A look into the offseason as Jeery Reese has to make some decision about our wideouts

Our Giants have: 

Hakeem Nicks, Steve Smith , Mario Manningham, Ramses Barden, Victor Cruz, Derek Hagan, Duke Calhoun, Michael Clayton, Devin Thomas, and we can not forget Domenik Hixon. 

So the question is who do we keep?

Lets take a look into and evaluate each player:  

Hakeem Nicks: 

Nicks is becoming Eli Manning's favorite target and emerging as one of the top wide receivers in the league. His wide body helps shield defenders and he has proven that he can deep and get good YAC. He is still learning the art of route running but has from improved in that category from his rookie to sophomore year. Typically, wideouts breakout in their third year so will see what he has in store.

Steve Smith:

 Eli's most trusted wide receiver. One of the best possession receivers in the game. Mr. Third Down  is almost unstoppable there. The only nick in his game is that he is not much of a deep threat and that he is not very explosive after the catch. *We have to see how he comes back from Injury*

Mario Manningham:

Manningham is coming along as an explosive player.He still has to work on his route running but he has good hands and gets great YAC. The problem is that his awareness or lack of awareness at times hurts the team but it has improved on year to year.  He still has a very high ceiling so we will see if he reacts it. 

Ramses Barden: 

The Pharaoh is still a project in work. In the limited time that we saw him he produced. He still is a freak of nature at 6'6'' he has the height going for him. It said to see him finally get a redzone jump-ball and that same play end up on IR. He is still working on his route running which will improve overtime. He has to work on special teams to if he wants to wear his jersey on game days.

Victor Cruz: 

Brilliant in the pre-season. Showed good routes against man-to-man coverage and has a knack for finding the football. We haven't seen much of him, but he looks like a nice prospect. 

Derek Hagan 

Why did we ever cut this guy?. He has proven himself to be a very good special teamer and a reliable  receiver for Eli. He is a good route runner and has pretty good hands. The savvy veteran has even drawn comparisons to Derrick Mason. The only problem is that he does not seem to have much upside. what you see hear is what you get. 

Duke Calhoun 

The rookie that acts like a rookie. He could not get the playbook down and forced the Giants to look around the NFL for receivers like Mike Clayton, Devin Thomas, and our boy Derek Hagan. Supposed to have really good speed and he has height going for him at 6'4''. 

Mike Clayton

A veteran the has be tossed around the NFL ever since his breakout years. Not much upside and he is getting old.

Devin Thomas 

The second round draft pick has all the tools to become a good wide receiver. He shown that he is pretty good on special teams. We still wonder what he can do on punt and kickoff returns if he shows he is pretty good he will most likely have an invite to camp. 

Domenik Hixon 

Has been missed greatly for special teams. His return abilities have been missed but he is only an decent wide receiver. In extended time after Plaxico, he showed that he was not a reliable receiver for Eli. He could have improved from then but we have to see how he comes back from his knee injury.

So tell me Big Blue, who do you think makes it to training camp next year and who makes the final cut in 2011?

Steve smith.  Boy was it smart for Reese not to overreact and give Steve Smith a contract extension last year. Steve had numbers like a number one superstar last year and Reese would have to pay him like one. Reese knew smith wasn't a number one. Now Steve Smith won't have the numbers like last year (thanks to Hakeem "The Dream" Nicks) and can't demand that kinda of money when he become a free agent next year (baring if there will be a season next year).  

Bradshaw To Start?

We all know that the running game or better yet, lack of a consistent running game hurt us last year. We know that Brandon Jacobs tried to tough it with the knee injury out but he ended up hurting us too. We know that Bradshaw had a pretty good year even though he ran on two flat tires to say the least. The Giants might be moving to a more passing offense with the receivers we have. Bradshaw could do better in the screen game then Jacobs and is a better receiver.  So is it possible that he could surpass Jacobs on the depth chart?