Some quick notes on the cutting of Michael Boley from our friend Jimmy Kempski of Blogging the Beast:

• He turns 31 in August.
• He was scheduled to make $4.25 million this season.
• He was very banged up last season. He had back, hip and hammy issues. Just to note, that’s like one continuous pain going down his entire midsection. He also had knee issues in recent seasons. The Giants’ doctors are smart, I would assume. They knew Steve Smith was done. Perhaps they know something about Boley.
• His snaps were greatly diminished at the end of the season. Check out Weeks 15-17 (per ProFootballFocus):

Boley was by far the Giants’ best linebacker the last few years, in my opinion, but his play fell off in 2012. Whether his release is a result of some sort of degenerative injury concern, or because they simply think the size of his contract is too prohibitive to keep him, going from “Good Michael Boley” (whenever “Good Michael Boley” ceased to exist) to whatever they replace him with could be a significant downgrade.

The Giants’ cap situation is a mess heading into this offseason, so they have some tough decisions to make. This is only the first of likely many to come.

And no, I don’t really see much of a fit with any of the other three NFC East teams. Maybe the Redskins if London Fletcher retires, but there’s a good chance Boley will have found his new team by the time London makes a decision on that.