Monday was a busy day for the New York Giants as they cut six players including Adam Bisnowaty while signing six others.
Monday was the first day of the full squad voluntary workouts for the New York Giants. The team signed six players to their roster, which meant they also had to waive six.
Two of the players that were waived were cornerback Brandon Dixon, who started each of the final five games for the Giants last season, tackle Adam Bisnowaty, the Giants’ 2017 sixth-round draft choice who was on the practice squad for the first 15 games before starting the season finale at right tackle.
The Giants also parted ways with linebacker Derrick Mathews, who made his NFL debut in the season-ending 18-10 victory over the Redskins, cornerback C.J. Goodwin, whom the Giants were awarded off waivers on May 2 and tight end Stephen Baggett of East Carolina and cornerback Bryon Fields of Duke, both of whom were signed recently.
Of the players that were waived, Bisnowaty was the surprising move considering how thin the Giants are at tackle and because he was a participant at rookie minicamp.
There's more than rookies here at Giants rookie minicamp as Adam Bisnowaty is here working with other linemen. @EliteSportsNY #GiantsPride #NYG pic.twitter.com/RqEgHdfN2j
— Jason Leach (@JasonKLeach) May 11, 2018
The players the Giants signed include guard Chris Scott has played in 45 NFL regular-season games and six postseason games, including Super Bowl 50 when he was with the Carolina Panthers.
He was a Panther from 2013-2016 and started 12 games during his tenure there. General manager Dave Gettleman knows what Scott can bring to a team since he was GM of the Panthers while he was employed there.
Also added was cornerback Chris Lewis-Harris who was signed as a rookie free agent by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012 from Tennessee-Chattanooga and has played in 33 regular-season games and three postseason games.
Both Scott and Lewis-Harris did not play last season.
Also new to the Giants are two first-year players: guard Malcolm Bunche of UCLA and wide receiver Alonzo Russell of Toledo, and two rookies, defensive back Mike Jones of Temple and running back Robert Martin of Rutgers.
Bunche, 6-6 and 312 pounds, entered the NFL as a rookie free agent in 2015 with the Philadelphia Eagles, from UCLA. He was waived at the end of training camp and spent that season on the Eagles’ practice squad. Bunche was released by Philadelphia on Aug. 15, 2016. He signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 3, 2017, and was waived on Sept. 1.
Russell, 6-4 and 210 pounds, was signed as a rookie free agent by Cincinnati from Toledo in 2016. He spent that entire season on the Bengals’ practice squad. He spent the last six weeks of the 2017 season on the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad.
In four seasons at Toledo, Russell played in 50 games and had 202 receptions for 3,076 yards (15.2-yard avg.) and 24 touchdowns.
Jones, 5-9 and 182 pounds, played his final collegiate season at Temple after earning a degree at North Carolina Central. In 2017, he started all 13 games and finished with 44 tackles (36 solo), two tackles for losses, and one interception that he returned 43 yards vs. Notre Dame.
Martin, 5-11 and 210 pounds, played in 46 games at Rutgers, where he finished 10th on the school’s career rushing list with 2,256 yards. He averaged 5.0 yards a carry and ran for 18 touchdowns. Martin also 20 passes for 135 yards. He had career-high totals of 763 rushing yards and six touchdowns in 2015. Last year, he rushed for 434 yards and three scores.
All six of the new acquisitions will have a long way to go to make the final roster, but they’ll make for some interesting position battles when training camp opens up in July.
