Brandon Jacobs was more confident than a guy at an all-girls school that he’d return the Giants next season. It only took the team about two weeks to get it done.
The Giants put their franchise tag on Jacobs earlier this month, then inked him to a four year, $25 million deal a few weeks later. $13 million of the contract is guaranteed and $15 million will be paid out over the first two years.
An encounter I had with Jacobs made me a believer, just as much as he was, that he’d be carrying the ball for the Giants in 2009.
Following the Giants’ playoff loss to the Eagles back in January, I waited near Jacobs’ locker to interview him. As big as star as he has become, Jacobs rarely holds his post-game session in the large press conference room.
Jacobs’ locker is an end unit and I was standing next to a stack of shoe boxes with a pair of jeans on top. Jacobs walked over, grabbed his jeans and started looking for his wallet. It was gone.
He looked at the top of his locker. Nothing. Through a pile of at least a dozen cleats at the bottom. Still nothing.
“I can’t find my wallet,” he said.
“Let me see if it’s here,” I responded.
I moved a couple of shoe boxes, but the wallet was still missing. That’s when he looked me in the eyes and said: “It’s okay. Not much was in there. It was good they took it now and not in a few weeks.”
Just to make it clear: I did not take Jacob’s wallet. I don’t think he thought I did either. I just happened to be closest to where it was last.
Jacobs began his interviews and went on to express confidence that he’d return to the Giants next season. He didn’t say it, but I believe he knew the Giants would throw big money at him, or at least would franchise him.
The Giants have rewarded all of their key players: Plaxico Burress, Corey Webster, David Diehl. If GM Jerry Reese signed those stars to lucrative deals, surly Jacobs would get his.
Now, I don’t know if Jacobs ever found his missing wallet. It’s definitely bigger now than any other time during his 26 years of life. And, just as confident as I was that he’d be back, I’m just as sure he’ll take a little more care of it from now on.
"The Cheap Seats: Notebook" 