NY Giants 2026 Salary Cap Health in Dire Straits

As if the New York Giants don’t already have a long to-do list for the upcoming offseason, add fixing the salary cap to the mix.

According to Over the Cap, the Giants are currently projected to have $18.489 million of total cap space. Still, they are in the red at minus $3.169 million as far as effective cap space (estimated total of the Top 51 cap hits, the Top 51 rule kicking in as of the first day of the new league year).

Those figures are not believed to account for any postseason accounting, such as any likely-to-be-earned incentives that have been reached or not, and any carryover left from the 2025 league year (the Giants currently have $3.013 million left on their 2025 cap ledger with three games still to go).

Making matters worse for the Giants, who as of this writing currently own the first overall pick in the 2026 draft, they would need an estimated $11.924 million to sign their 7-member (as of now) 2026 class.

That current seven-member draft class, according to the Fitzgerald-Spielberger NFL Draft Trade Value Chart, isn’t even tops in the league, as the Jets, currently slated to pick fifth in the order, lead the league with an 8308 value thanks to their aggressiveness at this year’s trade deadline.

Here is how the teams eliminated and virtually eliminated from the playoffs stack up in cap space (includes futures signings) and draft capital in 2026. For reference average cap is $19.7M and draft value is 5,520. pic.twitter.com/f5cxWtQVp0
— Jason_OTC (@Jason_OTC) December 15, 2025

The 2026 league-wide cap is currently estimated at around $295 million per team, not including individual team carryover. The Giants currently have 40 players under contract for 2026.

Given these projections, the Giants, who didn’t really shed any bloated contracts last year, are going to have to shed some deals to give themselves some breathing room to operate without necessarily restructuring the deals of players who fit into the long-term plans.

How the Giants can recoup $20+ million in cap space

With a few shrewd moves, the Giants can quickly fix their 2026 cap picture. Here are some players who don’t have any more guaranteed money owed to them in 2026 and who, if their contracts are removed from the roster, could yield as much as $20.517 million in savings.

Kicker Graham Gano ($4.5 million savings).

Gano has been injured three seasons in a row. While that’s not his fault, the Giants just cannot justify Gano being among the top five highest-paid kickers moving forward, especially since, before his second trip to IR this season, Gano had been removed from kickoffs.

Linebacker Bobby Okereke ($9 million savings)

Okereke is currently the third-highest paid Giants player on the books for 2026. He’s also in the final year of his deal and is owed a $3 million roster bonus by March 17, 2026.

Although he leads the defense in total tackles by a wide margin (117), his stops are down (36 this season), one more than his injury-shortened 2024 campaign and nowhere near his 56 posted in his first season in blue.

His coverage has been spotty; he currently has a 106.8 coverage rating, the worst of his three seasons with the Giants. Again, not good enough to justify having him as the seventh-highest cap hit among linebackers league-wide in 2026.

OL James Hudson III ($5.5 million savings)

Hudson was signed to be the swing tackle, but Marcus Mbow quickly passed him on the depth chart and has been a healthy scratch six times this season. There’s zero reason to continue carrying him on the roster.

WR Jalin Hyatt ($1.517 million savings)

Compared to some of the others on our proposed list, Hyatt’s savings, which would come from the final year of his rookie deal, won’t necessarily move the needle.

But considering that the one-time third-round draft pick for whom the Giants traded up to get has not been able to crack into the starting lineup and has been the intended target on seven interceptions over his career (73 pass targets), it’s clear that Hyatt needs a fresh start with another team.

RB Devin Singletary ($5.25 million savings)

Despite earlier calls to move him this season before the trade deadline, following Cam Skattebo's season-ending injury, Singletary has stepped up.

But again, this is about value and return on investment more than anything. And with Singletary set to count for $6.5 million total against the 2026 cap, the Giants might be better off just running with Tyrone Tracy Jr and Skattebo, both of whom are on rookie deals, and maybe adding a late-round or undrafted free agent to the mix to be the third guy.

What happens next with the NY Giants? Find out! Follow and like us on Facebook. Visit our YouTube channel for the latest videos. Want to send a question in for our mailbag? You can do so here.