New York Giants Free Agency: Where do we go from here?
By Curt Macysyn
The New York Giants, like all other NFL teams, could not be left without a dance partner in free agency.
The signing of Nate Solder, while not the optimum move, does plug a critical hole along the offensive line. In addition, Solder provides a solid locker room presence as well. He protected Tom Brady’s blind side for several seasons, now he’ll do so for Eli Manning.
According to Spotrac, Solder now resets left tackle salary by almost $2 million. Quite frankly, the New York Giants overpaid, but they had no choice. And given Solder’s contract, or Jason Pierre-Paul’s ($17 million cap hit), I take the left tackle’s pact every day of the week.
Recently, I haven’t been on board with everything Gary Myers has put out there, but check out his piece on Solder in the New York Daily News. Best of luck to Nate, along with wife, Lexi, and son, Hudson. Welcome to Big Blue.
Reading the tea leaves
Signing guard Andrew Norwell would have been a short-term and long-term move for the G-Men. As we pivot to the Solder signing, it’s more of a short-term upgrade. Solder will be turning 30-years old in less than a month (April 12th), and normally that signals a decline. Not to say that Solder’s play will decline precipitously, but risk of injury gets greater. Conversely, Norwell would have been in his prime years.
Overall what does the signing mean?
New York Giants
It certainly signals that the New York Giants are going for it in 2018. General manager Dave Gettleman likely feels that quarterback Eli Manning has tread left on the tire. Between the Alec Ogletree trade, and this move, trading the No. 2 draft pick seems a distinct possibility.
Realistically, the Giants need upgrades at several positions, but drafting running back Saquon Barkley (Penn State) will be tempting. The Jonathan Stewart signing certainly gives out mixed signals at running back though. By trading the No. 2 pick to a quarterback-hungry team, that transaction can allow the accumulation of several affordable quality players.
Right now, the most likely trade partner is the New York Jets. Possibly, the Buffalo Bills can maneuver their two first-round selections to get in the game. For the purposes of the New York Giants, the Bills current draft positions at Nos. 12-22 are non-starters in a trade.
Does trading the No. 2 pick within the top 6 put guard Quenton Nelson (Notre Dame) in play for the Giants? He would certainly fill another need and comes highly-rated. Right now, I would have to say that Barkley become the frontrunner with the No. 2 selection. But will he go first overall?
The quarterback musical chairs of the past couple of days means that Cleveland will have its choice of Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold and Josh Allen at No. 4. Ergo – Barkley goes No. 1 to Cleveland.
If that does indeed take place, I see the No. 2 pick as more valuable to the quarterback needy teams. Let’s put the Jets and Bills in that desperate category. But the quarterback market definitely changed over the past couple of days.
The tea leaves now show Barkley selected at No. 1 with the Cleveland Browns.
On the horizon
According to Spotrac, there’s almost $8.5 million in top 51 salary cap room for Big Blue. That amount is without running back Jonathan Stewart, linebacker Kareem Martin and defensive back Teddy Williams included. This almost certainly means that other roster moves have to be made. The likely cut candidates are: guard John Jerry, receiver Brandon Marshall and utilityman Dwayne Harris. Taken together – cutting these guys adds another $10 million in spending cash.
Quite frankly, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already.
It also seems that the New York Giants may be rolling the dice on Davis Webb being the quarterback of the future. Spending the No. 2 pick on Barkley (if available) would seem to be the top option, as well as trading the pick. Much now depends on Barkley still being available – a big if.
When I look at the roster, too much money is tied up in defensive ends (Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon). To that point, adding Bradley Chubb (N.C. State) would not seem to be an option at No. 2. And I don’t like the idea of drafting an offensive guard that high – ruling out Nelson in my mind.
In terms of the free agent contracts, signing Williams may be a precursor to dropping Harris. According to the team’s official website:
"“Williams did not play football at Texas-San Antonio. But he was a four-time All-America sprinter who won nine Southland Conference championships. At the University of Texas-El Paso championships in 2009, Williams ran the 100-meter dash in 9.90 seconds, the fastest time in the world that year.”"
Most of all, the Solder signing means the end of the Ereck Flowers-era at left tackle. With a fully guaranteed contract in 2018, don’t count on Flowers going anywhere. If Gettleman can arrange a trade, that saves the G-Men about $2.4 million on his $4.6 million salary.
Down the line
Another area to gain some cap space may be Alec Ogletree’s contract. According to GiantsWire:
"“In 2019, Ogletree is owed a base salary of $4 million with a $6 million roster bonus that becomes fully guaranteed this year, which accounts for a total cap hit of $10 million. The good news for the Giants is that they can convert both roster bonuses into signing bonuses, thereby reducing Ogletree’s overall cap hit substantially.”"
The beginning of free agency definitely gives the impression that Gettleman, head coach Pat Shurmur and the New York Giants are gambling in the short-term on Eli Manning. Giants brass balanced out the defense and put a couple pieces around Manning.
These are exciting times for Big Blue.