Giants punter Steve Weatherford was on the Boomer and Carton show on WFAN Wednesday morning and vehemently denied any association with SWATS owner Mitch Ross, who outed Weatherford as one of his “clients”.
“I think it’s pretty evident that (Ross) was a whack-job, And the people that he brought up when he was talking about it were like Terrell Owens, Brett Favre, Johnny Damon and Ray Lewis. All these guys are like Hall of Famers, and then there’s the punter that has muscles. I’m like, ‘Come on, man.’ I don’t even belong in the conversation with these guys.”
Weatherford said Ross has subsequently set the record straight.
“All I needed him to say was that he apologizes and he won’t say my name again — I got that out of him,” Weatherford went on to say. “I got that out of him, and I’m good. I’m not looking to stir the pot any more by suing him. That’s all I wanted.”
Giants punter Steve Weatherford joins Skip Bayless on ESPN’s “First Take” to talk about Eli Manning’s recent struggles and the Giants’ state of affairs.
Beginning the final quarter, Manning throws a beauty to Cruz, but he drops it. He was probably so shocked to be open for the first time today his excitement caused shaky hands.
On third-down, Bennett gets a case of the jitters, adds another big drop to the drive.
Fourth-down: Hello, Newman. The former Cowboys corner prevents Nick from catching the fade, and the G-Men turn it over on downs.
First up, punter Steve Weatherford put on a clinic yesterday on Long Island. No, Really….from our partners at WNBC New York….
Giants punter Steve Weatherford put on a mini punting clinic while making an appearance at Coleman Country Day Camp in Merrick, Long Island. The last person he picked: NBC 4 New York sportscaster Bruce Beck. Watch what happens.
Last year the Giants swapped out the body-building Matt Dodge for the Jets’ Steve Weatherford, who just wasn’t good enough the season before for Jets’ special teams guru Mike Westhoff:
“There were times when he just didn’t do his job…I was looking to get better than what he did at that point in time . . . Wasn’t good enough, in my opinion.”
That added fuel to Weatherford’s fire, driving him to become the punter the Giants needed him to be, revitalizing their special teams in perhaps their darkest hour.
Weatherford may not have spun Westhoff’s wheels, but he was more than sufficient for Tom Quinn and the Giants. And he plans on getting better.
“The way he took shots at me,” Weatherford told The Record of Hackensack after signing a five-year, $12.75 million deal in March. “The way that he did and the way I kept my mouth shut and proved him wrong the way that I did feels good.”
This week Weatherford spoke with FOX 5′s Duke Castiglione about his workout regimen…
The top ten of our “Most important Giants for 2012″ series begins with one of the most overlooked positions: the punter. But first, here are the links to the honorable mentions and the players who received only one vote.
Voters: Dr. Bill Chachkes, Kel Dansby, John Fennelly, Chris Johnson, Dan Orlando (Sports World Report), Rich Resch, Craig Santucci, Dan Stack, Jon Wagner
Wagner: Field position is drastically undervalued sometimes, and the improvement that Weatherford gave the Giants in that area was invaluable last year. This workout fiend keeps himself in too great shape to get hurt, but you never know in the NFL, and the Giants would sorely miss him if he did.
Fennelly: He has been a breath of fresh air for the special teams.
Santucci: Made a huge impact for the Giants in 2011. Weatherford is a difference maker and pro at his craft.
Resch: Think this is too high for a punter? Two words: Matt Dodge. In fairness to Dodge, this ranking has a lot more to do with Weatherford’s success than Dodge’s failures. The Giants’ special teams were dreadful in 2010, and Weatherford was the biggest reason for their turnaround in 2011.
Weatherford endeared himself to Giants fans with his directional punting prowess, reminiscent of Jeff Feagles in his prime (a prime that lasted roughly 17 years). He was a weapon all year long, but Weatherford raised his game to another level in the playoffs. He may have been one of the five most valuable Giants players in the Super Bowl, and let’s not forget that he corralled a bad snap on the NFC Championship winning field goal. There are plenty of other Giants deserving of being on this list that will miss out, but the field position advantage that Weatherford gives the Giants is a big part of their success.
Giants punter Steve Weatherford, one of the key players to last year’s Super Bowl championship has received a five-year contract extension from the club.
The Giants put the franchise tag worth $2.6 million on Weatherford March 5th, keeping the veteran punter from entering the UFA market on March 13th.
Weatherford was a breath of fresh air for the Giants’ special teams this season, a unit that was a trouble spot on 2010 with rookie Matt Dodge doing the punting.
Weatherford tweeted the good news to his followers today:
“I’m looking forward to representing the NEW YORK GIANTS for the next 5 years,” Weatherford tweeted. “Thank you to our fans for making it an easy decision!”
According to our friends at Pro Football Talk the contract totals $12.75 million, including a $3.25-million signing bonus.
The Giants may have placed a franchise tag on punter Steve Weatherford, but that doesn’t mean he’s automatically coming back to the Giants. He probably won’t be lured away by another team, but he is rumored to not be enamored with his tag price and is seeking a deal longer than one season…..
As per SNY Giants Insider Mike Garafolo of the Star-Ledger:
By appointing the franchise tag to Weatherford, the Giants have seemingly bought more time to negotiate a new deal with Weatherford. Weatherford can negotiate with other teams, but if that team wants to sign the player and Giants choose not to match the offer, the Giants will receive a first-round draft choice. The NFL’s free agent signing period begins March 13.
According to Mike, Weatherford is only the third player in Giants’ history to receive the franchise tag. The first was OT Jumbo Elliott in 1993 and the second was RB Brandon Jacobs in 2009. Jacobs reached a deal for an extension with the team 12 days after being tagged.
A punter with the skill of Weatherford is hard to find, as we have found out after Jeff Feagles retired and Matt Dodge imploded the past few years.
Another Mike - Florio – of Pro Football Talk, gave his rundown of the league’s tagged players Monday….
In 2010, the Giants failed to make the playoffs partly because of the ineptitude if their special teams. This past season, they went on a Super Bowl run, mainly because their special teams played above and beyond the call.
A big reason was the performance of punter Steve Weatherford, who was discarded by the Jets and brought in by Jerry Reese to relieve incumbent Matt Dodge – an experimental pick the year before that failed to live up to the team’s expectations.
The Giants rarely slap franchise tags on players, but today they did just that with Weatherford, keeping him out of the free agent marketplace and back in the fold for another season….
Weatherford is the second player the Giants have come to ‘terms’ with in the
past few days. WR Domenik Hixon was signed to a deal lat week after passing a physical. The team still has 19 players scheduled to hit free agency next week.
From our partners at Pro Football Talk:
One month ago, punter Steve Weatherford set a Super Bowl record, with three punts inside the 10. It made him a key figure in the Giants’ Super Bowl victory.
Per a league source, the Giants have applied the franchise tag to Weatherford, who has spent only one season with the team.
He’ll be eligible for a one-year contract in the range of $2.6 million. And that’s surely far less than he would have gotten on the open market, given his performance on the game’s biggest stage.
Weatherford, 29, has played for the Saints, Chiefs, Jaguars, and Jets. In 2011, he had a career-high gross average of 45.7 yards, and a career-high net average of 39.2. He’s never had a punt blocked at the NFL level.
