"The phone call from the Giants came just two weeks ago, but Keith Bulluck had his eye on them since early last season. He grew up in Rockland County, N.Y., attended Syracuse, and lives in Edgewater, N.J. He spent his entire 10-year N.F.L. career as a Tennessee Titans linebacker. But when the Titans did not give him a new contract early last year — and then did not make a move despite Bulluck's playing well last season — the Giants popped up on his radar as a potential next stop.

After a workout in which he impressed coaches with the speed of his recovery from anterior cruciate ligament surgery on his left knee in December, Bulluck signed a contract on Saturday and on Monday morning was in search of his new defensive coordinator, Perry Fewell.

Fewell is installing a new defense this season, and Bulluck will be in a three-way competition —he is the favorite — to be the starting middle linebacker, a position vacated by the release and subsequent retirement of Antonio Pierce. Bulluck played in the middle on passing downs in Tennessee, and even did so at Syracuse, but he was the weakside linebacker on early downs with the Titans. Still, he said, he always played behind the ball, never up by the defensive end. And because he was a dominant player, opponents often designed their offensive plays to run away from him. "