The New York Giants have some noteworthy players owed big contracts after this season. Per Over The Cap, the Giants are set to have $59 million in cap space in 2023, the fourth most in the NFL.
With Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley, Julian Love, and Jihad Ward all set for free agency, with Dexter Lawrence also in line for a big payday, that space will evaporate rather quickly.
For the Giants to add as much cap space as possible, they will have to unload some bad contracts. None of their contracts are worse than wide receiver Kenny Golladay‘s.
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How much cap space would the Giants add from cutting Kenny Golladay?
After signing a four-year, $72 million contract that included $40 million guaranteed with the Giants in 2021 free agency, Golladay has significantly underwhelmed. In 18 total games for the Giants, he has 39 catches for 543 yards and no touchdowns. He will be, by all means, released this offseason.
Per Over The Cap, Golladay has a 2023 cap hit of $21.4 million. If the Giants were to release Golladay before June 1st, they would free up just $6.7 million, while $14.7 million of that cap hit would go to waste. This would put their cap space over $65 million. The good thing with the pre-June 1st transaction is that come 2024, Golladay is completely off the books for the Giants.
Should Joe Schoen, Brian Daboll, and company designate a post-June 1st designation to Golladay’s release, they would create $13.5 million in cap space with only $7.9 going to waste. On the other hand, with the post-June 1st move, the Giants would still have Golladay against their budget in 2024 for $6.8 million.
Either way, Golladay has been such a disappointment it would be fine for the Giants to ultimately go either route. At the very least, the Giants save $6.7 million in cap space for next offseason.