It hasn't taken long for John Harbaugh to make his own imprint on the New York Giants. He already cut ties with one cap casualty in Bobby Okereke, and may not take long to do the same with another. The Giants are looking to free up all the money they can to get aggressive in a weak free agent class.
Now that Okereke won't be back, the next man on the list could be unexpected: starting guard Jon Runyan. According to Pro Football Focus' Thomas Valentine, he thinks the G-Men could cut Runyan to save $9.25 million, especially after he was one of the worst starting guards in the NFL in 2025.
The Giants are bracing for a major overhaul on the offensive line, and it looks like the 28-year-old will be a part of that. Both Runyan and Greg Van Roten are nothing special, and with Jermaine Eluemunor already unlikely to return, Harbaugh and Mike Bloomgren could give into the revamped OL identity.
It feels obvious that the Giants will release Jon Runyan this offseason
Runyan signed a three-year, $30 million contract with Big Blue during the 2024 offseason, which hasn't aged too well. He was average on the Packers, and now he's been average for a Giants' OL that was expecting him to continue elevating the unit, which, to be honest, was never going to happen.
This signing isn't Nate Solder-level bad in New York, but it isn't good. The Michigan product has an $11.75 million cap hit in 2026, which is extremely rich for a guy who isn't even good enough to be called average. And since there's an out in his contract, I would expect Joe Schoen to make use of it.
Releasing the 2020 sixth-round pick would only come with $2.5 million in dead cap, so even though he'll be a free agent next offseason, there's no reason not to cut him. He's not a linchpin of this OL that Schoen and Harbaugh must keep, so if it opens up cap space to sign someone like Tyler Linderbaum, I'm on board.
Naturally, knowing the Giants' luck, he'll return to Green Bay or sign elsewhere and instantly improve, but that's neither here nor there. If they were willing to make one difficult decision and cut Okereke to save money, it would be surprising to see them not make a clearly easier choice in cutting Runyan.
The only starter on this offensive line I truly expect to be back in 2026 is Andrew Thomas. The jury's still out on everyone else, so after Runyan's 52.9 PFF grade ranked 67th among all guards, it's giving the Giants a way to get out of his deal. And they should take it.