At this time a year ago, the confetti barely had stopped falling along the Canyon of Heroes. But time moves quickly in the NFL and the salary cap waits for no one.
The Giants yesterday parted ways with two more key players from their Super Bowl-winning team, purging the roster of running back Ahmad Bradshaw and defensive tackle Chris Canty.
The salary bloodletting began on Tuesday with the release of linebacker Michael Boley — who, like Bradshaw and Canty, was a starter and major contributor as the Giants stormed to victory in Super Bowl XLVI.
The Giants did not make the playoffs this past season. Bradshaw, Canty and Boley often were not healthy or at their best, and financial constraints trump sentiment every time.
Cutting Bradshaw saves the Giants $2.75 million off the salary cap, Canty pares $6.5 million, and with Boley’s $4.5 million cap savings, the Giants shaved $13.75 million in a two-day roster upheaval. The 2013 cap is projected to be $121.1 million, and the Giants are now believed to be at $118 million. They will need every penny, and more, to start re-signing many of their own 19 unrestricted free agents, plus restricted free agents such as Victor Cruz and running back Andre Brown.
Of the three, Bradshaw resonates most deeply with the Giants and their fans. He is a two-time Super Bowl-winner and, in many ways, was as much a part of the fabric of the offense as Eli Manning.
Bradshaw still is young — he turns 27 on March 19 — but the Giants see him as older than his years, because he has taken a pounding on his bad feet. Bradshaw showed up last week in New Orleans with a boot on his left foot, as he underwent yet another surgical procedure two weeks ago to insert a longer screw into the two fractures in his foot.
“I’m very confident I’m not done,” Bradshaw said on WFAN. “I feel I can be a good part of anybody’s offense.”
Despite barely practicing and missing three games and parts of two others, Bradshaw rushed for 1,015 yards this past season.
“Pound for pound, Bradshaw is one of the toughest football players that I’ve been around,” general manager Jerry Reese said. “Ahmad played football like Giants football should be played.”
Coach Tom Coughlin regularly called the hard-edged Bradshaw one of the toughest players he ever has coached.
“He is not only an exceptional football player, but he is the epitome of line-up-and-play,” Coughlin said. “Regardless of the circumstances, he’s going to give you everything he’s got. If you give the ball to him, he’s going to get every inch of what is there — and sometimes when it’s not blocked, he still gets it.”
Bradshaw, a seventh-round pick in 2007 and a classic overachiever, sensed his time might be running short. The day after the season, he wondered if he would be back, so the move wasn’t a complete surprise.
“I saw it coming because of the money,” he told ESPN yesterday. “Everything is about money, I guess, so yes, I was expecting it.”
Bradshaw took the high road.
“The Giants fans will always be remembered and always be loved,” he said. “This is where I started.”
On WFAN, Bradshaw said it was “mentioned” to him in his exit meeting with the team that perhaps there’s a chance he could come back for lesser money.
“There’s always a door open on my side,” said Bradshaw, who expects his foot to be healed in time for someone’s training camp.
More likely, he is done with the Giants. With Bradshaw out of the picture, the Giants now hand the ball to David Wilson, the 2012 first-round draft pick who experienced ups and downs as a rookie.
Ahmad Bradshaw (Ai Wire /Landov)
Ahmad Bradshaw (Ai Wire /Landov)
ADIOS, AHMAD: Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw, who burst onto the scene with an 88-yard TD run to spark a win over Buffalo (inset above) and jump-start Big Blue’s Super Bowl run in December 2007, was cut yesterday. (
)
As for Canty, the 30-year old arrived, along with Boley, in the 2009 free-agent class. He started 45 games and was instrumental in the emergence of the defensive line in last year’s Super Bowl run. He missed the first six games of the 2012 season following knee surgery and it took him months to return to form.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Canty said of his release on ESPN radio, adding, “New York will always be home.
“I wish everybody here the best,” he said. “That being said, I would love the opportunity to compete against the Giants.”
Quickly making himself a fixture in the community — he was born and spent his early years in The Bronx — Canty, 30, also was a powerful and respected voice in the locker room.
Coughlin called Canty “a high-character, highly intelligent young man.”
paul.schwartz@nypost.com
Better watch out
The Giants have cut three starting players — Ahmad Bradshaw, Chris Canty and Michael Boley — and more could follow to free up additional salary cap money. Here’s three who might be vulnerable:
RT David Diehl
Giants would save $4.8 million on the cap if they part ways with Diehl, who is versatile but after 10 seasons appears to be slowing down.
CB Terrell Thomas
Coming off another ACL surgery, Thomas is due a $6 million option bonus in March. He will be cut before then, saving $3 million on the cap, then possibly re-signed if he shows he is healthy.
CB Corey Webster
Scheduled to make $7 million in 2013 and is coming off perhaps his worst season. Not a healthy combination.
Giants free agents
WR Ramses Barden
OT Will Beatty
TE Travis Beckum
TE Martellus Bennett
DT Rocky Bernard
LB Chase Blackburn
G Kevin Boothe
RB Andre Brown*
S Stevie Brown*
QB David Carr
WR Victor Cruz*
WR Domenik Hixon
CB Bruce Johnson
OT Sean Locklear
RB Kregg Lumpkin
TE Bear Pascoe*
S Kenny Phillips
LB Keith Rivers
DT Shaun Rogers
RB Ryan Torain
CB Justin Tryon
PK Lawrence Tynes
DE Osi Umenyiora
CB Brian Witherspoon