Giants Have Work to Do Regarding Their 2021 Salary Cap Status

Over the Cap projects the Giants will be $5 million over the cap once the Top 51 rule expires this week.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Sep 6, 2021 4:42 PM EDT

One of the significant disadvantages of going on an all-out free-agent spending spree is that sooner or later, the check is going to come.

For the New York Giants, that check is coming this week, when the league's To 51 rule expires, and all active, reserve list, and practice squad player contracts have to fit snugly under the league's salary cap.

The Giants currently have $3,568,694 in cap space, the second smallest amount according to the NFLPA’s public cap report. That amount, however, is believed to be what their space is under the To 51 parameters.

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Over the Cap projects the Giants to be in the red by $5,209,385 once the Top 51 rule expires Thursday. The Giants currently have $7,427,962 committed to players who are on injured reserve and $13,326,416 tied up in dead money (contracts for players no longer on the roster), two scenarios that are going to make getting under the salary cap to be a challenge.

The Giants can and probably will release players off the injured reserve list with injury settlements, a deal in which the player received a part of his 2021 base salary to cover a set number of weeks.

Among those players on IR include WR John Ross ($1,838,235), tight end Levine Toilolo ($1,600,000), Edge Elerson Smith ($808,739), defensive back Joshua Kalu ($490,000), defensive back Quincy Wilson ($468,000), offensive lineman Ted Larsen ($465,000), linebacker T.J. Brunson ($460,488), receiver Austin Mack ($440,000), offensive lineman Kyle Murphy ($440,000), and tight end Rysen John ($417,500),

Once the Giants get under the cap, it will be interesting to see how the Giants create space to give themselves some breathing rook during the season should they have to make roster moves.

The Giants have already begun trying to trim some of the fat off by re-working the contract of cornerback Josh Jackson, whom they acquired in a trade with Green Bay for Isaac Yiadom.

According to Field Yates of ESPN, Jackson, who hasn't been able to do much due to an undisclosed injury since arriving in East Rutherford, is now due a base salary of $920,000, down from the $1.333 million his original rookie deal called for.

Something to keep an eye on during the year is if general manager Dave Gettleman, who told reporters last month that he's no longer against re-doing player contracts during the season, approaches any of those players with high cap numbers for extensions.

Safety Jabrill Peppers ($6.7 million) and tight end Evan Engram ($6 million) are two such players in the final years of their respective contracts.