New York Giants: Grading the returning free agent contracts
By Matt Clark
DL Leonard Williams
The New York Giants announced that they were going use the non-exclusive franchise tag on defensive lineman Leonard Williams on March 16th. Initially, it was rumored that the Giants had a deal in place to extend Williams but those reports turned out to be false, so New York opted to place the franchise tag on Williams rather than potentially letting him walk in free agency.
Williams was acquired in a deal with the New York Jets last season where the Giants gave the Jets their 2020 third-round draft pick (65th overall) and their 2021 fifth-round draft pick, which would have become a fourth-round pick if the Giants signed Williams prior to free agency.
While it is good news that New York isn’t going to have to sacrifice more draft capital to retain Williams, the deal still deserves a great deal of scrutiny since the Giants sacrificed valuable draft capital when they had a 2-6 record at the time of the deal and were clearly not going to be legitimate contenders last season.
Currently, the Giants will be forced to pay Williams $16,126,000 next season under the franchise tag. That would make Williams the second-highest-paid player on their roster behind another highly scrutinized player Nate Solder, who is scheduled to make $19.5 million next year.
Williams, a former first-round draft pick of the Jets, has failed to live up to the lofty projections that came with being drafted so high out of the University of Southern California. The inability of Williams to garner sacks in his career has been the biggest knock on his game. Currently, Williams has totaled just 17.5 sacks in his six-year career, with a career-high seven sacks with the Jets in 2016.
Despite the lack of sack production, Williams is certainly a disruptive player on the defensive line and is excellent at stopping the run. He serves as a solid veteran presence along a young and talented Giants defensive line that includes Dexter Lawrence, B.J. Hill, and Dalvin Tomlinson.
The talent level that the Giants already possess with players of similar stature of Williams presents some of the issues with the trade and subsequent franchising of the former Jets player. New York had many areas of need and yet they opted to put additional valuable resources and money at the one position on defense where they arguably did not need to significantly upgrade.
There is still a good chance that the Giants could negotiate a longer-term deal with Williams that will result in a lower annual average payout for the defensive lineman. However, the deal likely means that the Giants will be unlikely to spend the money to extend Dalvin Tomlinson next season.
Tomlinson’s production has been solid since being drafted in the second round of the 2017 draft out of the University of Alabama. Tomlinson will undoubtedly require far less money to re-sign than Williams will and the drop off in production between the two is nominal in comparison to the likely differences in salary. The deal with Williams also likely means a reduced role for former third-round pick B.J. Hill who has also flashed the ability to be a quality defensive lineman for the Giants.
Despite all of this, it is indisputable that the Giants defense was significantly better after Williams joined the team. If the Giants are able to sign him to a deal that is in the $10-$11 million annual range, then it will draw far less ire than if the team has to sign him to a deal in the $15-$18 million annual deal that Williams was reportedly seeking. What he ultimately signs for will dictate what grade this move eventually receives.