NFL Free Agency: A Brandon Jacobs Return with New York Giants a Possibility?

When running back Brandon Jacobs was released by the New York Giants on March 9 after the two sides couldn't agree on how big a pay cut it would take for the eighth-year pro to remain in the Big Apple, it appeared that we'd seen the last of Jacobs with Big Blue. However, a running back market moving at the speed of frozen molasses is leaving the door open for Jacobs to once again play with the Giants in 2012.

As Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News reports, some teams have expressed a modicum of interest in Jacobs, who rushed for 571 yards and seven touchdowns in 2011, but he has no visits scheduled yet and hasn't ruled out returning to the place where he has spent his entire career. A

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Free-agent running backs are starting to sign, and I hear Brandon Jacobs is drawing some interest, but no visits yet. Could he be back with the Giants? I keep being told there's a "chance" but not until he exhausts his other options. Still, that's not impossible because he's 30 and he's competing for deals with a bunch of under-30 backs still on the market.

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ESPN NFC East blogger Dan Graziano echoes those sentiments, stating that while Jacobs likely won't find a feature back role (or payday) in this market there's still a very real possibility that a team outside New York exists that could offer Jacobs a more preferable role (and salary) than what he would receive from the Giants.

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I have New York Giants fans asking me what all of this means for Brandon Jacobs, who was released a couple of weeks ago. A lot of people think the slow and weird running back market means Jacobs is likely to return to the Giants, since it portends a lack of opportunity to find a better deal elsewhere. I think that's possible, but I don't think it's that cut and dried. I think it comes down to whether there's a team out there that has a specific role in mind for Jacobs.

The Giants have a spot for him—in the same championship time-share in which he spent 2011 with his buddy Ahmad Bradshaw. They haven't filled it yet, and there's no rush for them to do so. If Jacobs decides he wants to go back and take the offer they gave him two weeks ago, there's a decent chance that spot will still be waiting for him. But he's not in any rush either. There are still teams with holes in their backfields, and one of those teams might just decide Jacobs is the guy they want.

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However, if the market continues to drag, or if the financial and playing time offers that Brandon Jacobs receives on the open market aren't any better than what his old squad offered, it's very possible Jacobs may simply decide to swallow his pride and return to the team where he won two Super Bowls.

When all is said and done the New York Giants backfield in 2012 may look an awful lot like the Giants backfield in 2011.

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