The catch.Photo: Getty Images

It’s been eighteen months since the Giants won the Super Bowl, and that time has certainly gone better for some members of the team than for others. Unfortunately, David Tyree — he of the miraculous, ridiculous helmet catch — falls into the latter category. After an injury wiped out his entire 2008 season, Tyree has struggled thus far in training camp, where he’s trying to win one of the Giants’ wide-receiver spots. But the chances of that happening are dwindling.

Tyree has shown his frustration in practice this week, and really, who could blame him? He may never have been a huge star, but that’s part of what made his catch so remarkable. It was the ultimate underdog moment in the ultimate underdog victory. But since then, he’s gone from the cover of Sports Illustrated to eighth on the wide-receiver depth chart — which could prove to be one spot too low to secure a job. (He could still make the roster on special teams, which truth be told is where he's always been better off, but Derek Hagan might assume those responsibilities as well.) Tyree is popular in the locker room, but the cold reality is that might not be enough.

Tyree joked that the Giants never returned his famous Super Bowl XLII helmet to him. (Last we saw it, it was on display in the since-shuttered Sports Museum of America.) We’d hope that if the Giants are going to cut Tyree loose, they could at least return the thing that made him a hero in the first place.