New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen is taking a conservative approach the season to clear salary cap for future years. Cutting several players and restructuring the contracts of Sterling Shepard and Blake Martinez has given them a bit of room to work with in the short term, but Schoen is eyeing a long-term strategy that focuses on foundational growth.
The Giants learned under the leadership of Dave Gettleman if you do not draft well, there’s virtually no chance of developing a good roster. Gettleman tried to supplement deficiencies in the draft with free-agent signings, but that backfired tremendously with poor coaching and back-loaded contracts.
However, new management hopes that the coaching has far improved and the scouting process provides results rather than a graveyard of selections in the middle rounds.
Looking ahead to 2023, the Giants have a projected $87.7 million before signing any draft picks. Cutting Logan Ryan and restructuring Shepard and Martinez’s contracts should lower their dead-money hit significantly.
In fact, the Giants could have upward of $100 million if they cut a few big-money players, including Leonard Williams, Kenny Golladay, and Adoree Jackson. They could also release Graham Gano, who has been a solid kicker for them up to this point, which would save the team $3.75 million in salary space.
Altogether, they could theoretically add $18 million from Williams, $6.7 million from Golladay, and $12 million from Jackson, amounting to $36.7 million on top of the $87.7 million they’re already projected to have. That would give them a whopping $123 million to spend, focusing on foundational building and coaching young players up.
However, Schoen isn’t in the business of spending all his money at once on monster contracts that are unsustainable. He will look to bring back homegrown players developed over the years but plug essential holes with efficient free agent signings.
In the past, Gettleman made overzealous decisions, spending luxurious amounts on Nate Solder and Patrick Omameh, both of whom failed to live up to their contracts. Schoen has done a much better job finding value options this off-season, including Mark Glowinski from the Indianapolis Colts and Jon Feliciano from the Buffalo Bills and Las Vegas Raiders.
Looking ahead, the Giants will have plenty of talent to choose from next season, with players like Tyreek Hill, Grady Jarrett, Cam Robinson, Orlando Brown Jr., and many more hitting the open market. Of course, teams often release players due to cap situations, providing even more talent to choose from.
Overall, the Giants have a tremendous amount of money to spend, but using all of it aimlessly is not a recipe for success, and hopefully they learned that from Gettleman’s failures.