Sources: Giants to trade for LB Keith Rivers
Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers lines up against the New York Jets during the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game. (Jan. 9, 2010) Credit: AP
The Giants are on the verge of adding Keith Rivers, a former first-round pick for the Bengals, to their depth at linebacker.
A trade was nearly finalized Wednesday and is expected to be completed Thursday, according to multiple sources, which would send Rivers to the Giants in exchange for a fifth-round pick. Rivers, who was the ninth overall pick by the Bengals in 2008, has yet to play a full NFL season because of injuries and missed all of 2011 following wrist surgery. If he's healthy, though, parting with the 167th overall pick would make sense for the Giants since Rivers has been a productive player when on the field.
Rivers would give the Giants options at a position where they had to scramble for most of last season. He has been a weakside linebacker for the Bengals, a position where the Giants would already seem to have two viable options with Michael Boley and Jacquian Williams. Earlier in the offseason, general manager Jerry Reese hinted that Boley could be a candidate to move to middle linebacker, but no decisions have been made. "We have a long way to go before that is decided," one source said.
The Giants also have other young linebackers they are grooming, most notably Mark Herzlich. It all but rules out the return of free agents Jonathan Goff and Chase Blackburn, both of whom are free agents.
Rivers has one year remaining on his rookie contract and is due $2.16 million in base salary in 2012. A new contract is not expected to be part of the trade.
Notes & quotes: The Giants signed Sean Locklear, an eight-year veteran who most recently played for the Redskins and is expected to compete for the right tackle job . . . TE Jake Ballard not only underwent surgery to reconstruct his torn ACL but also had microfracture surgery, the team confirmed.
