NFL salary cap floor of $180 million little help to NY Giants
The NFL last week revealed that the floor for the 2021 salary cap is $180 million, with the possibility that the actual cap could possibly rise between now and the new league year beginning on March 17. The NY Giants better hope it does.
Despite the flexibility of having several high-priced veterans who played diminishing roles last season, who could be cut to create further spending flexibility under the cap, the NY Giants currently have just $906,000 in cap space, according to OverTheCap.
This will mark the first time in several years that the salary cap will dip, due in large part to the lost gate revenue from the 2020 season, as well as the substantial cost of daily COVID-19 testing for all NFL personnel and travel accommodations necessitated by social distancing.
This year’s uncertainty combined with tighter restrictions presents unprecedented challenges for the 16 teams that find themselves with less than $10 million in cap space under the current projection, the Giants included.
Multiple executives across the league say there is a lot of waiting around for the league and NFLPA to come to terms on a cap number that has essentially triggered a pause on the usual backroom deal-making that typically leads up to free agency beginning.
“We would usually be knee-deep in negotiations by now,” one agent tells FanSided. “But, this time around, the only conversations that we’ve had with our bigger-named clients is setting up Zoom meetings with teams in the days prior to the new league-year beginning.”
In addition to negotiations being on hold, the NY Giants and every other team must prepare contingency plans for high priced impending free agents — it would be much more difficult to re-sign Leonard Williams and Dalvin Tomlinson while also going after marquee free agents such as wide receiver Chris Godwin or Kenny Golladay.
The Giants are in the unenviable position of having minimal cap space and needs all over the roster, and better hope that the cap increases, or else GM Dave Gettleman will need to get rather busy rather quickly cutting cost and offering to restructure deals to free up spending flexibility this offseason.
Next. 3 Surprise cuts Giants could make to create cap space. dark
Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL.