Salary Cap Moves the New York Giants Need to Make Before Start of Free Agency

This has been brutal.

Thanks to the global pandemic's effect on gross revenues, the NFL salary cap took its second decline since the cap was introduced and the biggest drop in its history.

And as a fallout of that drop, several player contracts are being chopped off rosters at an alarming rate when perhaps in a "normal" year they might otherwise still be worth carrying.

Such is the case of now-former Giants guard Kevin Zeitler, whose $14.5 million contract was simply too much for the team to carry despite Zeitler appearing to have plenty of solid football left in his 31-year-old body.

The release of Zeitler results in a $12 million cap savings, which rescued the Giants from being in the red as far as cap space and gave them a league-low (at the moment) $3,283,994 of space.

But there is still a lot of work to be done--a lot. Here are some additional moves the Giants need to make sooner than later to have enough money to do what they need to do.

Sign DL Leonard Williams to a Long-term Deal

Williams, nicknamed "Big Cat," is by far the biggest fish in the Giants pond. Unlike last year when the Giants had both the cap space and the leverage, they cannot let Williams play the coming season on a $19.35 million franchise tag.

The Giants have sort of a pseudo deadline involved this year. If they can get Williams signed, sealed, and delivered before the start of free agency, they should theoretically have enough space to address a new contract for Dalvin Tomlinson, who likely is priority 1A for the Giants.

Tomlinson remains the longest of longshots to be re-signed, but either way, it's not happening unless Williams is taken care of. Will the unsettled grievances Williams has against the Jets and Giants, both of whom viewed him as a defensive tackle, hold back any progress on the negotiations?

Regardless, below is a proposed multi-year deal that would pay Williams an annual cash flow hovering around that $17-$20 million mark, which would align with the current market value as established by the franchise tag while still giving the Giants some flexibility down the line.

Cut OT Nate Solder

Fans and media have been speculating on this move for months. Still, if the Giants are to benefit from moving on from Solder, they will have to get creative.

If Solder is trimmed from the roster before June 1, he'll yield $6 million in savings that can be used by the team right away while a whopping $10.5 million goes into the dead money ledger (ouch!).

If they designate him a post-June 1 transaction, their savings increase to $10 million (which can't be used until June 2 but could be used to sign the incoming rookie class).

Meanwhile, their dead-money hit drops to $6.5 million, and an additional $4 million hitting the 2022 cap.

If the Giants want to have their cake and eat it too regarding Solder's contract and the savings, they need to effectively cut--not restructure--Solder's 2021 base salary from $9.9 million to the veteran minimum of $1.075 million right now.

That move alone gives them $8.8 million in savings they can use right away and sets things up nicely to where if Solder does retire from football, he can do so after June 1. At this point, the Giants would gain the reduced $1.075 million base salary plus an additional $4 million (that money that gets recorded into the 2022 cap).

Extend Safety Jabrill Peppers

Jabrill Peppers and tight end Evan Engram are both set to earn upwards of $6 million apiece in this, the option year of their respective rookie deals.

While Engram's long-term future with the team is cloudy, is there any doubt that Peppers, who along with Logan Ryan and Xavier McKinney form the best three-safety trio this team has had since Antrel Rolle, Kenny Phillips, and Deone Grant in 2011, will probably be sticking around for a while?

If the Giants feel that way, then it makes sense to get Pepper's$6.77 number down this year to free up space, especially with decisions on Daniel Jones, Dexter Lawrence II, and Saquon Barkley extensions looming around the corner.

Peppers, I believe, could fetch a contract worth an average per year (APY) of $10 million. With that in mind, below is a rough outline for a contract extension.

Re-Do Riley Dixon's Contract

Dixon is coming off an up-and-down season last year and has a $2.925 million cap hit that includes a $2.75 million base salary. Considering Dixon's prorated signing bonus averages out at $125,000 per season, there appears to be room to move money around there without clogging future cap years.

What I would look to do is cut his 2021 base salary to cut above the veteran minimum for players with six or more accrued seasons ($920,000), and I'd give him the next highest minimum salary level ($990,000).

I'd also give him the chance to make back some of the money cut through an LTBE (likely to be earned) incentive in which I'd want him to aim for a set gross punting yard average. And I would include an NLTBE (not likely to be earned) incentive tied into the Pro Bowl (NLTBE incentives, if reached, don't hit the cap until the following year.)

All of these moves would result in Dixon's cap number coming in at $1.965 million, a far easier-to-digest number than the nearly $3 million he's currently at. And if Dixon were to not make it to 2022, I have him as only a $525,000 dead money hit.

Some Final Thoughts

General manager Dave Gettleman's preference is to keep contracts flat. In other words, he would rather not go on a streak in which deals are restructured. While that makes sense on the surface, there are two flaws with this thinking.

One, if you're going to restructure, you do so for those players who play the bulk of the snaps on offense and defense--not role players like tight end Levine Toilolo whose contract was restructured earlier this week. (An exception to this rule would be a kicking specialist.)

Two, with the cap projected to bounce back to "normal" after this year (fueled by the hope that as more COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, people will opt to be vaccinated, which would allow for the gathering of crowds again in safer conditions).

What this means from a financial perspective is that teams should be in better shape to be able to absorb such restructures.

That all being said, no, you don't go crazy with restructuring, but if you have a player whose cap hit falls within the top 10 of your team's highest cap numbers, it is worth considering, especially if that player is still in the prime part of his career.

Below is a table of the Giants' top-10 highest cap numbers for 2021 as of March 10, 2021. Those highlighted in yellow represent the top-5:

The Giants, in my opinion, are still too top-heavy, especially in the top five, where the average cap hit per player is $14.67 million. Those top five contracts currently represent 39.5% of the team's total cap spending, a percentage that's much too high.

The top 10, meanwhile, represents nearly 60% of the team's total cap spending, again a number that's much too high. Within that top 10, you have the rookie deals of Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley, and Andrew Thomas, so there's not a whole lot you can do to adjust them this year. But let's look at some other contracts in the Giants' top-10.

In an earlier plan, I suggested restructuring receiver Sterling Shepard, a player I suspect will see more of his snaps in the slot this year, which is how he initially earned his money on his current contract.

With a flood of receivers set to hit free agency and the draft class being so deep, I no longer believe altering Shepard's contract in any way is a viable option, especially given his injury history over the last two seasons, which makes him somewhat of a risk to restructure.

I did give some thought to restructuring one or both cornerback James Bradberry and inside linebacker Blake Martinez. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them is restructured via an extension.

Again, if you restructure, it makes way more sense to do it with a starter than a backup, and you want to do it with guys who have relatively clean injury histories. (This, by the way, is why I'm still trying to figure out why the team restructured tight end Levine Toilolo, a player who is neither a starter nor who is still in the prime years of his career.)

The Giants should be able to clear away enough money to do what they need to do, but as I've said before, what they need and what they want are two very different things.

I suspect they'll have to prioritize a pass rusher or No. 1 receiver in free agency, and if I'm the Giants, I go for the pass rusher and use the draft to reload my receiver group.

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