Under-the-Radar Free Agents That Could Be Giants Fits

In a perfect world, the New York Giants would be all-in on Lions free agent receiver Kenny Golladay, be able to retain both Leonard Williams and Dalvin Tomlinson, add a top-shelf pass rusher, and, hey, even have found a way to keep both Kevin Zeitler and Nate Solder.

Alas, such a perfect world doesn’t exist. The reality is the Giants enter free agency ranked No. 24th in The Athletic’s free agency spending power rankings based on information culled from Spotrac, Over The Cap, and numbers compiled by their staff writers as of moves made last Thursday.

That’s not good news for a team crying out for a playmaker on offense and some additional firepower on defense, particularly on the pass rush. But with the upcoming free agency period expected to be more of a buyer’s market, there could be a few lower-cost options out there that might make more sense for the cash-strapped Giants.

Edge Tyus Bowser, Baltimore

Bowser isn’t a sack machine, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t worth a look.

The 25-yar-old has missed only one game in his four-year career, that in 2018. He also has 80 total tackles, 11 tackles for a loss, 29 quarterback hits, and 10.5 sacks over his career.

While those numbers don’t come close to teammate Matt Judon (also a free agent), Bowser is also solid against the run, his 10.1 run-stop percentage being third among the Ravens’ edge rushers behind Jaylon Ferguson and Pernell McPhee. Bowser and could fit into an edge rusher rotation that includes fellow youngsters Lorenzo Carter and Oshane Ximines.

IDL Sheldon Rankins, New Orleans

The Giants will be hard-pressed to retain Dalvin Tomlinson, especially the longer negotiations with Leonard Williams go. Should the Giants lose Tomlinson, a potential candidate whom the Giants might be able to get on a “prove it” deal is Sheldon Rankins.

Rankins, 27 years old, has missed ten games in the last two seasons due to injury. Although the Giants have gone out of their way to avoid players with a significant injury history, they have also picked their spots to gamble on a player with potential upside, such as what they did with edge rusher Markus Golden a couple of years ago.

Rankins could be another potential candidate considering during his last fully healthy season (2018), he posted 40 total tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and eight sacks. With the Giants looking to add some more firepower to their pass rush, a healthy and financially motivated Rankins could deliver a decent return on investment.

WR Marvin Jones, Detroit

It remains to be seen if the Giants will have the cap space to be competitive for Kenny Golladay, one of the top free-agent-to-be receivers on the market. If they can’t, then perhaps Marvin Jones, Jr, Golladay’s teammate, might make for a nice fallback plan.

The 30-year-old Jones is 6’2” and 198 pounds, and he did a nice job last season of taking advantage of the opportunities created when Golladay dealt with injuries. Jones finished with career highs in receptions (76) and fell just short of his third-career 1,000-yard season (978 yards).

He lined up as an X-receiver on 67.9% of his snaps and played 31.3% of his snaps in the slot, where his height gave him an advantage over most of the smaller slot corners he faced.

Over the last two seasons, he’s hauled in 61.4% of his contested catches (35 out of 57), and he’s posted four straight seasons of registering an NFL target rating of 101 or better.

Signing Jones to a two-year modestly priced deal would ensure Daniel Jones has at least one big-bodied target at his disposal for the upcoming season.

RB T.J. Yeldon, Buffalo

Yeldon played his college ball for—you guessed it—Alabama, where his position coach was current Giants running backs coach Burton Burns. Under Burns’ guidance, the 6’1” 223-pound Yeldon averaged 5.8 yards per carry (3,332 yards on 576 attempts) with 37 touchdowns and added another 494 yards as a receiver on 46 receptions.

Although Yeldon wasn’t used much by the Bills in 2020, he has a history of being a dual-threat out of the backfield and a solid pass blocker on third downs, which was a large part of his role in Jacksonville. Yeldon checks the boxes of being young enough (27) and still in the prime of his career and would be a solid backup option behind Saquon Barkley.

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