The Giants depth along the interior of the offensive line got much thinner this week with the news that backup guard Kevin Boothe on Tuesday will have surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle and will be out approximately four months.
Boothe tore the muscle while working out earlier this week. It’s a good thing the Giants selected Mitch Petrus in the fifth round of the NFL Draft, as Petrus now becomes the primary backup at guard behind starters Chris Snee and Rich Seubert.
Another injury is not as serious but is certainly not welcome news to the Giants. Starting tight end Kevin Boss will have arthroscopic surgery to clean out his right ankle and the recovery time is expected to be 4-6 weeks. That means Boss will miss the remaining organized team activity practices as well as next month’s mandatory veteran minicamp. He said he should be fine for the start of training camp.
“As a competitor I didn’t want to miss OTAs and I wanted to be out there,” Boss said. “It was hard for me to finally make that decision to go in there and get it done.”
Several players coming off off-season surgeries will not be able to participate in the OTAs that began this week as they continue to rehab from their injuries: S Kenny Phillips (knee), RB Ahmad Bradshaw (feet, ankle), WR Hakeem Nicks (wrist/toe) and DT Rocky Bernard (shoulder). Bradshaw and Nicks are both expected to be available for practice within the next two weeks.
Running back Brandon Jacobs underwent knee surgery following last season and he is participating in the OTAs. Others coming off procedures who are also able to work are DE Justin Tuck (shoulder), C Shaun O’Hara (elbow), FB Madison Hedgecock (shoulder), G Rich Seubert (shoulder), WR Mario Manningham (shoulder) and LB Gerris Wilkinson (wrist).
Also able to participate are two players who missed the entire 2009 season with injuries: DT Jay Alford (knee) and RB Andre Brown (Achilles tendon).