The New York Giants salary cap has some room to make some moves. The team is roughly $36 million under the cap and available to spend in 2016. Right now, the Giants are spending the most of any team in the league on the quarterback and left tackle positions. Makes sense. The QB is vital to the team’s success and the left tackle is the man who protects him.
Big Blue is also in the top 10 for spending on the guard and running back positions. While Justin Pugh and Geoff Schwartz played well when healthy, they weren’t dominating in the run game. Shane Vereen was under-utilized and it took the Giants being elminated from postseason contention for them to feature Rashad Jennings with any success.
The G-Men are also in the top half of the league in spending on wide receiver (Cruz), inside linebacker (Beason?), fullback (???), free safety (Landon Collins), center (Weston Richburg), and right tackle (Marshall Newhouse or Ereck Flowers). The team should be able to lower the cap figures for three of those positions by re-working contracts or releasing high-priced, underperforming players.
Which positions should the team pour some cash money into? Let’s take a look, thanks to Sportrac.com…
1. Defensive End
Signed Players: Owamagbe Odighizuwa, Kerry Wynn, Brad Bars, Stansly Maponga
2016 Cap Dollars Allotted: $2,470,125
Percentage of 2016 Salary Cap: 2.08%
NFL Rank: 31
The Giants will hope to re-sign Jason Pierre-Paul and Robert Ayers, Jr and might shed Cullen Jenkins, Montori Hughes, and George Selvie. The JPP and Ayers contracts should be modest or tolerable, considering Pierre-Paul will never be the same player even after his most recent surgery and Ayers will be 31. Muhammad Wilkerson (pictured above) would be a huge addition, but could the asking price be too much? The Jets sack-master made almost $7 million in the final year of his rookie contract and might command Ndamukong Suh level money.
2. Tight End
Signed Players: Matt LaCosse
2016 Salary Cap Dollars Allotted: $450,000
Percentage of 2016 Salary Cap: 0.38%
NFL Rank: 31
The Giants should definitely bring back Will Tye and give Larry Donnell another shot. I don’t believe Daniel Fells will play football again after nearly losing his foot and Jerome Cunningham didn’t make much of his opportunities. Would it make sense to bring in another pass-catching tight end or one that has superior blocking abilities?
Coby Fleener or Ladarius Green on the same field with Will Tye would give fits to linebackers and safeties, but Ben McAdoo’s offense is predicated on a three wide receiver set with one tight end and one running back, so a second or third high-priced tight end might not make sense financially. However, I will say, when the Giants scored in the red zone and goal-to-go, there were two tight ends and Fells was usually the man with the ball in the end zone.
3. Strong Safety
Signed Players: Justin Currie (should be Landon Collins)
2016 Cap Dollars Allotted: $450,000
Percentage of 2016 Salary Cap: 0.38%
NFL Rank: 29
This number’s tricky because Landon Collins started all 16 games out of position at free safety when he should play strong safety. So, the Giants should focus on bringing in a free safety that would allow Collins to move back to strong safety. So, you’ve got free agents Eric Berry, Eric Weddle, Rashad Johnson, Reggie Nelson, and Tashaun Gipson. Berry and Weddle are probably too much money. Either Johnson or Gipson would be a welcome addition. Nelson continues to get better with age, but has he hit his peak? Regardless, the Giants will need to pick a couple free safeties in the draft.