•The Giants won't literally need $5,071,174 to sign their rookies as it stands now (see the table below):
•All they'll need is
$1,172,981.•Here's how it works:
•Out of the Giants' 8 draft picks, only their first 2 (rounds 1 and 2) would qualify to fit into the top 51 list of Cap Numbers.
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Round 1 - $1,517,436
Round 2 - $765,545
TOTAL: $2,282,981
•The last two Cap numbers on the Giants' top 51 would be displaced; they are as follows:
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Cap Number #50 – Ryan Torain – $555,000
Cap Number #51 – Jim Cordle – $555,000
TOTAL: $1,110,000
$2,282,981 - $1,110,000 = $1,172,981•When the offseason ends, the Giants will need to make more room under the cap--at least another 2 to 3 million dollars provided they don't sign any other free agents, but that's a topic for another thread.
•I'll revisit this thread topic of the salary cap in another 2 or 3 weeks, after the draft is over, when we can officially factor in the cap implications of the draft picks into each team's Top 51 cap figure.
•Look for signings to occur quickly in May, June, and July; the new CBA has a slotted system, so extended hold outs are a thing of the past.
•It's also easy to project the cap impact of the draft picks for each team because of this slotted system.
•I recommend giving the following article a read by Jason Fitzgerald from overthecap.comhttp://overthecap.com/preparing-for-the-future-the-nfc-east/
•It highlights the respective cap situations of all 4 clubs in the NFC East.
•Here's the section on the Giants:
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New York Giants:
•The Giants are another team with a difficult cap situation and don’t expect them to be finished tinkering with the pay structure of their roster just yet. The Giants don’t have enough cap space to function come the summer and fall so they need to restructure some players or cut players outright. I’ve seen this type of scene play out many times before and typically right after the draft you will see some cuts based on positional selections.
•If I was Chris Snee or Antrel Rolle I would be worried about my position on the team and ability to maintain my salary for the season. The Giants only have $101 million or so commited to the 2014 salary cap but with deals needed for WRs Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks that cap space could vanish in a hurry. Cruz is an 8 million or so a year player while Nicks, if he has a good and healthy season, could top $12 million a year.
•The Giants would be best suited to lock Nicks up now because he has the most to gain in free agency while Cruz’ value seems pretty locked in unless Percy Harvin sets the world on fire out in Seattle. If they intend to keep the two wideouts that means they have no choice but to fill their other issues- offensive line and secondary- through the draft. The Giants love to draft pass rushers and that’s always a possibility but I don’t know if they can ignore these other areas in the draft, Their defense clearly needs more balance.
•As indicated above, the Giants are going to have to make some more cap moves before the start of the season. so it'll be interesting to see which players are candidates to get restructured, or maybe even cut (I doubt that).
•Rolle, Tuck, and Weatherford are candidates to get restructured IMO.
•Tuck is in the last year of his deal like Diehl, so they may do the whole Voidable Year trick that they did with Webster and Osi last year to help them in the cap department if it comes down to it.
•Keep your eyes on that situation as time progresses after the draft.
•Right now the Giants have enough money to sign all their picks, and even one or two veteran free agents should necessity dictate.
•It's a buyer's market out there, and there are still some quality vets available (see the link above with the list of remaining free agents).
•As Anish Patel said on that thread, the Giants will go through the draft process and undrafted rookie free agency first before dipping back into the veteran free agent pool for needed talent.
•If after the conclusion of the draft and signing undrafted rookie free agents, the Giants' braintrust thinks it needs to upgrade the team, they'll have inexpensive veteran options to choose from since the supply will far exceed the demand.
•"Bottom feeding" free agent signing will truly occur after the draft when less roster positions, and thus jobs, will be available.
•If there are vets out there who think they're going to be getting big money, then they're in for the same dousing of figurative cold water that most other veteran free agents have experienced thus far.
•For what it's worth, Andre Smith, the lone remaining unrestricted free agent who is expected to get the most money from the players still left on the market has gone on record as saying that the offer that he received form the Bengals (his original team) was "insulting".
•It'll be interesting to see what he gets, as well as the few remaining big players still out there on the market.
•Enjoy the rest of the day, and Happy upcoming Draft week to everyone!
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