Just when it seemed like everything was set to calm down after the draft, the NY Giants wisely made contract moves on two of their younger players before this week’s deadline.
For those unfamiliar, every first-round draft pick in the NFL has what’s called a ‘fifth-year option’ attached to their contracts. It is up to the team whether or not to pick it up, and the NY Giants had two players in this situation this offseason; tight end Evan Engram and safety Jabrill Peppers.
Even though the deadline to pick up this 2021 option isn’t until May 5th, it was a little odd to see the NY Giants wait this long to make these moves – particularly in Jabrill Peppers‘ case.
As recently as last week, this is what GM Dave Gettleman had to say while speaking to reporters on some of the younger players – namely Engram and Peppers – and their futures.
"“Well, part of the tight rope that I walk on is short term and long term,” he said. “Part of the long term is we have some good, young players right now. We’ve got Tomlinson, Engram and Peppers. We have to make decisions on them,” Gettleman said. “They’re some good, young players.”"
It sounded like a guy that was high on the two up for an option, so it makes sense these moves were made.
Evan Engram was the far-more hotly debated one when it came to fans arguing whether to pick up his fifth-year option or not. I’ve been team keep Engram for quite some time and have been advocating for the team to pick up his option as far back as December.
The fifth-year option contract number for a tight end picked outside the top ten is very reasonable, as Engram will make just a shade over $6M in a contract that is only guaranteed for injuries — man, I bet the Giants would love to flip that around and guarantee it for play instead of injuries.
When you add that $6M number with his 2020 cap number, his contract comes out to $9.3M over the next two years — far below what his market rate would be, even with the recent injuries.
It’s little risk for a tight end who showed in his rookie year that he has the makings of the best of the best in the league.
With a new offensive line and the addition of blocking specialist Levine Toilolo, Engram should be asked to block less which will be a good thing, mainly because of the wear and tear on his body (not that he’s the lousy blocker everyone thinks he is).
As far as Peppers goes, this one was a no brainer and was almost not discussed at all throughout the offseason. As a safety picked outside the top ten, he’ll rake in $6.7M in 2021. For the type of play this versatile safety displayed last year, there was no way the team was not picking this option up.
Not to mention, he was a centerpiece of the Odell Beckham Jr. trade.
So at the end of the day, the NY Giants now have two electric talents that are under 25 years-old locked up on two-year, team-friendly deals.
The team gets two more years to evaluate two talents that haven’t quite lived up to full potential, and the two players get a nice chunk of change before their 25th birthdays with a shot to parlay this into a major contract.
Win-win for everyone.