp month in the NFL. It's also the month that has Mother's Day in it, which means it's time to think about doing some shopping. I didn't even realize how soon that was until I flipped the calendar. Sheesh. Anyway, links.

Dallas Cowboys

Morris Claiborne said on the radio in Dallas that he'd love to be a two-way player in the NFL. Hey, I guess if he can play receiver as well as cornerback, then it turns out he was worth their first two picks in the draft! Ah, but I kid, I kid. In all seriousness, Claiborne was a much better pick than any of the ones the Cowboys made after him.

Josh Ellis thinks the fact that the Cowboys didn't draft pass-rush help until the fourth round might make it more likely that they end up giving Anthony Spencer the long-term deal he's seeking. I guess it's possible. Still think they're going to wait to see how Spencer plays this year before deciding on that, though as Josh points out, if he suddenly comes up with like 11 sacks, that'll mean he's going to cost more.

New York Giants

With his buddy Brandon Jacobs gone and the Giants having used their first-round pick on a running back, Ahmad Bradshaw says he's excited to be the veteran among the running backs and plans to make first-rounder David Wilson his "project." That's how they roll over there in East Rutherford. Lots of veterans say they hate it when their team drafts someone who plays their position. Giants players view it as an opportunity to do some teaching.

You may have read or heard, in the wake of the draft Saturday night, the quote where Jerry Reese called fourth-rounder Adrien Robinson "the JPP of tight ends." What he meant by that was that Robinson is very raw and, the Giants believe, has potential to develop into something he hadn't yet been as a college player, much like defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul when the Giants picked him in the first round two years ago. Part of the Giants' reason for hope is their faith in their tight ends coach, Mike Pope, as well as Eli Manning's track record of getting the most out of his receiving targets.

Philadelphia Eagles

Howie Roseman says the Eagles don't plan to add a veteran at safety or running back at this point. It's like I always say about the stuff GMs and coaches say publicly: Sure, he might be telling the truth. But he also might not, and it makes a lot less sense for a GM who has to go play the bargain-bin free-agent market to say, "Yeah, we desperately need to add a veteran to this mix" than it does to say what Roseman said. There's certainly be nothing wrong with adding a cheap, cuttable veteran for camp reps or competition at either of those positions, and the Eagles have several months to decide whether they really want or need to do that.

Jonathan Tamari checked in on special-teams ace Colt Anderson and his recovery from the knee injury that ended his excellent 2011 season prematurely.

Washington Redskins

The issue, such as it is, regarding the Redskins' decision to pick Kirk Cousins in the fourth round after taking Robert Griffin III in the first, is the possibility that Griffin could struggle, Cousins could show promise and a controversy could ensue in which people start to suggest that Cousins would be the better choice at starting quarterback. I could see it, sure. And the Redskins are naive if they think it couldn't happen. But I'm not as exercised about it as a lot of people are, and the main reason is this: That would be true no matter who the backup was, and the fact that the backup in this case would happen to be the fourth-round pick in the draft in which Griffin was the first-round pick only matters to the argument because it just happened. Had Cousins been the Redskins' fourth-round pick last year, I doubt anyone would care about this issue. My only problem with the pick was that I thought Washington could have used it to address a different position at which it had a need. Their counter-argument is that backup quarterback is a need, for every team in general and for them especially, and fair enough.

Have you wondered why the Redskins have taken three SMU players in the last two drafts? It's not entirely a coincidence. Brian Tinsman explains how the connection between Redskins coach Mike Shanahan and SMU coach June Jones had factored into picks such as Aldrick Robinson, Josh LeRibeus and Richard Crawford.

In this video about the contract dispute between the New York Giants and defensive end Osi Umenyiora, Adam Schefter suggests that the Giants could still trade Umenyiora at some point down the road, though he points out that their best opportunity to do so may have expired Saturday when this year's draft ended. It's clear at this point that the relationship between player and team management is fractured, and it's increasingly clear that a new contract is not in the offing.

Sure, you can still deal a guy for a player, or for some future picks, but in general it's easier to get deals done before the draft if you want to get real value. I don't imagine the Giants will want to just dump Umenyiora to be rid of him, since they've had opportunities to do that in the past and have turned down every one. They held the line with him a year ago and got great production out of him en route to their Super Bowl title. I see little reason to believe they won't take the same tactic this year. And if he wants to hold out, I'm sure they feel fine about their pass rush in the hands of Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul, Mathias Kiwanuka and the rest of the gang.

