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The Giants saw first-hand what free-agent returner Dexter McCluster could do this season.

(David Eulitt/Kansas City Star/MCT)

Free agency doesn't begin for NFL teams until next month. But it's never too early to start thinking about what players at which positions will be possible targets for the Giants and Jets once the doors to the free-agent market swing open.

More than half of the players on the Giants' roster are free agents. So they have plenty of spaces to fill and a good chunk of money to spend. How general manager Jerry Reese decides to allocate his resources, only he knows right now.

The Jets have plenty of salary-cap space to work with, and while there's no telling what they intend to do with all that money, they do have some glaring needs.

We're here to provide our best educated opinions by ranking the free agents by position, and deciding which could be of interest to the local teams. We'll be rolling these out by position over the course of several days.

Thursday we did the quarterbacks. Friday, the running backs. Saturday was kickers and punters. Sunday: Returners (both kick and punt).

Returners

1. Jacoby Jones (Ravens)

2. Devin Hester (Bears)

3. Dexter McCluster (Chiefs)

4. Ted Ginn (Panthers)

5. Quintin Demps (Chiefs)

Others: Josh Cribbs (Jets)

Jordan Raanan's take on the Giants: Rueben Randle was a fair-catch machine last season. He was sure-handed, but hardly explosive. As as result, the Giants are putting an emphasis on the return game this offseason. Owner John Mara said as much in his year-end press conference -- they need a returner. Translation: They will get a returner.

Don't be surprised to see the Giants go after Jones, McCluster or Ginn, all of whom would kill two birds (veteran WR/returner) with one stone. McCluster would actually kill three birds. A player with his skill set would also give the Giants a much-needed pass-catching threat out of the backfield. It probably doesn't hurt that the Giants saw first hand what a difference McCluster can make when he returned a punt 89 yards against them this past season. BEGIN SOCIAL BOX

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Dom Cosentino's take on the Jets: Cribbs had done a decent job in his return role before injuring his shoulder in 2013, and the Jets could probably bring him back at a decent price.

Ideally, though, they could bring in a receiver like Jones who could handle the return duties and be an asset somewhere else.