Kevin Zeitler is a talented lineman but may be too expensive to keep.
Kevin Zeitler and his contract is one of the team’s biggest financial decisions in 2021.
Zeitler has been the team’s most consistent, steady, and trustworthy linemen the past two years. Zeitler arrived in the Odell Beckham trade and helped bring some stability to the right side of the Giants’ line.
Zeitler is one of the team’s highest-paid players. He is an accomplished, proven player who is a great presence on any NFL offensive line.
The problem is the Giants offensive line hasn’t looked very good in either season with Zeitler. He isn’t the problem on the team’s line but the overall unit hasn’t done enough to solidify this current group as the answer for the future.
With Shane Lemieux placed into a starting role and Will Hernandez still looming in the shadows, it could make some sense to release Zeitler and go with the team’s two recently drafted guards to be the guards of the future.
Zeitler will have a $14.5 million cap hit entering the season. If the Giants want to move on from the nine-year vet, they can save $12 million while incurring a $2.5 dead cap hit. That $12 million is a substantial amount of money, especially in such a saturated and uncertain market.
The Giants can use that money to get some talented guys at other positions they lack depth at and incentive some of these deals by front-loading the money in year one or simply keeping some contract offers to one or two-year deals as the salary cap will come back to normal once fans are allowed back in games and the NFL’s constant revenue stream goes back to usual.