@KimJonesSports 2m2 minutes ago
NYG: DE Mathias Kiwanuka has been informed of his release. In nine years, he was part of two Super Bowl championship teams.
...that the Giants asked him to cut his pay last year. Stuff like how unfair non-guaranteed contracts are. Meanwhile, the guy got an incredibly generous $12 million signing bonus when he signed an extension before the 2012 season. He conveniently never mentioned that when he complained that he was force to take a pay cut.
a solid citizen here, he did what the team asked (moving to LB, moving back to DE, etc). Never complained. Helped them win Super Bowls. He was having a great year in 2007 when he broke his leg, I'm glad he was able to come back in 2011 to be on the field for the 2nd championship.
But as JonC said, the other shoe is going to start to drop now. The Giants are going to clear out some of the older/higher salary/injury guys.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
RE: So that leaves just Eli and Zach Deossie from the '07 SB team
I wouldn't say a boatload. If they franchise JPP, they currently have about 11 million. (After JPP's 15 million hit). And they need about 6 million to sign draft picks.
They can still make more room....and they're in pretty good shape, but I wouldn't say great shape.
I was really happy that Kiwi got to play in a Super Bowl and win
Ralph Vacchiano @RVacchianoNYDN 16s16 seconds ago
Kiwanuka was due $4,775,000 in salary for 2015. That is now the amount the Giants save by cutting him.
Good cash to use. Gotta hope they look at a top tier DB or OL.
Go fuck themselves when they asked him to play LB. Good soldier who hurt his personal stats for the good of the team. I appreciate your sacrifice and have nothing but respect for you Kiwi. Best of Luck
consummate professional and role model. He never complained when he was bounced back and forth from DE to LB, even though it negatively affected his career. He always gave everything he had. One of our better draft picks.
Don't want to post on "appreciation" thread. Thanks for being pretty good at times, often injured, and overpaid and overvalued. He doesn't need my appreciation, the Giants have shown him enough. I wish him the best. Maybe he gets a gig as a rotational 34 OLB somewhere. What he should have been his whole career.
Is effort but he was never a great player. Flashed in a few games. Like Jon said. Neck injury set him back. Also that cheap shot that broke his leg always pissed me off
Don't want to post on "appreciation" thread. Thanks for being pretty good at times, often injured, and overpaid and overvalued. He doesn't need my appreciation, the Giants have shown him enough. I wish him the best. Maybe he gets a gig as a rotational 34 OLB somewhere. What he should have been his whole career.
Kiwanuka likely cost himself a good deal of money in his career agreeing to bounce around at LB. The Giants paid him, yes, but he was one of the very few players that actually did show some pretty genuine selflessness.
Also, he should have been a 4-3 DE his whole career. That was his natural (NFL) position and by the time he consistently moved back there, the neck and knee injuries had done him in.
Kiwanuka likely cost himself a good deal of money in his career agreeing to bounce around at LB. The Giants paid him, yes, but he was one of the very few players that actually did show some pretty genuine selflessness.
Also, he should have been a 4-3 DE his whole career. That was his natural (NFL) position and by the time he consistently moved back there, the neck and knee injuries had done him in.
The fact is that in 2007 Strahan, Osi and Tuck were ahead of him at DE. The only way he could get a decent number of snaps was if he played OLB. So it's not like he was a martyr, he did it gladly, because it was just as good a move for him as for the team.
What wouldn't have been good for his career would have been telling the Giants to "fuck off" as the poster above said he could have. Yeah, right, a 2nd year player that was 4th on the DE depth chart would tell the team to fuck off. So, yeah, I am guessing that wasn't really a realistic option.
Anyway, Kiwi played primarily as a passrushing OLB in Spags defense, so it's not like his DE development was screwed. When he went back to DE he was good, and in 2010 he was looking dominant before his neck injury. He never recovered from that. That's what hurt his career, unfortunately. Not his versatility.
My only problem concerning Kiwi was the huge extension he got in 2012 (but that's on Reese) but also as I mentioned, how he thought the Giants were so unfair to make him take a paycut this year. If he didn't take the paycut, he would have been cut and out of football most likely. He got a chance to play one more year and start a significant part of it. He should have been thanking the Giants, instead he sounded like a typical, bitter fading player.
