[EmpireWF]

The long and winding road to the 2007 NFL season begins tonight for the New York football Giants. After such a stressful end to the regular season full of practically everything you can name, it's now up to the decision makers to improve the football team.

Giants Owner John Mara said earlier tonight that he will speak publicly later this week regarding Coughlin's future. However, that's likely not even the top priority for the organization at this point. As of now, the Giants have no general manager. Ernie Accorsi is officially a retiree...joining perhaps the best runningback in Giants franchise history, Tiki Barber.

I'd think the Giants would want to hire a GM before they make a final decision on whether or not to retain Tom Coughlin. The top name obviously is New England's own Scott Pioli. The Giants can get him without giving up compensation if they give him the GM title and give him final say over personnel decisions. OR, they can go elsewhere (Floyd Reese, Charlie Casserly) or in-house (Chris Mara, Jerry Reese). Either way, I hope whomever they choose will have the chance to make the decision on Coughlin's future.

Past the GM and Coaching Staff, the Giants will have an arduous task of dealing with their roster. First of all practically half of the seasons starting line-up will be returning from rather serious injuries. OT Luke Pettigout, OLB LaVar Arrington, CB Corey Webster, DE/OLB Justin Tuck and two all-time greats in WR Amani Toomer and DE Michael Strahan.

The main free-agents the Giants have include: RB Derrick Ward, PK Jay Feely, SS Gibril Wilson, CB Frank Walker (RFA), ILB Chase Blackburn, OLB Brandon Short, C Shaun O'Hara and TE Visanthe Shiancoe. Then of course, they may have to do their (what seems like) yearly ploy to keep Jeff Feagles out of retirement .

Over the next few days, I'll try find out some of the different facts of guys like Michael Strahan, Luke Pettigout, Amani Toomer, etc. and their impacts on the 07 and 08 salary cap. I'll also post about IMO, the Giants Team Needs and other stuff pertaining to the off-season. Speaking of which, the Giants have the 20th overall selection this April in the NFL Draft, sandwiched between the Titans (19) and Broncos (21).