Giants 2020 Free Agency Tracker

For the convenience of our readers, we have put this page together to keep track of all the Giants' free agency activity in the coming days. (Newest updates are on top.)

March 18, 2020

Slowing Down

Things are slowing down for the Giants, who appear to have done the bulk of their free agency work and who are awaiting the results of physicals taken by all the players before making the signings official.

But there could be a few second- and third-tier free agents still to come, such as Chiefs backup quarterback Matt Moore, whom SNY.TV reports could be brought in to compete with veteran Alex Tanney for the backup quarterback job behind starter Daniel Jones.

Moore is potentially looking at joining his fourth NFL team, but he has a lot more game experience including as a starter, than Tanney. Moore has started 32 of the 53 games in which he's played and has completed 60.1% of his NFL pass attempts.

March 17, 2020

A Second Chance?

In 2016 the Giants were heavily rumored to be interested Georgia pass rusher Leonard Floyd, but then the Bears jumped ahead of them in the first round to grab him.

Fast forward several years. Floyd hasn't been a horrible player, but he's had some injury issues. He's also not produced quite as expected despite playing opposite of Khalil Mack and so the Bears, who were tight against the salary cap, have decided to move on.

But as Markus Golden proved last year with the Giants, sometimes all it takes is for one team to take a flier on a guy who is looking to get his career back on track, regardless of the reason.

The Giants are apparently hoping to catch lightning in a bottle if they can sign Floyd; the NFL Network reports that the Giants are one team interested in the pass rusher, a move Pat Ragazzo believes makes all the sense in the world.

The Giants Add to Their Defense

The Giants continued to add pieces to their defense Tuesday by adding the second former Packers linebacker to the mix via free agency.

Kyler Fackrell will join Blake Martinez on defensive coordinator Patrick Graham's Giants defense. Graham, for those who don't remember, was the Packers linebackers coach in Green Bay in 2018 before leaving to be the Dolphins defensive coordinator in 2019.

And under Graham, Fackrell recorded 10.5 sacks before seeing his playing time and production dip in 2019 when the Packers brought in Za'Darius Smith and Preston Smith via free agency.

Giants Re-sign Cody Core

The Giants are making sure that former special teams coach now head coach Joe Judge's special teams unit has one of its best players from last season back in the fold.

Receiver Cody Core, who led the Giants in special teams tackles with eight (six solo), agreed to terms on a two-year, $4.7 million deal.

Brady to the Bucs

The Tom Brady story isn't really Giants news, but it's worth mentioning as the legendary Patriots quarterback is expected to be joining Tampa Bay beginning in 2020. And that's worth a mention here on a Giants web site for the simple reason that the Giants are scheduled to host the Bucs in 2020.

We don't know about you, but we're hoping for that game to be played on Monday night, and for the Giants to hold their Ring of Honor induction ceremony which is expected to be headlined by none other than Eli Manning, whom we applaud for retiring with the same team which game him his start.

The End of an Era

This isn't Giants related, but up in New England, quarterback Tom Brady made it official: he's moving on after 20 seasons, this news coming on the heels of the final two seasons of his contract voiding today.

The league's most famous sixth-round draft pick's options, however, appear to be dwindling. The Titans gave quarterback Ryan Tannehill a new four-year deal; the 49ers are reportedly sticking with Jimmy Garoppolo, and the Raiders agreed to terms with one-time Titans first-round draft pick Marcus Mariota.

Brady still has a couple of options, including Tampa Bay, who appear to be moving on from Jameis Winston, and the Chargers, who have already announced that they plan to let long-time starter (and 2004 Giants first-round draft pick) Phillip Rivers enter free agency.

Brady has said he hopes to play, but from a sentimental perspective, one wonders if he'd be better off retiring as a Patriot, much like how Eli Manning, whose Giants beat Brady's Patriots twice in the Super Bowl, called it a career after 16 seasons with the Giants.

The irony of such a move is that Brady is a guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Famer, whereas Manning probably isn't. And if Brady were indeed to retire, chances are he'd edge Manning out for Hall of Fame consideration when both come up on the ballot five years from now.

Overnight Additions and Thoughts

The Giants added a couple of reinforcements at areas in which they were thin. The first was the addition of inside linebacker Blake Martinez, who per reports signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the Giants. Martinez will likely pair with Ryan Connelly in the 3-4 base as the off-ball linebackers.

Martinez's numbers suggest he's been a productive player for the Packers. But when it comes to linebacker play, it's not how many tackles one has; rather it's how many they have that are within seven yards of the line of scrimmage, something we'll be researching as we do our film study on Martinez this morning.

The other addition is tight end Levine Toilolo, who will join the Giants after spending last season with the 49ers, the very same team that produced rookie find Kaden Smith last year. Toilolo is more of a blocking tight end, so an early guess is he'd fill the role previously held by the now-retired Rhett Ellison.

But what will be interesting is how the Giants deploy their tight ends this year. Evan Engram is still recovering from the foot surgery he had in December and is not expected to be ready to go until training camp at the earliest 9whenever that might be since the league has put off-season activities on hold given the COVID-19 outbreak).

