Keith Bulluck replaces retired Antonio Pierce
The term “new season, new beginning,” speaks volumes for former Tennessee Titans Keith Bulluck. It will be a new team, new city and new position for Bulluck who recently joined the New York Giants for a one-year, $2.5 million deal.
The Giants finally filled their most gaping hole on defence when they signed the 33-year-old Bulluck to be their middle linebacker after Antonio Pierce retired a few weeks ago.
Bulluck knows his new team has something to prove after last year's disappointing third place finish in the NFC East. The newest member was introduced the New York media and learned early on that this wasn’t Tennessee. The media in New York is known for being critical of its teams and carry a “what have you done for me lately?” mentality of the sports team around the city.
But Bulluck just can't believe how so many people are dismissing the Giants after one bad season.
"The [Giants] have talent, and they brought in talent," Bulluck, said. "I know this team as a whole has something to prove. [But] for everyone to be talking about Dallas, Washington, and Philadelphia and not talking about Big Blue is absurd."
Bulluck, has a few things to prove himself, with regards to whether his surgically repaired left ACL will hold up, and whether he can play in the middle after spending the decade in Tennessee playing the outside.
The knee, he insisted is about "90 per cent" healthy and he is scheduled to start training camp in Albany on Sunday. He said, however, because he's not quite in football shape yet, "I've been told that they're not going to try and kill me in two-a-days."
As for Bulluck going from outside linebacker to middle linebacker, the switch doesn’t seem to worry him all that much.
"I'm a linebacker that doesn't come off the field," Bulluck said. "On first and second down [with the Titans], I would play on the weak side. On third, depending on the offensive set, I'd be in the middle. The last three years I have been playing both outside and inside. I played outside for a year and half at [University of] Syracuse. We were always behind the ball. I was never up, stacked on the defensive end or anything."
Though he's insisting the position won't be too big of an adjustment, having played most of the field before, he also seems to suggest he'll have more opportunities as middle linebacker.
"The only difference to me I see is more opportunity to make plays. If you just play on one side, then you're that defensive player on your team that they try to scheme you up, to cut off blocks, and run away. In the middle, you can run at me but you can't run away from me. [So] there's not much of a difference to me, man. It's football at the end of the day, and I'm a football player."
Bulluck stated that he hasn't actually been promised the starting job at middle linebacker, and expects to compete at the start of training camp and during the pre-season with rookie Phillip Dillard.
As it stands, Bulluck obviously has the upper hand in this position battle and is most likely going to be named the starter by the end of the summer.
According to Bulluck, the main reason why he decided to sign and play for the Giants this season, was because he felt that this team has a lot of talent and can make a championship run
"I'm just excited that we have the guys we have here," Bulluck said. "And they want to win. A lot of people here know what it's like to win. They've held that trophy up and they have rings at home that indicate that. No one is happy with just one. “
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