Ahmad Bradshaw Signs with Giants: 7 Things He Brings to the Table for New York

As of yesterday, New York Giant fans finally began to breathe a sigh of relief. After a week-long deluge of acquisitions by their rivals in Philadelphia, the Giants needed some good news.

And it came in the form of their 2010 leading rusher, Ahmad Bradshaw, as he is reported to have re-signed with the team for four seasons.

Like he has done so often in the recent past, Bradshaw came galloping to the Giants' rescue.

Although this time it wasn't in a football game. It was in the court of public opinion, where fan reactions run more wild than Bradshaw ever has in an open field.

Assuming the signing goes through, this will go someway to restoring a measure of reassurance to the many Giants fans who could have been forgiven for beginning to panic.

After seeing the Eagles make signing after signing, the prospect of losing Bradshaw felt like waving a white flag before a football had even been snapped in the regular season.

Yet now he's back. And with the Marshall grad, comes a plethora of qualities, most of them good, though some not so much as we'll see.

No. 7: Versatility

Bradshaw is certainly far from a one-trick running back.

In his short career, he's proven fully capable of working as a second-string or first-string runner, whichever the team needs.

And he also can run inside and outside. With a great combination of skills, he has the ability to do anything the Giants offense demands.

No. 6: Ability to Catch

Bradshaw hauled in 47 receptions last season, a career high.

It proves that when thrown to, Bradshaw is a capable pass-catcher. This hasn't always been a staple of the Giants offense, but should it be needed, Eli Manning knows who he can trust.

No. 5: Fumbles

I said that I would list both the good and bad of what he brings.

So it should come as no surprise that one con to bringing Ahmad Bradshaw back is his propensity for fumbles.

In his rookie season (2007), he fumbled twice in only 23 carries (and fumbled in the Super Bowl, though he did make a miraculous recovery).

In 2008, there were three more fumbles on only 72 touches.

And last season, his busiest by far, the fumble total went up to seven. It's a worryingly high number for someone so central to the offense.

That the Giants struggled so mightily with turnovers last season as a team should serve to be extra motivation to cut out this frustratingly preventable part of his game.

No. 4: Agility

Though his stats only look mediocre in the focused eyes of Football Outsiders, I think they're missing something in their stats.

According to them, Bradshaw gets stuffed behind the line a lot, and I don't doubt their accuracy. What they miss though is that he also takes the most ambitious running plays.

On many of these plays (as well as numerous normal ones), he's asked to make at least one tackler miss before he even gets back to the line of scrimmage.

In any case, those who have watched Bradshaw know that one of his chief strengths is his ability to weave through defenders as if they're standing still.

His agility, though not recognized in statistics, is nonetheless a fundamental strength.

No. 3: Toughness

Many of us remember Bradshaw dragging Patriots lineman Ty Warren during Super Bowl XLII.

Despite being outweighed by Warren by nearly 100 pounds, Bradshaw would not let himself be tackled.

And this is one of his best attributes. He runs tough. He runs the way a New York Giant running back should run.

More than simply being fast or big, it's important that a running back has a fire in the belly to overcome tackles and make tough yards. In that sense, Bradshaw is extremely valuable.

No. 2: Durability

This is another question mark for the still-young Bradshaw.

He's just been signed to a long contract for a bunch more money (at the time of writing this article the terms of the deal are still unknown).

Yet he's been hit by several injuries during his short tenure with the Giants. Nothing major but nagging lower leg injuries (and a wrist injury too).

These are some things to monitor because, like all running backs, he probably only has a certain amount of mileage in him before he slows down.

No. 1: Rushes for More Than 20 Yards

I think the single characteristic that defines Bradshaw is this one: his ability to turn a simple draw play or off-tackle run into a 30-yard pickup.

In fewer carries than most feature backs last season, Bradshaw still tied for second in the league with Chris Johnson in rushes of 20 yards or more.

He utilizes a combination of all the plus attributes I've listed in order to achieve this. Toughness, agility and versatility. Plus speed (yeah, I forgot to mention that one).

So it's probably safe to say overall Giants fans are happy at the return of Ahmad Bradshaw.

The Eagles might have signed a fleet of talent, but when they play New York, they're sure to get a healthy dose of Bradshaw and Jacobs.