Joe Schoen Offers Hints on Upcoming Roster Building Decisions

With quarterback Daniel Jones now under contract and Saquon Barkley safely tagged, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen will be turning his attention to some other upcoming free-agent matters identified by the team’s brass in meetings as necessary for the roster construction plans.

One of the decisions Schoen still needs to make is how to designate the forthcoming Kenny Golladay transaction. Golladay was notified by the team last week that his contract will be terminated on March 15, the start of the new league year, but what hasn’t been decided is whether the transaction will be a standard move or a post-June 1 transaction.

The designation of the cut obviously will influence how much cap savings the Giants get. If Golladay is a standard transaction, he will yield $6.7 million in savings; if he’s a post-June 1 transaction, the money increases to $13.5 million. M but will carry dead money on their books in both 2023 and 2024, something Schoen didn’t sound too enthused about doing.

“There’s a good chance that we just take the hit this year,” he said. “We already have some money that’s dead money in 2024. Just to get through this past season, we had to make some financial moves and kick dead money into 2024. So, if we can take our medicine this year, I think that’ll help us in 2024 and get out of the business of having a lot of dead money in any year.”

If they take the hit, the Giants will likely look elsewhere to gain additional breathing space. One such area they're likely to look is at defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, who is currently set to play the 2023 season on his option year, worth $12.04 million against the current cap.

“We’ve started talking with his representatives," Schoen confirmed. "He’s on the fifth-year option. You can lower that number with a signing bonus (which) allows you to spread the money over the length of the contract up to five years, and that’s how you’re able to lower the yearly amount that counts against the cap.”

Lawrence had a breakout season last year, logging career highs in sacks (7.5), tackles (68), tackles for loss (7), and quarterback hits (28). The 25-year-old was one of two Giants first-round draft picks in 2019, the same class that produced Jones.

It would be hard to envision Lawrence getting a new deal averaging less per year than the current franchise tag for interior defensive linemen ($18.937 million). If he were to get a new deal, the Giants would have to ensure that the full amount of Lawrence's option year is included in the first year's cash payout, which, again, could be covered by the signing bonus.

Another free-agent decision the Giants will need to make involves safety Julian Love, who is coming off a decent year as a starter. Schoen and Love's agents attempted to strike a deal on an extension during last year's bye week but could not do so.

Now? Schoen has been dropping hints that the two sides are still not seeing eye-to-eye on the defensive co-captain's value and that the veteran free-agent market might be the way to go.

“I think there’s some depth there [at safety]. When you’re looking at the markets, I think you need to look at the draft, too,” Schoen said.

“Let’s say it’s a deep safety market in free agency, and there are some really good safeties in the draft, well then sometimes that suppresses the market. We’ll take all that into account. If a player and their price get out of hand, we also know what the landscape of the draft looks like. There are different avenues where you can acquire players."

The Giants, who already had Xavier McKinney on the roster, drafted Dane Belton last year and picked up Jason Pinnock off waivers from the Jets. While they will look to add additional depth at the position, if they view McKinney and Belton as their future starters, it likely doesn't make sense to bring Love back unless he's willing to come in at around $5-$7 million per year.

Get the latest breaking news and analysis on the New York Giants
Follow and like us on Facebook
Submit your questions for our mailbag
Check out the Giants Country YouTube Channel.
Subscribe and like the LockedOn Giants YouTube Channel
Sign up for our FREE message board forums
Get your Giants tickets from SI Tickets!