Giants Will Allow Justin Tuck to Test Free Agency

Dec 29, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck (91) is helped off the field after an injury during the third quarter of a game against the Washington Redskins at MetLife Stadium. Tuck would return and the Giants defeated the Redskins 20-6. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Tuck is coming off a team high 11 sacks in 2013, but General Manager Jerry Reese was not too emphatic on keeping the defensive end during a press conference held Saturday morning.

“Justin is going to go to the market and see what’s out there for him,” Reese told reporters. “I had talks with all those [prospective free agents]. Free agency means free agency. It means you go out and get as much as you can.

“I’m all for players getting as much as they can. Justin deserves to see what the market is. We’d love to have him back. We’ll see where it goes.”

Considering that more than half of his sack total came in two games against Washington and another two sacks came against the Chargers — who had one of the worst offensive lines in the league last season — Reese does not seem to think that his 11 sack season was that impressive.

The last time Tuck recorded more than 5 sacks in one season was in 2010 when he accumulated 11.5, but 2010 seems like a distant memory here in 2014.

Tuck’s agent self proclaimed here that “Justin is by far the most complete d-end in the class,”

Yeah, OKAY…

“He obviously had an incredible season last year with every stat he had with the tackles, tackles for loss, the hurries and the sacks. They were up there with the upper-echelon defensive linemen.”

Tuck’s agent seems to be under the impression that the veteran is a hell of a lot better than he actually is at this stage of his career, and he is going to want Tuck to be paid like it. This is something the Giants just simply cannot afford, even with $16 million in cap space.