August 14, 2008
Olivea's comeback attempt comes to an end
Shane Olivea?s attempt to revive his career with his hometown team is officially over.
The Giants placed the right tackle on injured reserve this afternoon, due to a bad back that has kept him sidelined for more than a week. He is likely headed for an injury settlement sometime in the next few weeks.
Tom Coughlin sounded very disappointed that Olivea didn?t work out. The Giants thought they had a steal when they signed the former Chargers right tackle, who was trying to overcome an addiction to pain killers and restart his stalled NFL career.
?We had an extended amount of time here where we tried to improve his situation. It didn?t seem like we were getting very far,? Coughlin said. ?It was very unfortunate because we thought when we first brought Shane in that this would be something where both parties would benefit. We have a veteran football player, we have a guy who?s gone through some things and was anxious to start his career over. We thought that this was the right situation.
Coughlin said that after all the rehab Olivea has done, he had just reached a point where he was no longer progressing.
?We didn?t think there was going to be any down time whatsoever,? Coughlin said. ?The unfortunate thing is, on his best practice day, that very evening he couldn?t come back out and practice. It?s unfortunate.?
