Giants, thin at safety, sign 31-year-old Brandon Meriweather

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Desperate for help and any kind of experience at the safety position, the New York Giants on Sunday signed veteran safety Brandon Meriweather.

Meriweather, 31, was one of a handful of defensive backs who worked out for the Giants on Sunday afternoon after safeties Landon Collins and Mykkele Thompson left Friday's preseason opener with injuries. Thompson is lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon, and Collins is out for a while with an MCL sprain in his left knee.

Meriweather has 99 NFL games to his credit. He has played for theNew England Patriots, Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins since the Patriots picked him in the first round of the 2007 draft. He's struggled with injuries and other issues throughout his career. Over the past four seasons, he missed 26 games due to injury and another three due to suspensions he's received for overly aggressive play, including helmet-to-helmet hits. He ended the 2014 season on injured reserve due to a toe injury.

Meriweather immediately becomes the most experienced safety on a Giants roster whose safeties including the rookie Collins, converted second-year cornerback Bennett Jackson, Cooper Taylor, Nat Berhe, Jeromy Miles, Josh Gordy, Justin Currie andJustin Halley. So if he proves to be healthy, he's certainly a candidate to make the roster and possibly even start. But giventhat he was still a free agent on Aug. 16, that seems like a big if.

To make room on the roster for Meriweather, the Giants waived kicker Chris Boswell. They also placed Thompson on injured reserve, but since he is not a vested veteran, Thompson still counts against the Giants' 90-man training camp roster limit.