Most of the news the New York Giants have been making this offseason had to do with their contract disputes and their wide receivers, but one new name, Louis Murphy, signed off free agency two months ago, is already impressing early on, with team officials hoping he can be more than just a fringe addition to their receiving core.

When Murphy was signed on March, Giants general manager Jerry Reese said: I think he’s going to add another dimension to our offense. We have a scout named Jeremiah Davis and he talks about guys being a knife. This guy is a knife. This guy can take the top off your defense. He’s an interesting guy. He gives us a different dimension in our offense. If we have the same guys, if we have Hakeem Nicks back healthy and we have Victor Cruz, back, this guy gives you a deep threat that we haven’t had. We haven’t had a guy who can run like this guy.

Murphy has been in the NFL since 2009, playing for the Raiders and last season for the Panthers. He hasn’t had a dominant season since entering the NFL, catching only 25 passes for 336 yards last season, while his best with Oakland came in 2010, catching 41 passes for 609 yards and a couple of touchdowns. It doesn’t mean he is giving up on becoming someone with a more prominent role on his next team, and the Giants seem impressed with his speed and effort early on in his career with the team, which might mean we will see more than we’ve been used to in 2013.

He gives us some speed, and we’re excited about seeing that and then above and beyond that, ‘It’s up to you. We’ll certainly use you. We’ll take advantage of whatever skills you have.’ So I think we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do as well, but certainly on the film what you see is a guy that can run.

The Giants didn’t have a lot of problems with their passing game over the last couple of years, but they certainly wouldn’t mind a deep threat they sorta lacked last season, with Cruz operating in the slot and Nicks being more dominant in shorter routes. Murphy hasn’t been able to explode so far in his NFL career, but he might be primed for one on his third team in five years.

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