Smith showed a lot of intriguing skill set to where one wonders if he might end up playing a more significant role in the offense. If so, that might allow the Giants to decline Engram's fifth-year option on his rookie deal and orchestrate a trade for the oft-injured player.

The addition of Toilolo likely ends any potential speculation of Cowboys tight end Jason Witten coming to the Giants.

March 16, 2020

Giant Losses?

I've long said that the Giants don't necessarily view personnel the way those of us on the outside do and that includes free agents to be.

Linebacker Kyle Van Noy of the Patriots, who was thought to be a Giants target in free agency, apparently wasn't as much of a target as everyone on the outside thought. Van Noy signed a four-year contract worth $51 million, with $30 million guaranteed with Miami.

And Titans offensive tackle Jack Conklin, also thought by many to be a Giants free-agent target, agreed to a 3-year deal with the Browns for $42M with $30M fully guaranteed.

Giants Agree to Terms with Cornerback James Bradberry

Byron Jones probably proved to be too rich for the Giants' tastes, so they went with the second-best option on the market in Carolina's James Bradberry.

New Giants CB James Bradberry has been one of the most consistent corners at creating tight windows (separation < 1) since entering the NFL in 2016.

Bradberry (29% of targets) trails only Casey Heyward & Darius Slay (both 31%) in tight window target rate in that span. https://t.co/ewtlfLBnMC pic.twitter.com/Id06BklLci
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) March 17, 2020

Bradberry agreed to terms earlier today on what's been reported as a three-year deal worth $45 million.

Bradberry should be an instant starter on a Giants defense that's expected to play a lot of man coverage under new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

Although head coach Joe Judge has insisted that no starting jobs have been determined, barring anything weird happening, expect Bradberry and second-year man DeAndre Baker to be the starting cornerbacks this season.

Here's our look at what Bradberry brings to a defense.

Giants Reportedly Eyeing Inside Linebacker Market

Last month the Giants released veteran Alec Ogletree in a salary-cap related move. but although they re-signed David Mayo last week to a three-year, $8.4 million deal, they're in no way done restocking the position.

Packers inside linebacker Blake Martinez was rumored to be a potential target of the Giants prior to today and reportedly that interest has materialized.

The 6-foot 2, 237-pound Martinez has, according to Pro Football Focus, recorded 38 career pressures, while amassing 271 total tackles (though it's worth noting that when it comes to linebacker play, not all tackles are created equal as the closer to the line of scrimmage they come, the better).

Martinez, who in 2019 had his best season in coverage when he recorded a 90.8 NFL rating, has a career 102.7 rating, having allowed eight touchdowns in coverage in his four-year career.

Could the Giants Have Interest in Another Jets Defender?

That seems to be a growing sentiment after the Jets apparently decided to let the 25-year-old outside linebacker hit the market.

Jenkins has 20 career sacks, 15 of which have come over the last two seasons. He was a third-round draft pick by the Jets in 2016.

Here's a breakdown of what Jenkins could potentially bring to the Giants' defense.

Giants Cap Space Update

As the legal negotiating window opens for the NFL, the Giants, who at the start of the day were estimated to have roughly $72 million of cap space, are now estimated to have $53.435 million in space--and that doesn't include the estimated $10 million of functional cap space they'd need for their 2020 draft class.

So before the two tags that are coming (franchise for Williams and a second round tender for Rosas), the Giants were estimated to have $72.761 million of cap space. Those two tags will drop that total down to an estimated $53.435 of cap space. ....
— Patricia Traina (@Patricia_Traina) March 16, 2020

While there is certain to be reader interest in the Giants cap, please note that it's a fluid situation right now meaning it's changing daily. When the transactions slow down, we'll be better able to gauge what the teams have.

Giants Tender K Aldrick Rosas at the Second Round Level

The Giants have given a second-round tender to kicker Aldrick Rosas.

The Giants have made a qualifying offer (second round tender) to Aldrick Rosas

Details ⤵️
— New York Giants (@Giants) March 16, 2020

The tender is worth an estimated $3.3 million. But despite the tender, Rosas, who had an off-year last season after making the Pro Bowl the year prior, is likely to have some competition this year in training camp.

The Giants did not tender center Jon Halapio, who is currently recovering from an Achilles injury and who is not believed to be able to pass a physical at this time.

They might look to re-sign him later in the year to a veteran minimum qualifying offer which would allow him to compete for a job in camp.

Giants Apply the Franchise Tag to Defensive Lineman Leonard Williams

The Giants have placed the franchise tag on Leonard Williams

Details ⤵️
— New York Giants (@Giants) March 16, 2020

The Giants didn't trade for Leonard Williams to let him walk out the door. And while the tag takes a $16.126 million bite out of the team's estimated $73 million worth of cap space, it will buy the Giants more time to get a long-term deal done with the defensive lineman.

The application of the tag doesn't change the compensation the Giants owe the Jets in next year's draft.

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