Dottino: Offensive Line Shakeup For Giants

By Paul Dottino
» More Columns

EAST RUTHERFORD – Nearly two dozen players arrived for their first "voluntary" day of the summer Tuesday, thanks to the NFL lockout, while veteran offensive linemen Shaun O'Hara and Rich Seubert were shown the door.

O'Hara, 34, and Seubert, 32, each were coming off leg surgery last season and their combined base salary of nearly $5.5 million put them in harm's way. At the moment, Adam Koets – coming off knee surgery, himself – would be the lone signed veteran center on the roster, although the Giants could try to re-sign versatile swingman Kevin Boothe.

The Giants have nine signed starters remaining from the Super Bowl XLII roster.

The moves also leave Osi Umenyiora and David Diehl as the longest-tenured active Giants – with each going into their ninth NFL season. Umenyiora, however, is unhappy with his contract and – even though co-owner John Mara said he hopes to see the defensive end report – sources close to the situation expect the veteran lineman to become a holdout.

Other first-day notes:

• Boston College inside linebacker Mark Herzlich, who missed the 2009 season while fighting bone cancer, agreed to terms.

• The Giants will have ALL night practices during training camp, usually starting at 6 p.m. The first one is Saturday and fans will be seated in temporary bleachers behind one end zone along the side of the field – but there also will be standing room.

• Terrell Thomas, who was Steve Smith's teammate at USC, said Smith's almost ready after rehab off knee surgery, wants to re-sign with the Giants and is expected to arrive this week.

• The rest of the veteran players are expected to trickle in Wednesday and Thursday before Friday's mandatory reporting date.

• Here are the Giants veteran free agents on defense (8): Cofield, Grant, Bulluck, Tollefson, Wilkinson, Johnson, Kiwanuka, Blackburn and offense (7): Boothe, Boss, Bradshaw, Clayton, Hagan, Smith, Sorgi.

• Follow our updates on Twitter: @giantswfan