Who's the man in the middle?

Add a new name to the middle linebacker mix.

Besides the returning candidates in Chase Blackburn, Mark Herzlich and Greg Jones, and the one general manager Jerry Reese suggested earlier this offseason in Michael Boley, defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said they are trying to see if newly acquired Keith Rivers could play the position.

“We are not opposed to putting Keith Rivers (there), giving him the opportunity to compete for that role also,” Fewell said at yesterday’s rookie minicamp.

Fewell said, there will be a lot of competition at linebacker, which he called “an area of emphasis for us.” The Giants would seem to have an abundance of players at the position, returning six players who all started at one point or another for the team in 2011. Only three can play at one time, and very often it’s just two of them when the Giants use sub packages.

That will leave Fewell trying to put the best combinations on the field, particularly at middle linebacker.

“I sense that we are going to put it up for grabs,” he said of the middle linebacker spot which, as it stands now, he added, is Blackburn’s. “Whoever can take the bull by the horns and lead us will have the opportunity to step up and play.”

Of course, given the dynamics of modern NFL offenses, true middle linebackers are going the way of the dinosaurs.

"I don’t think college football allows you to have a big anchor middle linebacker anymore because of the way college football plays," Fewell said. "And I don’t think the NFL requires that as much any more because a lot of these teams are one-back spread teams and they throw the ball all over the place. We talk in terms of being a two-down mike and then having a third-down middle linebacker. But what is a two-down mike? We might have to redefine that a little bit as we continue to evaluate what offenses are doing in the National Football League."