Giants Still Looking for Salary Cap Room

The New York Giants season has gotten off to a horrible start at 0-6 but the team has other problems facing them besides their record.  According to the NFL Players Association they have approximately $585,000 in salary cap space available for the remainder of the 2013 season.  Per NFL salary rules a team may not exceed the cap at any point during the season and the amount currently available for the Giants is not likely to be enough. 

The team could approach quarterback Eli Manning for a contract restructure to free up space, but this is unlikely to happen.  It would make more sense for the Giants to wait until next season to extend Manning, whose contract ends in 2015, and spread some of his salary out going forward. 

Manning along with the team is having a down year but the two time Super Bowl MVP will finish his career as a Giant.  Manning’s contract should be geared to create long-term salary space with cap flexibility moving forward after this season as pushing money around now will limit the Giants ability to achieve those goals. 

The only viable short-term option for some immediate cap savings which can provide the team enough room to get through the season is safety Antrel Rolle’s contract.  A player must agree to have their contract changed but the Giants first option should be to approach him.

Under contract through 2014 Rolle is set to make a season or base salary of $7 million this year, of that about $2.5 million has already been paid.  If he were to agree to a base salary reduction to his minimum $840,000, the Giants would owe him $544,000 in base salary for the rest of the season (11/17 of $840,000).  The Giants could then take about $4 million and convert it to signing bonus which gets prorated or spread evenly throughout the remainder of his contract. Now the Giants will have created $2 million in 2013 cap space by pushing $2 million into the 2014 cap for Rolle. 

The downside of this restructure is Rolle’s 2014 cap total increases from $9.25 million to $11.25 million.  If he is released next year, which is very possible given the Giants would save $7.25 million, Rolle will count $4 million in dead money, salary which counts on the cap for a player not with the team, instead of $2 million with no 2013 contract change.

The Giants are in need of 2013 salary cap space and it makes sense to use Rolle’s contract to get it.  Any remaining 2013 space is carried over providing more room in 2014, so even if the Giants don’t need the entire $2 million they should take it.  The team has some tough decisions in front of them but need to get their finances in order this year to prepare for what lies ahead.   

This article comes courtesy of our friend Dennis Agapito.  Please Follow Dennis @Dennis_Agapito