The needs are there, clear and concise. With the NFL free agency set to kick off this week, maybe the Giants can fill those two clear holes on their roster.
They need a wide first order receiver. And they need a dreaded runner. Can these two items be removed from the shopping list by selecting and insuring these products on the open market?
The short answer: no.
“Well, there’s a draft, right?” Said Giants general manager Dave Gettleman. “So you don’t have to buy them both. We’re just going to see how it works, see what the guys are worth and what the costs are and keep moving forward. “
This is the key here: keep moving forward. The Giants may not fill either of the two main holes in the coming weeks. As a general rule, they don’t have a lot of money to spend and are probably not interested in forming teams through purchasing power.
A year ago, Gettleman and first-year head coach Joe Judge had money to save and attacked quickly: they took out of the market an expensive cornerback, James Bradberry, and a $ 10 million inside defender a year, Blake Martinez. These two signings were hits anyway. The Giants have no salary cap space to have a similar impact this time around.
Of course, if Kenny Golladay were signed, he would immediately become the No. 1 receiver. Do you have $ 20 million a year to fit him? Shaq Barrett, if he doesn’t sign again with Super Bowl Buccaneers champion, would be the runner of steps to perfectly complement Leonard Williams ’push inside. They’re fantastic, but they’re not feasible acquisitions for a team that had to cut an offensive linebacker, goalie Kevin Zeitler, to reach a $ 182.5 million salary cap.
The giants are making about $ 4 million below the limit for the free agency. If they get Williams to sign a long-term deal and significantly reduce the limit number ($ 16.5 million) of Nate Solder, they could effectively add more than $ 20 in cap. The Giants will make their signings, creating more ripples than splashes. It remains to be seen if they can find the maximum space to add even a large entry contract.
The judge comes from the way the patriots did, in which the project was king and free agency was largely an accompaniment. This is not to say that it is adverse to spending, if the money is there and the player is the right one.
“Look, I’m always a long-term film man,” the judge said. “I think you have success building your team continuously through the draft, developing your players, adding the right players in a free agency that not only fits you schematically, but fits your personality and culture in the locker room.I think the only thing to keep in mind when we go through this point of the year of the free agency and, look, it’s very exciting, there’s a lot of press and media and it’s all over television, but the reality is that it’s not fantasy football: you can’t take a player, put him on his team and think that everything will work. “
The judge is self-aware. He knows his approach is not for everyone. Bradberry, Martinez, and later Logan Ryan were signings that aligned 100% with what the judge wants veterans to join the show. He doesn’t seem to be the type of coach who is willing to make leaps of faith or take big risks, regardless of the player’s skill level.
“There are things we do here that, look, we don’t make it easy for our players and coaches, that’s by design,” the judge said. “The guys we have in this locker room have bought. Here we have a lot of fun doing this, but we have a way of doing things. This is not for everyone, to be honest with you.”
This year’s draft, with no combination of exploration, limited in-person interaction with potential customers, and knowledge through remote access, is somehow an unexplored frontier, with teams less familiar than ever with the players who are about to select. This is not the case for free market veterans, which could cause the Giants to try to sign in bulk for in-depth purposes on the list.
“Uncertainty doesn’t really become an unrestricted free agency,” Gettleman said. “These are players who are in the league, it’s not the problem to explore them.”
It’s hard to predict that the Giants will make a big run on their own free agent, defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson, who, as a first-run player, will likely command more than $ 12 million a year. That would be a loss, accentuating the need for gains elsewhere.