Agent says Strahan ending holdout

Seven-time Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan has decided to end his holdout and return for a 15th NFL season with the New York Giants.

"He went with his heart instead of his head," Tony Agnone, his agent, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday evening. "He felt at this point he was part of the team, and he was going to go to battle with them."

The decision came a day before the Giants had to cut their roster to the 53-man limit and a little more than a week before the season opener at Dallas.

"He knows he'll be ready to go," Agnone said of playing in the season opener. "He's been working out like crazy."

Strahan left the West Coast on Friday and planned to be at Giants Stadium on Monday when the team begins preparing for the Cowboys. He will have four practices before the game.

And Strahan might play more than the 2007 season.

"This does not mean at the end of the year that he is going to retire," Agnone said. "He is going to sit down again in March like he always does, and he said: 'I won't be doing this next year.'"

Agnone said Strahan informed Giants general manager Jerry Reese of his decision to play around 5 p.m. EDT. Agnone would not say when Strahan made up his mind, but he added the NFL's single-season sack leader did not want to keep the team hanging.

The 35-year-old Strahan missed 36 days of training camp and amassed a $514,368 fine.

Agnone said the Giants agreed to reduce the fine total, but Strahan still will pay a "significant amount of money."

Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon said the team had no immediate comment, and Reese did not return an e-mail seeking comment.

The announcement of Strahan's decision came just hours after a frustrated coach Tom Coughlin said he was taking the approach that Strahan would not play this season.

Coughlin seemed upset that Strahan still was mulling whether he would play more than five weeks after training camp opened. He also was annoyed that Strahan's absence made it tough to make final roster decisions and to pick a practice squad.

Third-year-man Justin Tuck has started at left end in the preseason, and he has played well.

Strahan, who is to make $4 million this season, had mulled retirement while considering a career in television, insisting the decision had nothing to do with money.

In a letter to Giants fans last month, Strahan said the holdout had nothing to do with his recent divorce, in which a judge awarded his former wife $15.3 million. Strahan has paid half that amount, and an appellate court granted him a temporary stay while it considers whether the award was too much.