The Giants made their first significant move of the 2007 offeason by acquring the 28-year old Reuben Droughns from Cleveland for the dissapointing, enigmatic, and injury prone Tim Carter.
The move provides a veteran presence to the running back position and insurance in case BJ doesn’t adjust to his anticipated bigger role in the offense. I was hoping for a back more in the Tiki mold; Droughns is more like Jacobs…a banger. But as we know, Jacobs can also take it the distance and I’ve read Droughns can accelerate once he gets into that second tier. Droughns also has good hands and can help in the passing game. His worst year was last season, so let’s hope it was just the culture and not a sign of diminishing returns.
Was this better than getting Dominic Rhodes, who went to the Raiders? Droughns is signed for three years and comes in this year at almost $2 mil less than Rhodes. I checked out Rhodes stats on NFL.com over his entire career. Droughns to me has been a better individual performer, but hasn’t played on a team as successful as the Colts. Consequently, I think Rhodes is preceived the better back. I think they are pretty close. Hell, they both even have been DWI’d in the last year.
I still wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants nab a “scat back” sometime on draft day, even on the second day.Â
The Giants renegotiated Droughns’ deal, so they may be saving even more in comparison to Rhodes’ deal with the Raiders. Overall, a good move by Jerry Reese IMO.