With lockout on again, Giants must wait

For an NFL front office and coaching staff, the end of the draft usually is just the beginning. After Mr. Irrelevant has been awarded his title, teams spend hours, if not days, calling undrafted players, signing them to free-agent contracts, luring tryouts and putting the finishing touches on the schedule for a rookie minicamp.

But when the Giants made their final pick Saturday evening, general manager Jerry Reese returned to the war room and found . . . peace.

"Everybody is up there looking at each other like 'what do we do now?' " Reese said of the quiet. "It's usually kind of a controlled chaos after the draft.''

Said Tom Coughlin: "It's always been a mad scramble at the end of the draft to go ahead and fill your roster in with the best available players. That won't happen here. That'll get put on hold."

The Giants restacked their board with all of the players still available but did nothing else. Since the lockout was put back in place by a temporary stay of an injunction Friday, NFL teams are not permitted contact with any players. Even though the undrafted guys technically aren't NFL players yet, they're off limits for teams.

"No phone calls after the draft saying we'll talk to you later or if you do this, we'll do that," Reese said. "No talking to players."

Last week, when the lockout was lifted for a few days, Coughlin planned on holding his rookie minicamp May 13-15. Depending on what happens in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, he still might.

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"The reams of paper that -- pfft -- get thrown up in the air," Coughlin said of the 15 or so versions of offseason schedules he's charted so far. "Hopefully at some point in time, we'll have an opportunity to put all these people on the field before we go to training camp."

Despite what Coughlin called the "inverted situation" of having the draft before free agency and the temptation to fill the most glaring needs on the roster with incoming college players, the Giants stuck to their philosophy of drafting the best available players. This might have been the most value they've ever gotten in a draft; they believe they got two of the top 15 players available by taking cornerback Prince Amukamara at No. 19 and defensive tackle Marvin Austin at 52nd overall.

But there still are concerns on the roster that were not addressed this weekend, particularly in the middle of the offensive line, where their top three centers from last season are coming off surgeries. Coughlin noted that center was a concern when he spoke at the combine and said it remains a concern after the draft.

"Did you solve all of your problems? Of course not," he said. "Obviously, there is more work to be done, but there's always more work to be done."

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Not always. Not this year. Not in a lockout. The Giants may have contingency plans for free agency and whatever form it takes, but there isn't much for them to do but try to anticipate scenarios.

Coughlin, in his limited conversations with the players the Giants drafted, told them to stay in shape and be ready because when the lockout is lifted, they'll be getting back to work very quickly.

The same can be said for the front office.

"We'll just ride it out and see what happens," Reese said. "When they say go, we'll be ready to go."