Great post. Extremely well said. At the same time look at it from Kiwi's perspective. Regardless of ability, he is doing the same job he did the year before and making less. How would that sit with you.
I have a fundamental issue with cutting player's salaries. I'd rather release the player. That's just me, but let the player test the open market and if he comes back after that the opinion is different. A potential FA (let's say Rolle) who agrees to new terms at a reduced rate is different because they agreed to it and they didn't go into the open market.
I don't begrudge players being asked to take pay cuts being bitter about it. Put yourself in Kiwi's shoes. What would you do if your boss said we're cutting your salary for the same job because your older and less effective.
if I had to compare to 86-90 group. Albeit Byron was nota DE but he was always the 4th option in the rotation of great defensive players Kiwi at DE/LB and Byron only at LB
reaction to seeing a chance at potentially millions of dollars more and at more accolades/praise go right by you because you're having to suck it up and play a position you never are going to really get it together at is how Kiwanuka handled it.
It doesn't mean he should have told the Giants to go fuck themselves and raised utter terror, but most players wouldn't have played anywhere near as nice about it as he did, both privately and publicly.
RE: I think you're new to perhaps humanity if you think the normal
reaction to seeing a chance at potentially millions of dollars more and at more accolades/praise go right by you because you're having to suck it up and play a position you never are going to really get it together at is how Kiwanuka handled it.
Except Kiwi did make millions and millions of dollars, he was actually good at LB before his injury, and he actually wanted to be a pass rushing OLB instead of only the 4th DE in the rotation. Otherwise great post.
I said millions more, which a starting DE (at what his potential looked to once be) would have been in line for (both from contracts and off field stuff) and more accolades/praise, which playing his natural position would have given him a likely better shot at. His "wanting" to play LB was him making the best of a situation that absolutely was not an ideal one for him or his potential (go back and quote search 2008, when he got to move back to DE and how ready he clearly was to get a shot where he felt like he belonged), but he sucked it up and handled it a hell of a lot better than most players would.
And Kiwi was never worth much at LB. At best, he was a generally decentish player that flashed potential to be more as he learned... but then he got injured and they shuffled him back and forth between DE and LB for a couple years more years, never really getting a chance to settle in until he was broken down by the neck injury and it didn't really matter anymore.
I was hoping, with the loss of Tuck, now Kiwi would just be a DE, and just concentrate on that....
But, he just wasn't the player that he once was....he was a force early in his career, and if he didn't hurt that neck, who know?
But he had to see the hand writing on the wall....after taking a big paycut, he had to have a big year.....he didn't.....at the level he played last year, he will be easily replaced...
1. Kiwi got a huge, generous contract extension in 2012, more than Osi ever got, so I am not sure where you are getting this idea that he lost out on millions of dollars more than he otherwise would have. I guess you know for sure though that Kiwi would have been that much richer if he had stayed at DE in 2007?
2. You say "his 'wanting' to play LB was him making the best of a situation that absolutely was not an ideal one for him." What are you basing that on? Personal conversations with Kiwi or his friends and family. Or more likely total speculation. Because I am basing what I posted on Kiwi's actual words. I don't think it's that hard to believe that Kiwi would want to be a starter with more time on the field than as the 4th DE in the rotation.
So please, before blasting a poster as "new to humanity" because they make a post that you don't agree with, maybe you should try posting more than speculation and conjecture disguised as intelligence.
Who knows how good you would have been had you been a full time DE?
+ 1000.
Unselfish player, and a class act. Glad he won 2 rings.
But as JonC said, the other shoe is going to start to drop now. The Giants are going to clear out some of the older/higher salary/injury guys.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Yup, how time flies.
Thanks Kiwi...he had some great moments mixed with some not so good plays but definitely represented the team in an incredibly classy manner
Once a Giant, always a Giant.
Thanks Kiwanuka!
They can still make more room....and they're in pretty good shape, but I wouldn't say great shape.
Thanks, Mathias!
Kiwanuka was due $4,775,000 in salary for 2015. That is now the amount the Giants save by cutting him.
Good cash to use. Gotta hope they look at a top tier DB or OL.
Salary Cap Impact - ( New Window )
You're probably right, but it's a guess on your part because you don't know shit but you love to pretend you're some kind of insider.
