Easily the most interesting statement to come from Giants GM Jerry Reese, who is generally reserved when talking about his players, during the team's pre-draft press conference was the fact that he said he thought OLB Clint Sintim "needed to grow up."
The comment must be taken in context, of course, but there's no denying that Reese was demanding more from a player the Giants thought could run away with the starting SLB job last season. Sintim failed to grasp the position and spent another season toiling in relative obscurity.
Said Reese, "I think it is about growing up for him. I think he needs to grow up and play like a second-round player that we think he is and give us that value and step in there and show us that he can be a starter for us and play quality football for us."
It's clear that Reese would like one of his veteran linebackers to step up. That includes Sintim, Phillip Dillard and Adrian Tracy. Sintim might be the best fit for the position, but Tracy, a college defensive end, also has intriguing pass-rush skills and size. Tracy spent the entire season on injured reserve after tearing his ligaments in his elbow. Dillard probably fits best inside but was worked outside a bit in practices.
Although Reese said Sintim "really didn't get a shot" to prove himself, he lost the starting job to Keith Bulluck in training camp and later tore his ACL playing mostly special teams in 13 games.
"(Sintim) hasn't played a lot and he got injured," Reese said. "So that has hampered our evaluation of him. But we picked him in the second round [in 2009]. We expect this guy to be an impact player for us. And right now he hasn't been able to do that yet.
"He flashed a little bit as a rookie. But last year he didn't get to play a lot because he was injured. So we are hoping that he can come back from his injury and look like a second-round pick."
Source: http://www.profootballweekly.com/2011/04/23/giants-reese-sintim-needs-to-grow-up
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