Giants sign DE McDougle

Sep 1, 2008 - 2:22 AM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The reigning Super Bowl champion New York Giants shored up a weakness by signing defensive end Jerome McDougle to a one-year contract on Sunday.

Financial terms were not released but the New York Post reported the deal to be for $1 million.

To make room for McDougle on the 53-man roster, the Giants waived defensive tackle Rodney Leisle.

The Giants feared pass rush, which was instrumental in their stunning upset of the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, took a big hit when All-Pro defensive end Osi Umenyiora suffered a season-ending knee injury in the third preseason game against the New York Jets on August 23. The Giants then unsuccessfully tried to lure Michael Strahan out of retirement.

New York will replace Umenyiora with former first-round pick Mathias Kiwanuka. However, the Giants felt they need more reinforcements to account for the loss of Umenyiora, who recorded 13 sacks last season.

So they turn to McDougle, who never lived up to his first-round status with the Eagles, and was released on Saturday when teams were forced to trim their rosters to 53 players.

"We think this is going to be a real good investment for us,'' Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said. "He is a defensive end and he is a pass-rusher and he can fit in a rotation and can be a part of any third down package or second-and-long package that we have. He gives us some flexibility and again versatility with a player."

The 29-year-old McDougle missed all of last season with a triceps injury, and was out for all of 2005 after being shot in the abdomen during a robbery during the offseason. The 15th overall pick of the 2003 draft, McDougle recorded just 35 tackles and three sacks in five seasons with Philadelphia.