Hello hello! One of the main issues this offseason for the NY Giants in terms of re-signing players and targeting studs once free agency opens up was no question going to be limited cap space. Yes, restructuring deals would help, but Joe Schoen was set to have his hands tied a bit.
That is until breaking news just dropped seemingly from out of nowhere. The NFL has approved the move to increase cap space for teams to a record-breaking $255.4 million. This is obviously huge for the G-Men, as they now have more than $32 million in cap space to work with. Keep in mind this is before reworking deals with Andrew Thomas and Dexter Lawrence, which are both expected:
With the NFL salary cap going up to $255.4M for the 2024 season, the Giants are now listed as having $32.8M in salary cap space, according to Over the Cap.
— Doug Rush (@TheDougRush) February 23, 2024
The Giants can still create $36.1M in potential salary cap space with the contract restructuring of Andrew Thomas, Dexter… pic.twitter.com/WIBOer2kIT
The Giants are now up to $32.8 million for available cap space for 2024
This is a major win for Schoen and Co. As soon as this announcement dropped, fans have been wondering about what kind of moves can potentially be made with this extra dough. It goes without saying, but this could impact talks with both Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney.
It's been made pretty clear through multiple reports that Schoen isn't planning to use the franchise tag on either Barkley or McKinney before the March 5 deadline. If he were to go that route, it'd cost $12.1 million for Barkley's cap in '24 and $16 million for McKinney - not going to happen.
However, this could help Schoen try and work on an extension with one of them, if not both. Barkley has been quite valuable for this offense and a lot of Big Blue supporters don't want to see him leave town, but if a new contract gets done with McKinney, people will gladly take that.
As we mentioned above, more cap space is sure to be created with other moves like the ones with Lawrence and Thomas. Don't forget that there are few cap casualty candidates, including veteran offensive guard Mark Glowinski ($5.5 million). It's going to be a busy few weeks for Schoen with free agency almost here, but the amazing news is he now has more money to play around with.