After a disappointing end last season, the New York Giants are facing a cap situation, which must be under the NFL’s $208.2 million salary cap.
New general manager Joe Schoen said that “we’re just trying to get through” and “still trying to put the pieces together.” He was referring to the team’s cap and roster issues, implying the Giants are not ready for immediate deployment this season.
Schoen was hired this year alongside head coach Brian Daboll. The former replaced Dave Gettleman, while the latter was brought in as Joe Judge’s replacement following a series of failures since the 2020 season.
Troubling times in NY
The Giants came short last year. It was one of their worst seasons in history. The four-time Super Bowl champ finished the season at the bottom of the National Football Conference East. Not only that, the franchise only won as few as four and forfeited 13 games. The season ended with disappointment, with the NY-based team sustaining a whopping eight consecutive defeats.
The team’s habit of changing heads carried through this season. When Schoen entered office, he was soon tasked to fix the Giants.
As if those were not enough, Gettleman had too much spending in 2021. NFL’s Nick Shook said the situation required Schoen to find ways to tap out roughly $12 million to ensure the Giants’ cap space is below the league’s mandated $208.2 million.
The 43-year-old confirmed this. Via the New York Post’s Paul Schwartz, Schoen said the franchise faced “some tough decisions.”
“First off, we have to get underneath [the cap], we have to make some tough decisions here in the near future just to get in a place where we can sign draft picks and be below the cap. There’s a fine line because you can’t purge,” Schoen said.
The only way they can stay below the projected cap space is to “purge” players. However, it was not as easy since not all players in their locker room were game-ready.
For example, wide receiver Kenny Golladay had zero touchdowns last season and a huge portion of the team’s cap space of $21.1 million. The Giants could save time if they parted ways with Golladay, but Schoen wanted to keep the roster intact with the WR on it.
“I don’t want to purge the roster, because we still want to find out what Daniel Jones can do, we want to find out what Saquon can do,” he added.
“We got some good pieces on defense. The fine balance, the fine line is cutting players that can really help you win but you also got to get under the salary cap, then you’re gonna have the draft picks.’’
The team also could release starting quarterback Daniel Jones, who is entering the final year of his four-year rookie contract worth $25.664 million, signed in 2019. The Giants declined his fifth-year option earlier in April.
That said, even with releasing either one of the players, the franchise will remain in the difficult cap situation. It may restrict them from signing any picks.