I thought earlier this offseason that the Giants would be wise to trade Umenyiora in advance of the draft, since his value was high coming off the Super Bowl run and teams with which they would have been negotiating might not have felt as strong a concern about his recent injury history. But they didn't, and at this point the right move is probably to ride it out.

I do not, for one second, buy the argument that Umenyiora's situation and/or behavior can be a distraction in the Giants' locker room. Anyone who really thinks that hasn't been in that room. The Giants have a strong nucleus of veteran leaders. Their young players are, by and large, intelligent, high-character guys who have been shaped by those strong veteran influences and respect the coaching staff. Most of the players on the roster have been around long enough to know there's always something going on with Umenyiora and his contract, and I can't imagine any significant way in which it might affect anyone on the team other than Umenyiora himself. And that provides Jerry Reese even more leverage if he wants to play hardball with Umenyiora and dare him to sit out the final year of his contract and try and convince some other team next year that he was right to do so.

Well, that was interesting. Three of our division's teams traded up in the frantic first round of the NFL draft Thursday night. The Redskins at least had the decency to make their trade last month. The Cowboys and Eagles had me scrambling. But it was a fun night to be at Radio City, and I imagine the day-after links should and will focus on the players our teams selected. For kicks, we'll do the links in draft order today.

Washington Redskins

Jason Reid writes that Robert Griffin III has a chance to be the player who redeems Daniel Snyder's entire tenure as owner of the Redskins. That would be some kind of trick, right there.

Rich Campbell spent a whirlwind week in New York City with the new face of the Redskins, and he offers some observations on what young Mr. Griffin is all about. I have to say, my limited experience tells me this is a difficult guy not to like.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys didn't think they'd have a shot at Morris Claiborne. When they found out they did, they were only too happy to trade the Rams their first- and second-round picks to get him. Calvin has the story on how the trade went down. Hey, the kid's a stud. I have no doubt he'll be a great player for Dallas. I just question the wisdom of using two picks on one player, given their many needs. That's all.

Claiborne won't get on the field anytime soon. He had wrist surgery after the combine and looks as though he'll have to miss OTAs and that stuff. But the Cowboys say they expect him for training camp.

Philadelphia Eagles

Fletcher Cox was the player the Eagles wanted, Bob Ford writes -- a help for the present and the future that didn't cost the Eagles either of their second-round picks or their third-rounder to move up and get. I did like the Eagles' move. They can continue to look for starter-caliber guys with three picks tonight.

The Philadelphia Daily News' capsule on Cox has some interesting information about his hometown of Yazoo City, Miss., including its star turn as the butt of a joke in the Chevy Chase movie "Fletch Lives."

New York Giants

Ohm points out that David Wilson might be able to help the Giants in the return game as well as in the running back corps, which is a good point. The Giants appear to love what he brings as a player and an athlete, and will find a spot for him to help. It's what they do.

If the Wilson pick proves anything, on the heels of the Jason Pierre-Paul pick two years ago, it's that the Giants like to take dudes who can do a lot of backflips.

Jason Pierre-Paul, the breakout 2011 star of the New York Giants' Super Bowl-winning defense, was up in Bristol on Tuesday and dropped by the "SportsCenter" set for an interview. He discussed what it was like to enjoy the Super Bowl with his blind father in attendance, pondered how he'd fare in a UFC fight against "Bones" Jones and said his goal for 2012 is to improve on his 2011 total of 16.5 sacks.

"I just try to do better than what I did last year," Pierre-Paul said, when asked about goals for next year. "I try to do better. This year, I'm going to try to do better and get more than 16."

Gonna fire up our weekly NFC East chat today at our regular weekly time -- noon ET. You click these blue letters right here and you arrive, magically, in our chat room, where you can ask me anything you want and there's about an 11.4 percent chance I'll answer it.*

I'll try and take some Giants questions early this week, since we have Jason Pierre-Paul trampling all over the back end of my chat and starting his own at 12:45, and I imagine I'll lose some Giants fans because how often does JPP stop by for a chat? But I'll roll until 1 p.m. with the rest of you if you'll have me.

