TUCK PACT TRUE BLUE
Will sign one-day contract so he can retire as a Giant
JUSTIN TUCK’S time with the Giants isn’t over. There will be at least one more day.
The defensive end, who announced his retirement just before the Super Bowl, said he plans to sign a one-day contract with Big Blue so he can officially retire as a member of his old team. He made the announcement on Thursday during an appearance on Big Blue Kickoff Live, a webcast on Giants.com.
“One question we didn’t get asked that I’ve seen a lot of Giants fans Tweet me is ‘Am I going to do a one-day contract with the Giants?’” Tuck said. “The answer to that is ‘Yes.’ We can’t do it yet because the league (year) doesn’t open until the second week of March. So for all the Giants fans out there asking me ‘Am I going to retire a Giant?’ Absolutely I am.”
That’s only fitting since Tuck, 32, played the first nine years of his 11-year career with the Giants, totaling 60½ sacks in the regular season and turning in two MVP-worthy performances in the Giants’ two Super Bowl wins. But a return wasn’t always guaranteed because Tuck had some bitter feelings toward the Giants when he left after the 2013 season and they didn’t make much of an effort to bring him back.
After signing a two-year, $11 million deal with the Oakland Raiders he told the Daily News he was “upset” with how the Giants only offered him half that much — an offer that he said “was pretty much disrespectful, to be honest with you.” He was hurt because even as free agency approached he said he was “thinking I’d be a Giant for life.”
Now he will be, sometime after the NFL offseason officially opens on March 9 and the teams are able to do a one-day deal. Tuck also figures to be a lock to join his fellow defensive lineman Michael Strahan in the team’s Ring of Honor. He’ll likely be joined there by former teammate Osi Umenyiora, who signed a oneday contract so he could retire with the Giants back in August.