Giants Sign No. 5 Pick Arvell Reese to Rookie Deal Following Restructure of Andrew Thomas's Deal

After restructuring LT Andrew Thomas's contract to clear some cap space, the Giants were finally able to have rookie linebacker Arvell Reese put pen to paper.

ew York Giants linebacker Arvell Reese has signed his rookie deal. | John Jones-Imagn Images

New York Giants linebacker Arvell Reese, the first of the team’s 2026 draft class members but the last to sign his rookie deal, made it official Friday by putting his name on the dotted line of a four-year deal worth an estimated $48.586 million, which includes a $31.795 million signing bonus.

The Giants had to clear some room under their cap to sign their first-round pick. They did so earlier this week when they cleared just over $6 million by doing a partial simple restructure of left tackle Andrew Thomas’s contract, which reduced his 2026 figure to $17.585 million and opened $6.46 million in cap space.

As of Friday morning before the Reese signing, the Giants had $13.216 million in total cap space and were projected to be in the red in effective cap space (what’s needed to sign 51 players and the rookie class) by $1.683 million.

Reese, who will count for $8.833 million against this year’s cap, is slotted to play the WIL linebacker spot in the Giants' new defense, lining up alongside veteran Tremaine Edmunds.

Reese, the former Ohio State star, can also play outside linebacker, though for his first NFL season, head coach John Harbaugh indicated they’ll keep him at the WIL, a position that will line up all over the formation and have multiple responsibilities within the defense.

“The way we're built is the WIL position lines up in all those spots, so you are going to see him lined up with what looks like the defensive end position, but it's actually the WIL by call,” Harbaugh said earlier this month after the rookie minicamp.

“That's where he goes based on the way the defense was organized. I don't know if we're cheating or not, but you'll see him playing over the guard sometimes just by virtue of the call.”

Reese is looking forward to the challenge. “Yeah, it's always fun to me, especially when I think about all those different roles I could play,” he said. “I'm looking forward to that.”

The Giants, who this past offseason have completely made over their inside linebacker unit in what looks like a significant improvement from a year ago, are undoubtedly looking forward to seeing the results of the makeover as well.

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