New York Giants in Good Salary Cap Shape to Start Free Agency
When it comes to their salary cap, the New York Giants have come a long way since general manager Joe Schoen inherited a complete disaster following his predecessor, Dave Gettleman's retirement.
Gettleman, remember that in a bid to jumpstart the Giants progress, he went on a massive free agent spending spree in a couple of cases (Kenny Golladay, Adoree' Jackson) that saw him bidding against himself.
Acquiring the free agents that Gettleman did and at the prices he paid set the Giants up for future cap problems, necessitating the restructuring of several deals in which Schoen had to tack on voidable years to spread out those base salaries that were converted to signing bonuses.
That's all in the past, as the last of the Gettleman era contracts are starting to fall off the books this year. So where does that leave the Giants in terms of their salary cap health a day before free agency begins?
Dead Cap Money
"Dead money" refers to cap charges a team must carry even though the player is no longer on the roster because he was cut before his contract expired or because a voidable year in his deal was inserted to spread out the prorated signing bonus.
As of this writing, the Giants currently have $19.06 million in dead money, the tenth-most in the NFL and over the current league average ($15.6 million). The bulk of the dead money comes from the Leonard Williams trade ($10.636 million, or 55.8 percent of the dead money total), which was a post-June 1 transaction last year, given when Williams was traded to Seattle.
The Giants also have three contracts--cornerback Adoree' Jackson, Tyrod Taylor, and A'Shawn Robinson--that had void years in them to, again, spread out the prorated signing bonuses it took to acquire the players' services. Those three account for $6.488 million of the dead money total (34 percent)
No NFL team is ever going to go into a year without dead money, but the goal is to keep the dead money as low as possible. The more dead money one has, the less one can do in free agency and in extending its players.
Although the Giants are over the league average--and the baseline, as well as the Giants' placement in the order, will change once Denver releases quarterback Russell Wilson--the dead money shouldn't be too crippling of an effect for a team that has a lot of holes to fill.
Giants' Top 5: Top Heavy
Where the Giants could do a little better job moving forward is with their top five highest cap hits. Currently, the Giants are top-heavy, meaning they have at least five players (quarterback Daniel Jones, left tackle Andrew Thomas, defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, tight end Darren Waller, and inside linebacker Bobby Okereke) with 2024 cap hits of at least $11 million.
Those five contracts account for roughly $118.143 million of their total cap liabilities (roughly 53.2 percent of their total cap liabilities). That's an average of $23.628 million per player.
There are certain contracts that the Giants would be wise not to touch, namely those belonging to Jones and Waller, both of whom might not be on this team after this year. While Schoen currently has enough to start free agency, he could gain more if he were to restructure Thomas's, Lawrence's, and Okereke's deals (which is expected to be in play at some point as the 2024 league progresses.
Final Thoughts
Despite being top-heavy—and again, I expect that to change at some point in the year—the Giants are in a very good place cap-wise. New York doesn't have to extend any young players as they did last year when they locked up Thomas and Lawrence, which means they can allocate their financial resources toward rebuilding those areas lacking talent.
As for their free agents, New York is believed to have a ceiling regarding what they would be willing to pay running back Saquon Barkley and safety Xavier McKinney. The fact that the Giants didn't use the franchise or transition tag on either player tells you that the team isn't looking to play each player the respective amount of the tag.
It also tells you that the two players will likely seek better deals on the open market and have a good chance of landing them.
The Giants also have other free agents they'd probably like to have back, including receiver/return specialist Gunner Olszewski, guard/center Ben Bredeson, inside linebacker Isaiah Simmons, outside linebacker Benton Whitley (ERFA), cornerback Nick McCloud (RFA), and long snapper Casey Kreiter.
None of those names should cost the Giants major dollars to re-sign, leaving the Giants in a perfect situation to allocate their financial resources to the most glaring holes on the roster (and the position groups that need to hit the ground running in 2024) such as offensive line, edge rusher, cornerback and defensive line.
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