PFF: New York Giants In “Bad Spot” Due To Leonard Williams Deal

New York Giants, Leonard Williams
Dec 10, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; New York Jets defensive end Leonard Williams (92) before the game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Aside from the upcoming Draft, free agency is the best chance the New York Giants have right now at improving their team and moving to better results for the 2020 season than they had in the previous two years. However, not everything is fine and well on the free agency front this year. The Giants finally have cap space to target new additions with, but it doesn’t come without at least one downside.

According to PFF, the worst thing about the Giants’ free agency situation in 2020 is Leonard Williams. The Giants have to keep Williams if they want to get value out of him after making a risky deal with the Jets to bring him to the team in the first place – a deal that many experts believed would put the team in this very situation come free agency.

This is what PFF had to say about that situation in their 2020 preview of free agency.

None of the Giants’ impending free agents were key pieces to the team in 2019. They kind of put themselves in a bad spot with Leonard Williams, as they traded a third-round and fifth-round pick for him midseason and now have to pay a projected price of five years, $75 million with $43 million guaranteed. That’s the ninth largest contract for a non-quarterback this free agency, and he’s not even among the 20 best non-quarterback free agents, as he has failed to crack the top 25 in grade in each of his last three seasons.

PFF also admits that the Giants may have to make some cuts if they want to have more cap space to spend on improvements to the multiple areas that need to step up this year, including the much maligned secondary and the lackadaisical pass rush.

It’s unclear what the Giants will do with Williams but General Manager Dave Gettleman is going to look quite bad if Williams does end up leave after being rented to play part of a lost season at the expense of an above average price which the Giants acquired him for.

Regardless, one can expect the Giants to make improvements in free agency this year – there’s a lot of pressure after all to get better results out of Joe Judge’s first season as head coach, and winning in this area will be necessary to do that.