(*percentage chances based on number of questions answered in average one-hour chat divided by number of questions asked in average one-hour chat.)

Former Indianapolis Colts GM Bill Polian writes for ESPN now, which is especially handy this time of year because he's actually made NFL draft picks and can offer insight that schlubs like me can't offer. Today, Bill ranks the draft performance of each NFL team over the past three years . (Except the Colts, since he made those picks and doesn't feel he can be objective. Fair enough. If I were ranking the best ESPN.com NFL blog entries of the past calendar year, I'd have a hard time figuring out how to handle the NFC East ones.)

Anyway, Bill's got the New York Giants ranked among "The Best" in his rankings, behind only the Ravens, Lions and Packers. He picks a "best value pick" and a "cornerstone pick" for each team, and for the Giants he lists wide receiver Hakeem Nicks (29th pick, 2009) as the best value pick and defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (15th pick, 2010) as the cornerstone. Based on the results alone, these are both very good picks for the Giants, and they offer different types of examples of the Giants' broad-thinking approach to the first round.

Nicks was the fifth of a whopping six wide receivers taken in that year's first round. The Giants, who take a best-player-available approach to the draft and almost never pick based on need, identified that this was a year in which those two concepts overlapped. They needed a receiver, and this was a first round that offered great value at that position. After Darrius Heyward-Bey went seventh to Oakland and Michael Crabtree went 10th to the 49ers, the Giants were locked in on Jeremy Maclin and reportedly had a deal in place to trade up to No. 20 to take him if he fell that far. Instead, the Eagles moved up and picked Maclin at 19. The Vikings took Percy Harvin at 22 and the Giants, with well-regarded Rutgers product Kenny Britt still on the board at 29, went with Nicks.

The Giants believed Maclin and Nicks were both top-15 value picks that had slipped into the second half of the round. They had them rated very closely together and believed each offered something special. With Maclin it was his raw speed and special-teams ability. With Nicks, it was his studious nature and everything they'd been told by his college coaches about his attention to detail and the level of responsibility he'd assumed as a leader of the wide receiver corps at North Carolina. They were ecstatic to get him at 29. If not for the saturation of first-round wide receiver talent in that particular year, they might not have been able to sniff either guy. They took advantage of a rare and exciting confluence of value and need to make that year's first-round pick, and it's paid off.

As for Pierre-Paul, we've been over this story a million times. The Giants were picking in the middle of the first round that year, and the value at that spot was going to be pass-rushers, which is their wheelhouse. Five defensive ends went in that year's first round, and the names of Brandon Graham and Derrick Morgan were being kicked around for teams in the middle of the first round. Pierre-Paul was a mystery man -- raw and inexperienced but unquestionably gifted as a pure athlete. Everybody saw the tape of him doing the backflips. No one -- not even the Giants -- knew for sure how that would translate into NFL football.

But the Giants fell in love. Tom Coughlin went to watch Pierre-Paul work out. They decided that his talent was worth taking a chance on, given the strength of their belief in the ability of their coaches and their veteran players to groom great defensive linemen. Their need was at linebacker, but there was no linebacker in that year's first round that offered value at No. 15. And they didn't need a defensive end who could help right away, since they were already loaded at that position. So why not take the guy whose potential cornerstone talent you believed you could mold into a cornerstone player?

The Eagles traded up to get Graham at 13 -- a move that has subjected them to derision in light of Pierre-Paul's rapid ascent and Graham's health struggles (and the fact that safety Earl Thomas went one pick later). And with the seemingly more NFL-ready Morgan still on the board, the Giants picked Pierre-Paul. They didn't know he'd be one of the best defensive players in the league two years later. They thought maybe he could eventually be that, and that his potential combined with their program made him worth the pick. This was a pick that made more sense for the Giants than it might have made for any other team picking in that spot. They identified that, and again, it has paid off.

Anyway, the other teams in the NFC East are much further down the list, all in the bottom-17 portion of Bill's list labeled "The Rest of the Rest." He picks Sean Lee as the Cowboys' value pick and Tyron Smith as the cornerstone. The Eagles' value pick is Jason Kelce (sixth round!) and the cornerstone pick is LeSean McCoy. The Redskins' value pick is Roy Helu (fourth round!) and their cornerstones are Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan, though the Redskins are hoping the real cornerstone is the guy they're picking No. 2 overall next week.

So Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman held a pre-draft talk with reporters on Thursday, and the takeaway seems to have been that the Eagles are going to try and draft good players this year instead of reaching to plug roster holes. From Geoff Mosher:

"I think when we go back in our draft, sometimes we have probably drafted based on need, based on some circumstances," Roseman said. "And we're trying to make sure we’re taking the best player available now going forward."

And also...

"If we just stick to our board and take the best player, we'll have good drafts," he said.

The sense here is that Roseman and his staff have spent countless hours this season sizing up past misfires, especially on defense, and examining strategies used by other teams that have historically drafted well.

I think, in general, drafting good players is the way to go. The teams that have the best players are very often the teams that perform the best during actual games. So, if the Eagles have had some sort of epiphany that will lead them to select the best possible player when their pick comes around, well, good for them. This approach works for the Giants, who use the draft not as a means of repairing immediate roster holes, but of building a deep roster that can regenerate itself over time.

Thing is, I think this is all a bunch of noise. I'm sure the Eagles, like pretty much every team, have sometimes drafted for need, and have sometimes drafted for value, taking the best player available. Geoff thinks today's comments indicate that some soul-searching has gone on this offseason in the Eagles' front office, and it's entirely possible. Watching Jason Pierre-Paul eat the league alive while Brandon Graham struggles to get on the field, that's the kind of thing that makes you re-assess.

But I think this is just Roseman saying something that sounds good. The Eagles don't know exactly what they're going to do next Thursday, Friday and Saturday, because almost no team does. They're picking 15th. If there's a guy available at 13 that they had ranked fifth, and they're worried the Cowboys are going to take him at 14, they'll probably try and trade up to get him. The draft is impossible to predict, and the best thing you can do is prepare your board and stay as alert as possible to make sure you maximize the value of your picks. If I had to guess, that's what the Eagles plan to do in this year's draft, and the rest is pretty much just chatter for chatter's sake.

Catching up on weekend news, I'm sure all of my New York Giants fans saw that the Raiders signed free-agent defensive end Dave Tollefson. The Giants liked Tollefson, and valued his contributions to two Super Bowl championship teams, but given their depth at the defensive end position, they weren't going to spend real money to keep him.

That said, this is a spot -- defensive end -- where when the Giants lose a player, they notice it. Brandon Jacobs signs elsewhere? They can figure out running back. Mario Manningham? Ah, they'll find another No. 3 receiver. But defensive end, that's the Giants' bread and butter. And they just lost one that was on the field for about 40 percent of their defensive plays in 2011. Tollefson could spell Justin Tuck or Osi Umenyiora when those guys were hurt. He could move inside and play defensive tackle in those alignments the Giants like to run where they put as many pass rushers on the field as they can. He was a valuable piece, and they will, you can be sure, do something that's directed at replacing him.

One thing Tollefson's departure means is that the Giants are far less likely now to trade Umenyiora. That likelihood already seemed to be fading, as last year's hard feelings between Umenyiora and the Giants over his contract situation have eased considerably. But now, even if they can't extend Umenyiora's contract, it's hard to imagine the Giants getting a trade offer that makes it worth losing two pieces of their pass rush in the same month.

It's possible the Giants could look for a linebacker, or an increased contribution from one or more of last year's rookie linebackers, and move Mathias Kiwanuka back to defensive end full-time. Kiwanuka played well in his hybrid role last year, but he's a pass-rusher at heart and would surely be happy to be asked to pick up whatever snaps Tollefson left behind.

And yeah, they're picking No. 32 in the draft in 17 days, and they have needs at running back and tight end and linebacker and places like that. But you know, if you follow the Giants, that if a pass rusher like Syracuse's Chandler Jones falls to them at 32, there's a very real chance they take him. As we discussed last week, there are certain bedrock facets of the Giants' team-building philosophy, and the most prominent may be their belief in the importance of the pass rush. Tollefson's departure doesn't leave them short in that key area for 2012. They still have Tuck and Umenyiora and Kiwanuka and Jason Pierre-Paul, which is a group for which a lot of other teams would kill. But it's a reminder that things can get thin quickly, and defensive end is one position at which the Giants are determined never to let that happen.