Giants quarterback Eli Manning believes the team would welcome Plaxico Burress back more so than running back Tiki Barber. "Probably Plaxico just because he has probably fonder memories of winning a Super Bowl and that catch for the touchdown in Super Bowl XLII," Manning said on the Dan Patrick Show. "Tiki ended on a bad note and it's really a shame, he should be remembered as a great Giants running back and a terrific player, because he was. Just kind of the way he went out and burned a few bridges with the fans and kind of went after me a little bit, it's unfortunate. I'm not happy about it in that sense, so I think Plaxico would probably be welcomed back a little quicker."

The home of the New York Giants and New York Jets may soon have a name. MetLife is in advanced talks with the NFL teams on acquiring the naming rights to the stadium that will be the site of the 2014 Super Bowl. Neither team nor the New York-based insurance company would comment on the report. The deal would be worth between $17 million annually, Sports Business Daily reported.

Eli Manning is optimistic there will be a new collective bargaining agreement and an NFL season. "I have been optimistic the whole time and it sounds like they are trying to work it out, the owners and players are trying to get everything figured out," the New York Giants quarterback said. "I do feel we will have a season. "Hopefully, everything gets worked out quickly so we can get to training camp on time and get guys back to work and have a full season. That's what the fans want. Obviously, they are the ones that make this possible, so hopefully we can get it done for them."

Nearly a year after the car crash that nearly took his life, Chad Jones hopes to return to football next year. Jones still has a long way to go before playing again, but he hopes that by next summer he will at least be training with his Giants teammates, resuming a career that was put on hold when he lost control of his Range Rover and slammed into a light pole. During that single-automobile crash in New Orleans -- two months after the Giants had drafted Jones in the third round -- the axle of his SUV snapped, scraping flesh off his heel and taking out "a big chunk of meat out of my thigh like it was Jell-O." Jones has undergone more than a dozen surgeries and still needs at least one more -- and perhaps a few more minor procedures -- as his leg and a peroneal nerve continue to heal. He has a metal rod through his shin, with two screws near his ankle and two screws under his kneecap. "It's never taken me six months to do anything, not one single thing," said Jones, who won national championships in football and baseball at LSU. "[But] it took me six months just to basically walk. It took me 30 minutes to take three steps when I first started rehab in the hospital. It was excruciating pain just even standing up and letting that blood flow again through my leg. "I am definitely about 70 percent better," Jones continued. "There was talk of me not even being able to walk again and now I am actually jogging. I've been through a long journey."

The Giants plan to hire 14-year NFL veteran Larry Izzo as an assistant special teams coach, The Star-Ledger reported Friday, citing a source with knowledge of the impending move.

Tiki Barber admits there was more than one day during his retirement when he would wake up, have coffee and breakfast and then "sit on the couch and do nothing for 10 hours." "I started to shrivel. I didn't have that confidence. I didn't have that aura anymore," Barber said in an interview. In the HBO piece, billed as "Tiki Barber's first extended TV interview since his comeback announcement," Barber explains why at the age of 36 he has turned back to football four years after retiring from the Giants. "The game never needs you because there's always someone else to come and take your place," Barber said. “But right now, I need the game. I need to prove to myself that I can be successful at something. I know I'm going to be successful as a football player. I don't know why. The odds say 'No.' I'm 36 and I haven't played in four years. But I just know."

Former Giants running back Tiki Barber says he battled depression following his retirement from the NFL. Barber has spent the past four months working out in an attempt to make a comeback, although his chances rest on the league and its players reaching a new collective bargaining agreement. "The game never needs you because there's always someone else to come and take your place," he said. "But right now, I need the game." Barber's life took a downward spiral shortly after his retirement. What started as a promising career as an NBC football analyst ended in his firing and his marriage to his college sweetheart collapsed.

Tiki Barber, in an interview with HBO, described the reasons for his decision to attempt a comeback to the NFL. He said he was spurred by "old friends and current coaches" encouraging him at this year's Super Bowl. When the 36-year-old running back began working out in March, he texted his agent, Mark Lepselter, saying: "I'm on a (expletive) mission of redemption."

Eagles running back LeSean McCoy took to Twitter on Thursday to offer his opinion on Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora. McCoy described Umenyiora as "soft" and "overrated." Umenyiora fired back, telling The New York Times: "That little Chihuahua or poodle in the backfield. He doesn't have to block me. ... If you have something to say, say it man to man. You can't be a Twitter gangster. That's easy to do, trying to be a tough guy. Say it to my face, and we'll see what happens." The defender also admitted that the two had words on the field. "Yeah, me and him, we had words on the field -- both times we played. I hate him, he hates me, period," he said. "He chose to take that off the field and make it public when it's something that's between me and him. It's something we can address on the football field. He let the whole world know about it, so I'm going to respond."

Despite his claims in an affidavit as part of the NFL players' antitrust case against the NFL, defensive end Osi Umenyiora says he would "absolutely" welcome a return to the Giants. Umenyiora claimed that New York general manager Jerry Reese broke a promise made to him. He does, though, have a problem with his current contract. "I love my teammates," Umenyiora said. "The owners of the team, Mr. (John) Mara and Mr. (Steve) Tisch, I'm really cool with both of them. They came to the hospital when I was injured. They're wonderful people. I don't have a beef with them per se. At the end of the day, they're going to have to make the best decision for them." He signed a six-year, $41 million contract extension in 2005. He currently has two years remaining for a total of $8 million.