The anticipated trade of Keith Rivers from Cincinnati to New York is done, and Rivers is a Giant.
The Giants traded a fifth-round pick in this month’s NFL draft to the Bengals for Rivers, NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora reports.
Rivers became expendable when the Bengals re-signed Manny Lawson last week, and they probably would have taken whatever they could get for him. For the Bengals, adding any draft pick for a player who wasn’t in their plans is a good move.
It could also be a good move for the Giants if Rivers is ever able to stay healthy and fulfill the promise he showed when the Bengals took him with the ninth overall pick in the 2008 draft. Rivers has always been a starter when healthy, but he missed 13 games in his first three seasons with various injuries and then missed the entire 2011 season with a wrist injury.
The fifth-round pick the Bengals acquired is the 167th overall pick. Cincinnati will pick three times late in the fifth round: They also have their own fifth-round pick (No. 156) and the Patriots’ fifth-round pick (No. 166).
