New York Giants Reader Mailbag: Salary Cap Questions, Personnel Questions and More

Let's open up this week's mailbag!

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Oct 1, 2022 8:00 AM EDT

In this story:

If you'd like to submit a question for the mailbag, please send it to nygiantsmaven@gmail.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and conciseness. While we try to answer all questions received, we reserve to consolidate if several people ask the same question.

Sheckie, this team has NO CAP SPACE to add significant talent this year. I think the plan all along was to evaluate what they have and formulate an aggressive and more comprehensive plan based on those evaluation findings for next year as compared to the cap space they should have to work with.

Bostro, thanks for the question. The problem is that this new regime gave everyone a fresh start, so whatever happened last year is pretty much out the window.

That said, no smart team gives up on talent, and Toney has talent. I suspect the Giants will try to figure out what Toney is doing (or not doing) in his training that's leading to these soft tissue injuries and go from there. I'd be shocked if Toney isn't on the team next year, but that's as of now. Things can change.

(From Jason B.) Why don’t the Giants get Tyrod Taylor involved in the offense?

Easy one, Jason. You can only play one quarterback at a time! And not for nothing, but what exactly has Daniel Jones done to warrant a benching? The answer is nothing.

I get it that his stats aren't the greatest and that, at times, he looks like he's unsure of himself, but as I've said before and will say again, I think this coaching staff is going to give Jones a mighty long leash to prove he is the answer at quarterback.

(From Ed C.) When a team signs a player for a specific salary plus incentives, what amount is applied to the salary cap? I assume it's just the guaranteed salary. But what happens when he achieves the incentive pay, which may double his salary? I expect that will happen to the 49ers with Garappolo.

Ed, the P5 (base) salary, prorated signing bonus, workout bonus, roster bonus, play-time bonus, and any LTBE incentives (likely to be earned) all count toward a player's cap number--and that's regardless of what's guaranteed.

Teams are automatically "charged" for LTBEs, and then if the player fails to meet them, the team receives a cap credit at the end of the league year, which it can apply toward the new league year.

If a player has NLTBE incentives (e.g., winning the Super Bowl), those get credited to the following year's cap if they reach them.

(From Mark G.) Does a player who lands on PUP and/or IR count against the salary cap?

Mark, yes, unless there is a suspension involved, in which case the team gets a cap credit at the end of the year representing the prorated weekly amount of the suspended player's salary.

That said, sometimes you'll have a case with a veteran player or a rookie where a split salary is involved. So that means if the player is on the active roster, he gets one base salary; if he goes to a reserve list, that base gets cut down, which ultimately counts against the cap.

So let's say a first-year player starts the season on the active roster, stays there for three weeks, and finishes on IR. According to the tables in the current CBA under Article 26, Section 1 (Minimum Salaries), or Page 172 of the linked PDF document, that player would receive 3/17 of $825K. Then the balance of his salary would be prorated based on the $455K figure for being on an inactive list.

Note: This only applies to players making the minimum salary commensurate with their years of accrued service unless said player has a guarantee written into his contract. This also doesn't apply to practice squad players, who are compensated on a different scale.

(From Joe G.) What the heck do we have to do to finally fix the revolving door policy of the OL?

There are a few things, Joe. First, figure out a way to keep the starters from getting injured to where they can't play together as a unit to develop chemistry. But backing up last year, one of my many complaints about the offensive line is that the previous management left the cupboard bare regarding young developmental talent. Joe Schoen tried to fix that, but it will take time. Also, I would expect a legitimate center to be added in the future (not a guard convert) and some additional help along the interior.

(From Ron B.) David Sills V is averaging 3.4 yards of separation, more than the league average and more than any receiver on the team. So why is he getting so few targets?

Ron, I went to NextGen Stats, and unless I'm missing something, I don't see anywhere that says Sills is averaging 3.4 yards of separation. (Players need a minimum of 10 pass targets to qualify for NetGen Stats' receiving table, and Sills only has eight.) I'm not sure if you just averaged out his weekly average as reported in the game centers, but I don't think that's the way to figure out his average separation.

That said, Sills has been primarily deployed as an outside receiver, a role that Sterling Shepard made his own before his ACL injury. Given Shep's reliability, I think the coaches might have felt more comfortable with Shep working in that outside receiver role than Sills. But that's just my educated guess.