Do you dress up in camo and pretend you're a warrior at times, too?
The act is old, Thomas. You should try a different role.
Maybe a ballerina.
Good luck to him in football or out
Kiwanuka likely cost himself a good deal of money in his career agreeing to bounce around at LB. The Giants paid him, yes, but he was one of the very few players that actually did show some pretty genuine selflessness.
Also, he should have been a 4-3 DE his whole career. That was his natural (NFL) position and by the time he consistently moved back there, the neck and knee injuries had done him in.
Also, he should have been a 4-3 DE his whole career. That was his natural (NFL) position and by the time he consistently moved back there, the neck and knee injuries had done him in.
The fact is that in 2007 Strahan, Osi and Tuck were ahead of him at DE. The only way he could get a decent number of snaps was if he played OLB. So it's not like he was a martyr, he did it gladly, because it was just as good a move for him as for the team.
What wouldn't have been good for his career would have been telling the Giants to "fuck off" as the poster above said he could have. Yeah, right, a 2nd year player that was 4th on the DE depth chart would tell the team to fuck off. So, yeah, I am guessing that wasn't really a realistic option.
Anyway, Kiwi played primarily as a passrushing OLB in Spags defense, so it's not like his DE development was screwed. When he went back to DE he was good, and in 2010 he was looking dominant before his neck injury. He never recovered from that. That's what hurt his career, unfortunately. Not his versatility.
My only problem concerning Kiwi was the huge extension he got in 2012 (but that's on Reese) but also as I mentioned, how he thought the Giants were so unfair to make him take a paycut this year. If he didn't take the paycut, he would have been cut and out of football most likely. He got a chance to play one more year and start a significant part of it. He should have been thanking the Giants, instead he sounded like a typical, bitter fading player.
I have a fundamental issue with cutting player's salaries. I'd rather release the player. That's just me, but let the player test the open market and if he comes back after that the opinion is different. A potential FA (let's say Rolle) who agrees to new terms at a reduced rate is different because they agreed to it and they didn't go into the open market.
I don't begrudge players being asked to take pay cuts being bitter about it. Put yourself in Kiwi's shoes. What would you do if your boss said we're cutting your salary for the same job because your older and less effective.
What would you say?
I think moving him to LB was a mistake that cost him part of his career.
and he did so without complaint for the good of the team. Kiwi is what Super Bowl champions are made of.
Sorry, it was $11 million guaranteed. Wouldn't call what I was saying a rant, but regardless, $11 million guaranteed aint too shabby.
It doesn't mean he should have told the Giants to go fuck themselves and raised utter terror, but most players wouldn't have played anywhere near as nice about it as he did, both privately and publicly.
Except Kiwi did make millions and millions of dollars, he was actually good at LB before his injury, and he actually wanted to be a pass rushing OLB instead of only the 4th DE in the rotation. Otherwise great post.
This move saves $4.85 M against the salary cap.
And Kiwi was never worth much at LB. At best, he was a generally decentish player that flashed potential to be more as he learned... but then he got injured and they shuffled him back and forth between DE and LB for a couple years more years, never really getting a chance to settle in until he was broken down by the neck injury and it didn't really matter anymore.
Quote:
But better late than never, I suppose. If he were kept he'd probably start b/c of Tom's loyalty to him.
I wish BBI could cut you too. So there's that.
Wowzers. I'll miss watching ineffective DE play from Kiwi.
But, he just wasn't the player that he once was....he was a force early in his career, and if he didn't hurt that neck, who know?
But he had to see the hand writing on the wall....after taking a big paycut, he had to have a big year.....he didn't.....at the level he played last year, he will be easily replaced...
2. You say "his 'wanting' to play LB was him making the best of a situation that absolutely was not an ideal one for him." What are you basing that on? Personal conversations with Kiwi or his friends and family. Or more likely total speculation. Because I am basing what I posted on Kiwi's actual words. I don't think it's that hard to believe that Kiwi would want to be a starter with more time on the field than as the 4th DE in the rotation.
So please, before blasting a poster as "new to humanity" because they make a post that you don't agree with, maybe you should try posting more than speculation and conjecture disguised as intelligence.