The New York Giants are ready to spend some money this offseason. GM Joe Schoen told the media that the Giants are “not shopping for minimum players anymore” just days away from the start of free agency. After extending Daniel Jones to a team-friendly contract, Schoen is ready to bolster the roster around his starting quarterback and build a playoff football team.
Giants are “not shopping for minimum players anymore”
The Giants currently have about $18.9 million in cap space after extending Daniel Jones and placing the franchise tag on Saquon Barkley. However, there is room for that number to grow significantly.
Joe Schoen was held back last offseason as the Giants entered 2022 over the salary cap. After some roster trimming, the team was able to get out of the negatives but had to sacrifice some key players like James Bradberry along the way.
This offseason, Schoen has a different mindset. Instead of being held back by the salary cap, the Giants have an opportunity to spend some money this year and acquire some of the top talents on the open market.
Big Blue has some big needs on its roster. The Giants will be looking to upgrade at wide receiver, linebacker, and cornerback primarily. Adding talent at these positions will be much easier this offseason as the Giants have “the flexibility now to be creative,” Joe Schoen described.
“So, just having the flexibility now to be creative, go get players at maybe a little bit higher value, but also being able to sign, whether it’s tier three players, two, one, however you do it. We can map it out, and there are players that we can go procure now that maybe we weren’t in the past.”
Joe Schoen on the Giants having the ability to sign top talents in free agency this offseason
Despite having a surplus in salary cap space this offseason, Joe Schoen’s main mission is still to build through the draft. “I still believe in building through the draft,” Schoen said. “And we can sign guys in free agency to help the roster.
I still think with Daniel and Dexter coming down the road and some of the other players, you’re still going to need to build through the draft because I think there are going to be some players who will be making good money on our roster. So, it’s still going to be important.”
An exciting offseason is ahead for the New York Giants who have the salary cap space to sign top-market players and additional draft picks to build out their roster. New York currently has nine draft picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, but they could end up with two more via compensatory picks before April.