The NY Giants gave tight end Darren Waller all the time he needed to decide on the future of his playing career. Waller decided his time in the NFL had come to an end, and the 31-year-old TE decided to hang his cleats up after nine seasons. Giants general manager Joe Schoen took a shot trading for the pass-catcher last offseason giving up a third-round pick in this year's draft.
With Waller deciding to retire when he did, the Giants gained $11.6 million in cap space. It has been known for some time now Schoen has been trying to sign some veterans to the secondary all offseason, but things haven't been easy. Now, with the retirement of Waller, Schoen has the money to potentially make something happen. Here's a look at four moves now in play with the extra cap space:
4. Sign a veteran for the secondary
The Giants and Schoen have had issues going after defensive backs. They attempted to sign Darious Williams and Tre'Davious White, both who went to the Rams. They also attempted to sign veteran corner Steven Nelson, who just retired. The Giants did sign veteran Tre Herndon, but this isn't a splash move.
At corner, they have Deonte Banks starting outside on one side, rookie corner Andru Phillips seems all but set as the slot corner, and the CB2 job has been a tossup between Cor'Dale Flott, Tre Hawkins, and Nick McCloud. Hawkins flashed during preseason last year, but quickly showed he wasn't ready when the regular season hit. Flott and McCloud flashed multiple times last year, but needed to show consistency.
If they want to target the corner market, Stephon Gilmore, while an older corner at 33, can still come in and compete for a spot. He could be a mentor to some of the younger guys in the secondary. Gilmore would help defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson and new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen tremendously.
Another player that is a bit of a surprise with the lack of market is former Buffalo Bills safety Micah Hyde. Hyde can play both safety positions and can also come down and be a sub-package linebacker who can play down around the line and make tackles. He was linked to the Giants early on in the process because of his ties to Schoen via their time in Buffalo. The Giants have multiple options they can go in the secondary.
3. Sign an offensive lineman
More? Yes. The Giants have certainly been busy this offseason in free agency going after linemen. Schoen went out and added five offensive linemen to the team including two that will be starters going forward in Jon Runyan Jr. and Jermaine Eluemunor.
With questions still surrounding the position group, the Giants could still add more veteran players to the group. Giants tackle Evan Neal has been limited this offseason, with Brian Daboll saying they are choosing to "back off" from Neal right now as he continues to work himself back from surgery.
While Eluemunor can slide out from guard to right tackle, if need be, it would then open up a hole at the guard spot with reserves being newly-signed guards Austin Schlottman, Aaron Stinnie, and former Giants third-round draft pick Josh Ezeudu, who, like Neal, has struggled when given playing time, and also with staying healthy. If the Giants want to keep Eluemunor inside at guard, they could look at the two big tackles sitting atop the free agency list in long-time Packers tackle David Bakhtiari, and Cardinals tackle D.J Humphries.
Schoen could decide to go with rotational depth piece Phil Haynes formerly of the Seattle Seahawks or he could go the older route again and sign guard Greg Van Roten, who new offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo knows well from his time with the Raiders. Schoen could also make some fans happy by bringing back home former Giants offensive lineman Nick Gates.
2. Add some pass-rush help
The Giants have been wanting to be able to get after opposing teams' offenses more often. Last year, Kayvon Thibodeaux led the team with 11.5 sacks. After him there was a big dip in numbers with the next person being Jihad Ward with five. The Giants finally think they have helped solve a big part of the problem with the addition of Brian Burns. They still would love to be able to have constant pressure from the inside to take pressure off Dexter Lawrence.
While they didn't draft a defensive tackle, they signed veteran interior player Jordan Phillips along with signing undrafted free agent Casey Rogers out of Oregon. Rogers and last year's seventh-round pick Jordon Riley have been turning heads so far this offseason, but most of these interior players are space eaters rather than pass rushers.
EDGE wise, after Burns and Thibodeaux, there isn't a lot of dependable depth. Azeez Ojulari has proven to be not the most durable while the Giants got next to nothing out of Boogie Basham last year. There are a number of notable names the Giants could make the call to and see if they can get some production out of. This includes 30-year-old Emmanuel Ogbah, but he only played in 19 percent of defensive snaps all last season.
Yannick Ngakoue is also a free agent and is coming off a down year with only four sacks. If the Giants could get him for a cheaper number, and he could return to his 2021-2022 form, NY could land him on a steal of a deal.
1. Fill out the linebackers unit
Schoen has tried his best this offseason to revamp a lot of units within the team. One unit however that is still sorely lacking is the linebacking core. The unit is very top heavy, carried by star linebacker Bobby Okereke and second-year standout player Micah McFadden. McFadden took a big leap forward in his second year, but it remains to be seen how he will adapt to a new defensive scheme after just getting used to the last one. After the starters the room is very thin.
Darrian Beavers and last year's undrafted free agent linebacker Dyontae Johnson back them up. Schoen brought in special teams ace Matthew Adams to replace Cam Brown, and re-signed linebacker Carter Coughlin. The Giants drafted linebacker Darius Muasau out of UCLA in the sixth round of the draft this past April, but he will more than likely be finding himself a role on special teams to start.
There are still a good number of free agent options that Schoen and Co. should definitely be calling. Former Eagles depth linebackers Shaq Leonard, Zach Cunningham, and Julian Okwara are all free agents that could help the Giants core. Leonard and Cunningham are seasoned vets that can bring mentorship and quality reps to the team. Cunningham is still highly productive and if Leonard can stay healthy, he could help McFadden continue to evolve as a linebacker, while still repping in and out and playing next to former running mate Okereke.