The New York Giants have limited time to either tag or come to a deal with defensive lineman Leonard Williams before he becomes an unrestricted free agent at the start of the league year, but due to the league’s CBA negotiations dragging on and not finishing quickly, they’ll have a few more days added to the clock which may help in coming to a decision.
The league has revealed that teams will have until midnight on Monday franchise tag or transition tag players instead of the Thursday that was originally planned, which pushes the deadline from today to next week. It could give the Giants more time to come to an agreement with Williams and his agent rather than being forced by the deadline to apply the transition tag, which is the expected move here.
Using the tag would give the Giants the right of first refusal if another team makes an offer for Williams in free agency – which would increase their chances of keeping Williams rather than losing him after less than one full season of having him around.
Though, that doesn’t mean the Giants necessarily have the most leverage even if they do apply the transition tag. If Williams comes to an agreement with another team that’s higher than what the Giants want to spend, they may end up not matching the offer and instead letting Williams walk to another team for a decent payday.
Of course, the Giants have a lot of cap space to spend this year, more than they’ve had in any of their recent losing seasons, which could see them pay Williams what he wants and take the higher cap hit over having to find a replacement. Regardless, we’ll know their decision by Monday, when the new deadline to apply the transition tag is set.