Giants Take Interesting Approach in Restructure of Andrew Thomas’ Contract

New York frees up enough cash to sign its remaining draft class while keeping future financial damage to a minimum for now.

May 21, 2026; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants offensive tackle Andrew Thomas (78) speaks at a press conference during organized team activities at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. | John Jones-Imagn Images

The New York Giants, in need of some additional cap space under the Top 51 rule currently in effect through the start of the regular season, restructured the contract of left tackle Andrew Thomas to clear $6.46 million.

Thomas, who in 2026 was due to count for $24.045 million, had most of his $15.9 million base salary converted into a signing bonus, which was set to prorate over the remaining four years of the contract, which runs through 2029.

According to figures kept by OverTheCap, the Giants, prior to the restructure, were in the red in terms of “effective cap space” (the space a team has left after signing at least 51 players and its rookie draft class), were $3.659 million in the red, while their total space prior to the restructure was $11.24 million.

Those numbers do not appear to include the signing of free-agent defensive tackle Josh Tupou, who joined the team on Wednesday.

New York, which just signed first-round draft pick Francis Mauigoa to his rookie deal on Wednesday, still needs to sign linebacker Arvell Reese to his deal. That contract is projected to be worth $48.586 million, giving Reese an estimated cap hit of $8.833 million in 2026.

Thomas’s restructure is considered a “simple restructure,” meaning the team can do so at its discretion without the player’s sign-off so long as the financial and other key terms of the agreement do not change.

The Giants, whose salary cap matters are now handled by senior VP of football operations Dawn Aponte, chose to restructure only what was necessary rather than pursue the maximum restructure, which would have cleared an additional $4.5 million in cap space.

New York can gain that additional cap space from Thomas’s deal later in the year, if needed.

A smart money approach

New York Giants linebacker Arvell Reese is Big Blue's remaining 2026 draft pick who has yet to sign his rookie contract | John Jones-Imagn Images

The dangers of a max restructure are that it pushes a lot of money into future years, thereby causing the player’s annual cap figure to balloon out of control.

If the player does not see the end of the deal, the result is that, depending on when the contract is terminated, continued restructures will result in an exorbitant amount of dead money hitting the cap anywhere from one to two years, depending on whether the termination is designated as a June 1 move.

In other words, it’s a case of being fiscally sound while allowing for the ongoing operation under the cap in the present day.

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