Don Carey, Dwayne Harris

New Giants wide receiver/kick returner Dwayne Harris' contract has been harshly criticized. (AP Photo | Brandon Wade)

In an era where the instant evaluation of free agent signings is commonplace, even before they play a single game for their new team, criticism of the Giants acquisition of wide receiver/kick returner Dwayne Harris is as easy as an extra point.

Harris, formerly of the Dallas Cowboys, received a five-year, $17.5 million deal (with $7.1 million fully guaranteed) from the Giants on the opening day of free agency. It's unprecedented money for primarily a special teams contributor.

So the critics have come bashing. Grantland's Bill Barnwell claimed a similar player could have been had for a fraction of the cost. Former agent and CBS Sports columnist Joel Corry put it in perspective by noting Harris received more money than the player ahead of him on the depth chart last year. Pro Football Focus, meanwhile, called it a head-scratcher of a contract.

They're looking at it differently than the Giants, and maybe a good portion of the league. Fourteen teams reached out to Harris when the free-agent window opened. Several were interested in his services for the price the market ultimately proved he was worth.

"That tells you the level of value the league saw him as," Harris' co-agent Chad Speck said during a telephone interview with NJ Advance Media. "The Giants, they played against him twice a year the last four years. They know exactly what he is and they're getting a great football player.

"And the Giants weren't the only team involved in the numbers that Dwayne ultimately signed for."

The obvious for the Giants is that Harris upgrades a return game that has struggled badly in recent years. Their last return touchdown was in December of 2012.

What gets lost in the equation is that unlike most other returners, Harris brings additional special teams value. He led the Cowboys in special teams tackles each of the past two seasons. The Giants view him as a force for their kickoff and punt teams, in addition to their return teams.

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That's one player, four teams (kickoff, punt, kickoff and punt return).

"The idea that you have a guy of that ability, you've seen the way he carries himself on the field, he's physical and he carries himself that way," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said at the NFL meetings. "To have a guy that can kick return, punt return, cover kicks, gunner.

"In this day and age, to have a guy at gunner who is consistent and good; Let's face it, it has been a while since we had that. That is a very attractive deal."

The hangup is rarely Harris' contributions. It's almost always his contract, which is often compared to specialists such as New England's Matthew Slater or returners such as Ted Ginn Jr. and Jacoby Jones.

None contribute on all four special teams units.

Anyone who has watched the Giants special teams in recent years understands how much they needed an upgrade in those areas. They tried last offseason, but it didn't pan out with returners Trindon Holliday, Quintin Demps or gunner Zack Bowman. The Giants finished 15th in Football Outsiders' special teams rankings this past season, a year after finishing in the bottom four.

"This is a classic example of football men, personnel men around the league, understanding the value of a player maybe the public or the media is not as familiar with outside of Dallas," Speck said. "But Dwayne is the only player in the National Football League that does what he does."

If special teams are all Harris adds to the Giants, it can be argued (with the salary cap having risen 16 percent or $20 million over the past two years) that he's worth the money. If he contributes anything on offense, it will hardly be a debate.

And the Giants also have plans for him on offense. Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese both talked of the possibility of Harris being a third or fourth receiver. Coughlin also indicated the plan was to use him as a blocker on offense (for screens, runs and gadget plays) much the same way they did David Tyree.

Bottom line, offense is part of the plan.

"He'll certainly be given that opportunity," Coughlin said.

This was the way it was presented to Harris from the start. If not, the opportunity wouldn't have been quite so enticing.

Harris has craved for the chance to contribute more on offense than he did in Dallas, where he took 181 snaps last year, an average of 11 per game. With his special teams contributions, he was still was on the field for a total of 464 total plays.

Even with the limited use on offense, Harris played close to the same amount of snaps as defensive tackle Dan Williams, a player the Gants expressed some interest in before he signed with the Raiders. Williams played a total of 475 snaps in 16 games last season for the Cardinals.

"[Playing more on offense] was certainly one of his requests," Harris' co-agent Tommy Sims said. "He wanted an expanded role on the offensive side. So we made that clear to teams that were interested in Dwayne. ... He certainly wants the opportunity to be a receiver and be an effective contributor there.

"He's not the Dez Bryant. He's not the Calvin Johnson. But he's a unique talent skill that really benefits an organization and the Giants were certainly very eager. They called us as soon as the window opened and expressed the priority in trying to sign Dwayne."

They got a deal done quickly. The money, more than anything, stole the headlines.

Considering the Giants have more than enough money remaining under the salary cap, if Harris brings to the table what they expect, he'll be worth the investment.

"He basically does the job of three or four players," Speck said. "What is the value of that? The league obviously placed a very large value on the snaps they could get out of Dwayne."

Beginning with the Giants, which should be no surprise considering Coughlin explained that improving their special teams was "a priority" this offseason.

Jordan Raanan may be reached at jraanan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JordanRaanan. Find NJ.com Giants on Facebook.