The Giants announced in a press release today that linebacker Michael Boley had arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip and is likely to miss 8-to-10 weeks as he recovers. That obviously means Boley won't be ready for the start of training camp, and it throws into doubt his availability for the start of the regular season. But the hilarious way in which the Giants constructed this press release was designed to make sure you know that they don't consider this a very big deal at all.
The release is titled "Giants Rookie Signings; Boley Surgery." The first three paragraphs announce the signings of third-round pick Ramses Barden and fifth-round pick Rhett Bomar. Then, out of nowhere comes the totally unrelated fourth paragraph:
The team also announced that weakside linebacker Michael Boley underwent arthroscopic surgery today to repair a torn labrum in his hip. The surgery was performed by team physician Dr. Bryan Kelly at the Hospital for Special Surgery. A full recovery is expected in approximately 8-10 weeks, the team said. Boley signed with the Giants as a free agent on Feb. 28 after four years with the Atlanta Falcons. Weakside linebacker is the only one of the 22 positions for the Giants to have three starters last season, and all three of those players -- Gerris Wilkinson, Bryan Kehl and Chase Blackburn -- are still with the team.
And that's it. Right back into the biographical info about Barden and Bomar.
In all seriousness, Boley was brought in with the idea that he'd be the team's starter at weakside LB, a position at which the Giants have lacked stability. The outstanding Mike Garafolo of The Star-Ledger reports, on his Twitter page, that the Giants have used four different opening-day starters at that position in five years with Tom Coughlin at head coach, and that the only one who's started there twice was Carlos Emmons in 2005 and 2006.
The Giants likely have enough defensive depth to cover Boley's absence even if he's not 100 percent for the start of the regular season (as the release indicates, citing the Wilkinson/Kehl/Blackburn trio), but he is part of their 2009 plan without a doubt, and their hope is that he makes the "full recovery" they claim to expect.
