David Diehl showed just how eager he was to remain with the Giants, agreeing to a massive pay cut for the 2013 season that was revealed yesterday.
The veteran offensive lineman gave Big Blue $3.475 million in room under the salary cap after allowing his salary to be whacked to $1 million from its scheduled $4.475 million.
The move was a straight pay cut and not a restructuring that would have spread Diehl’s pay over the next several seasons. That is a strong indication Diehl, 32, will be playing his 11th and final season with the Giants.
Diehl ended last season as the starting right tackle, but James Brewer is considered the early favorite for that spot this season. Diehl’s skills have eroded significantly the past two seasons, but the Giants still value him as versatile backup at both the guard and tackle positions.
Off the field, Diehl must wear an alcohol-intake monitoring bracelet this offseason after pleading guilty in February to a drunk driving charge stemming from an incident in Queens last summer.
Diehl said last week he would agree to a pay cut if it would help the Giants keep restricted free agent Victor Cruz, although the team is more likely to use the extra cap room to sign draft picks.
The space necessary to sign Cruz to a long-term deal worth at least $7 million — should the team decide to do so this offseason — will probably need to come from Eli Manning re-doing his contract.
* The Giants will wear new alternate uniform pants this season.
Instead of their traditional grey pants, the Giants will wear white pants for select games in which they wear their blue jerseys. They will not wear the new white pants with their white jerseys.
The new white pants will have a thin red stripe bordered by gray and blue stripes. The gray pants have a blue stripe bordered by gray and red stripes. The last time the Giants wore white pants was in 1999, which was also the last season they had “GIANTS’’ on their helmets and all white road uniforms.
The NFL stipulates teams can alternate three pants styles in their “uniform systems.’’
Additional reporting by Paul Schwartz