New York Giants Reader Mailbag: The "Let's Catch Up" Edition

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Renato P. asks:

The Giants are doing pre-contracts with loads of people, either existing folks or new ones, is there a reason for that? Does this somehow impact the cap space? What does your gut feeling tell you on what the Giants will do in Free Agency + draft? Should the cap space drop as much as you expect, do you believe there might be players or positions which show up as 'bargain' in this off-season?

Hey Renato. Thanks for checking in. Let's take each of your questions one at a time.

Yes, every team at the end of their season signs about a dozen or so street free agents to reserve/futures contracts. All this means is that the team is securing the services for the upcoming year, and if the player makes the 53-man roster, then his contract payment kicks in.

From a cap perspective, most of these contracts are for the minimum and have no signing bonus, which means they fall outside of the Top 51 highest cap hits, which count toward a team's salary cap liability. This is how teams can bring 90 players to training camp every year--only the top 51 counts toward the cap.

As for what the Giants will do in free agency in the draft, let me say that I have always believed that you go through free agency first as that sets up your draft (sort of).

So I would say it's still too early to predict who they'll draft, but I will say they must address receiver, edge rusher, and cornerback as their top priorities. Then look to address some of their secondary priorities include backup running back, safety, defensive line, and linebacker.

Regarding your last question, I think it's safe to assume that many free agents probably won't find as robust of a market for their services, but this is usually the case every year when guys and their agents overvalue them. But yes, if the cap drops, if a guy is desperate to play and doesn't get the contact he wants, I could see some people settling.

From Matt L.

I am curious what the Giants are doing to address the difficulties of running another off-season program during the pandemic. What lessons were learned last year, and how will this year build upon the experience gained last year? Also, seeing that University of Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt “was fired for cause" after an investigation showed evidence of multiple Level I and Level II NCAA recruiting rules violations under his watch, according to his termination letter obtained by Knox News,” how is it that Joe Judge can justify the hire?

Hi Matt, and thanks for the questions. I'll start with your first one by saying that when Joe Judge was asked at the end of the season about lessons learned, he hadn't had a chance to catch his breath, let alone think things through regarding what he might change. Let's sit on that question until maybe next month as by then, Judge might provide more of an answer.

Regarding Jeremy Pruitt, whose hiring is not yet official, by the way, I don't know all the details behind his termination. With that said, I don't believe he was arrested or charged with any wrongdoing, which I suspect is the difference. Yes, there was an alleged ethics breach of some sort, but do we know what degree Pruitt was involved other than the alleged events that occurred under his watch?

Seems like Micah Parsons is not even on the Giants draft board due to character issues. But do you think the Giants would benefit from a bit of aggression? LT was not a choir boy but he was the best.
— Satoshi Guacamoto 🐀 (@guacamoto) January 30, 2021

Do we know for sure he's been removed from the draft board? (The Giants draft board hasn't even been constructed yet, BTW.) That's what these next few months are about, gathering as much information as possible into the players' backgrounds. The pandemic might make it challenging to do so, but I'm sure the Giants scouts will do all they can to get as much information as possible.

#askPtrain what i issue about the Giants do you think we twitter followers misunderstand the most
— Tony Thomas (@BlackBanjotony) January 30, 2021

I'd say the number one thing I see on my Twitter timeline is team-building issues, which are often incomplete or not thought all the way through. "Oh lets trade Player X." Okay, and how do you replace him?

Or, "Let's trade for Player Y." Okay, and how do you make room on the cap, and what are you giving up to acquire the player?

The other thing I see is some fans misjudge a player's performance. Case in point: Daniel Jones stinks or didn't take that next step forward, yet no one bothers to factor in the loss of Saquon Barkley, the fact that his receivers dropped 29 passes, which I believe was the seventh most among quarterbacks, that his offensive line's pass protection was all over the place or that he spent this year in a new system without the benefit of an off-season to see the concepts jump from paper to the field.

My mentors always used to tell me that nothing in this game is what it seems and that you have to look at all the possible angles of why something is before arriving at a conclusion. That's what I try to do.

Do you think that the Giants coaching staff is creative enough to even use a player like Pitts? I feel like the creativity hasn’t been there for Saquon or Engram... why add another super athlete when they can’t take advantage of it? #askptrain
— James (@ReptarNYG) January 30, 2021

James, how much of the lack of creativity resulted from the personnel and where they were in their development? I think it had to do more with several factors forming the perfect storm in which they couldn't be as creative as they'd like.

Saquon only played five quarters in a still-developing offense, so how can you say they weren't creative enough regarding him? As for Engram, you never knew what you were going to get from him each week, so maybe the lack of consistency played into the planning--who knows?

The point is I'd like to see what they come up with in Year 2 of this system as presumably, everyone should be more comfortable by now before I sit here and say there is a lack of creativity.

Do the giants believe Peart is their guy at RT or might they draft one in the first three rounds?
— KnightWhoSaysNih (@KonSeanneryy) January 30, 2021

My guess is that Peart will have competition for the right tackle job; I don't think they're going to hand it to him on a silver platter.

I need so much help understanding the salary cap position of the Giants this offseason. #askptrain
— sjones71 (@sjones71) January 30, 2021

Well, keep it right here at Giants Country! I've been writing about the cap for years, and last off-season, I took a course taught by none other than the cap master himself, Joel Corry of CBS Sports' "Ask an Agent." I'll do my best to answer your questions, and if I don't know the answer, I'll reach out to those who might.

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