Most of the Giants' free agent acquisitions this offseason received two things upon signing: A lot of money, and a call from their new quarterback.

Eli Manning has spent the past few weeks reaching out to some of his new Giants teammates, he said Monday, to introduce himself and see if there is anything he can do in order to make their transition a more smooth one.

"I called a lot of the guys weeks ago, several of the new guys we had," Manning said during a teleconference with local reporters as the Giants opened their offseason program.

"I just introduced myself and see if they needed anything in figuring out the New Jersey, New York area. I tried to reach out today, and I got to see most of those guys."

While the Giants have made several small moves to add players on offense, the headline-grabbing portion of their offseason came with their defensive acquisitions.

General manager Jerry Reese made a major splash at the start of free agency, spending over $200 million to land defensive end Olivier Vernon, defensive tackle Damon Harrison, cornerback Janoris Jenkins and linebacker Keenan Robinson, as well as re-signing linebacker Jasper Brinkley and defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul.

While Manning is experiencing his own significant change, starting his first season without Tom Coughlin as his head coach, he says he imagines changing teams - something he has never done, unless you want to get quite technical about his few minutes as a Charger on Draft Day 2004 - would be a challenge. So he wanted to offer his help, even if he can't do anything for Robinson about the cost of living around here.

"I would think that would be an adjustment," Manning said. "Because you might know a few players on the squad, but for the most part you probably walk around looking at a lot of faces you don't recognize. You might now know who's who from a player's standpoint, from a coach's standpoint."

So, Manning wants to do everything he can to help the new guys, and the Giants as a whole.

"Just introduce yourself, and figure out how you can help them, or how we can help the team get better," he said. "Get to know them on a personal level, because I think the closer the team is together as a group, that friendship and bond, the better off we'll be."

TALK IS CHEAP, Ep. 47: Giants draft preview -- offense

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James Kratch can be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com or by leaving a note in the comments below. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find and like NJ.com Giants on Facebook.