By PAUL SCHWARTZ

With the official signing of linebacker Michael Boley, the Giants believe they’ve added an impact player to their defense who will instantly move into the starting lineup on the weak side.

“With Michael Boley, we’ve addressed a position of need,” Tom Coughlin said. “We feel we have brought to the New York Giants an athletic, versatile linebacker. He’s a guy that has not been used a lot in blitzing or pressure, because they’ve used him in coverage. He can cover, but we think we can take advantage of his speed. He is fast and athletic. I think we can call upon him to be involved in coverage and to be a pressure linebacker. He’s also a special teams player; he played on the punt team and the punt return team, so we know we can get good value out of that.

“We helped ourselves today.”

Boley, 26, played in all 64 games – with 53 starts – in his four years with the Falcons. He officially signed a five-year, $25 million contract that includes $11 million in guaranteed money.

“I’m excited,” Boley said. “It’s a new beginning. This is a great team and a great organization. I’m looking forward to getting started here.”

General manager Jerry Reese said “Michael is a three-down player who is durable and athletic. He is a fast playmaker who can play both SAM and WIL. Michael will immediately upgrade our speed on defense.”

Boley spent his first four NFL seasons playing at strong side linebacker for the Falcons but says the move over to the weak side should be natural for him.

“It’s a different feel,” Boley said. “I did a lot of blitzing in college. In Atlanta, I played the WIL in our sub package. I think it’s going to be great for me. If the coaches want me to blitz, I’ll blitz. If they want me to cover, I’ll cover. Doing all those different things is going to be great.”