Just when you thought it was all quiet on the North Jersey front a week out from the New York Giants’ season opener, John Harbaugh and Joe Schoen went to Lowe’s, cleared out the wrench aisle, drove over to the Meadowlands, and started throwing them everywhere.
During what was supposed to be a relaxing Labor Day weekend -- the calm before the regular-season storm -- the Giants zigged while the rest of the league zagged.
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston got an extension. Defensive tackle Dean Lowry joined the practice squad. Then Big Blue parted ways with its longest-tenured player, wide receiver Darius Slayton, after giving offensive lineman Jon Runyan a two-year extension for good measure.
Runyan’s extension was the most surprising out of the bunch. The 29-year-old is coming off arguably the worst season of his career, yet New York just handed him a two-year, $22 million extension with a staggering $21.5 million in guarantees.
Seeing as the Giants just had to eat $12.749 million in dead cap to cut Slayton, you’d think they would’ve given the Runyan extension a little more thought. Because if things don’t go according to plan, they could be staring down the barrel of a similar situation next offseason.
Giants are taking unnecessary Darius Slayton-sized risk with Jon Runyan extension
You don’t have to ask Harbaugh how he feels about eating dead money to build the roster he wants. Just look at what happened with Slayt.
One year after signing a three-year, $36 million deal (an overpay that you could see from space), he’s gone, leaving Big Blue with $12.749 million in dead money this season and another $3 million coming in 2027. And now they’ve potentially set themselves up for another expensive breakup with Runyan next season.
Before signing the extension, there was really no risk. Runyan was entering the final year of his three-year, $30 million deal. He played so poorly last year that he was widely considered one of the more obvious cap casualties earlier this offseason, with the Giants able to save $9 million by cutting him. If the struggles continued in 2026, the G-Men could’ve simply let him walk next offseason and spent their money elsewhere.
Instead, they guaranteed him $21.5 million.
The full structure of the extension still isn’t available, but based on those guarantees, moving on after one season could leave the Giants eating somewhere around $10.5 million in dead cap (guesstimate). Sound familiar? And for what exactly?
Runyan wasn’t some hot auction item with teams lining up to bid. Maybe he has the ever-popular, highly anticipated seventh-year breakout under Harbaugh’s new staff and would’ve become more expensive to retain next offseason. Great. Pay the man then.
Instead, the Giants are finger-crossing that Harbaugh’s new staff will get more out of Runyan before they’ve even coached him in a regular-season game. If that doesn’t happen, we already know a bad contract won’t stop Harbs from moving on. Slayton can tell him all about that.
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