Courtesy of: The New York Post,By PAUL SCHWARTZ
As he insists he's "ahead of schedule'' on his long rehabilitation from serious knee surgery, safety Kenny Phillips watched as the Giants on the first day of free agency signed Antrel Rolle and later added veteran Deon Grant.
Both are safeties, which certainly could be viewed as concern by the Giants that Phillips will be just fine for the 2010 season.
Phillips doesn’t see it that way.
"I understand it's a business and the way our secondary performed last year it’s only right you do something,'' Phillips today told The Post. "I don’t think they're panicking by bringing in all these guys, I don't think I should panic. I know when I get to 100 percent it's going to be competitive and I don't mind competing.''
Phillips spoke moments after completing a shoot for Reebok's 2010 Sideline Apparel Campaign and he sounded ready to roll.
"If I had a game tomorrow I'd be able to play,'' he exclaimed.
Of course, there is no game tomorrow and it's a good thing, as Phillips certainly wouldn’t be ready to play. But his enthusiasm means he's healing. Two weeks ago, he was cleared to begin running, so far only straight ahead, and said his left knee is holding up just fine. He played in two games last season before needing surgery to deal with a condition known as patellofemoral arthritis. There were doomsayer reports that his career could be threatened by this but Phillips says doctors and trainers have assured him that he'll be as good as new.
"I've been feeling great ever since the surgery so there's no worries on my end,'' he said.
The Giants want to insert Phillips and Rolle in as the starting safeties and sit back and see the University of Miami products dominate. Rolle after signing immediately proclaimed he and Phillips to be "the best in the league, hands down'' when it came to ranking the top safety tandems. Rolle called he and Phillips "a dynamic duo.''
Phillips isn’t using such colorful language but he is confident.
"The feeling is mutual,'' Phillips said. "He's a great player. Most teams only have one guy, one guy who can go get it like Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu, we put two guys back there who can do pretty much the same thing, they both cover, both go get the ball, both ball hawks, when you have that you're saying something about your secondary.''
As for the addition of Grant, Phillips believes it made sense.
"I don’t know much about him, I know he's an older guy, the probably brought him in for leadership, just show us the ropes,'' Phillips said. "You can learn from players like that, he's been in the league nine years. I look forward to playing with him.''
Phillips is participating in the off-season workout program and says he's certain he will take part in the mid-June veteran mini-camp in some way.
"I'm not sure to what percent I'll be doing things,'' he said. "The main goal is training camp. We're not rushing it, the season's still a long way away, we're taking real slow.''
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