The needs are there, clear and concise. With the free NFL agency starting this week, maybe the Giants can fill those two obvious holes on their list.
They need a first-class wide receiver. And they need a dreaded fear. Can both items be removed from the shopping list by selecting and insuring these goods on the open market?
Short answer: No.
“Well, there’s a project, isn’t there?” Said Giants general manager Dave Gettleman. “So you don’t have to buy both. We will only see how it goes, we will see what the boys are worth and what the costs are and we will continue to move forward. ”
This is the key here: keep moving forward. The giants may not fill either of their two major holes in the coming weeks. They don’t have a lot of money to spend and probably aren’t interested in team-building through purchasing power, as a general rule.
A year ago, Gettleman and first-year head coach Joe Judge had spare money and hit hard – pulling out an expensive defender, James Bradberry, and a $ 10 million a year defender, Blake. Martinez. These two signatures were in all respects huge blows. The giants do not have the salary ceiling space to have a similar impact this time.
Of course, if Kenny Golladay had signed, he would have moved immediately as recipient no. Do you have $ 20 million a year to frame it? Shaq Barrett, if he does not sign again with the Super Bowl Buccaneers champion, would be the passenger who would perfectly complete Leonard Williams’ momentum inside. These sound great, but they are not feasible acquisitions for a team that had to give up a proven offended line officer, guard Kevin Zeitler, to get under the $ 182.5 million salary cap.
The giants are heading to a free agency worth about $ 4 million under the ceiling. If Williams manages to sign a long-term deal and significantly reduce Nate Solder’s difficult ceiling ($ 16.5 million), he could actually add more than $ 20 in space. The giants will make their signatures, creating more waves than splashes. It remains to be seen if I can find the maximum space to add even a single large ticket contract.
The judge comes from the way the Patriots did things, in which the project was king, and the free agency was largely an accompaniment. This does not mean that it is against spending, if the money is there and the player is exactly right.
“Look, I’m always a kind of long-term image,” the judge said. “I think you are successful by continuously building your team through draft, by developing your players, by adding the right players in the free agency, which not only suits you schematically, but also suits your personality and culture in the locker room. I think the only thing you have to keep in mind when we go through this free agency of the year and look, it’s very interesting, there’s a lot of press and media and it’s everywhere on TV, but the reality is that it doesn’t it’s football fantasy: You can’t just grab a player, put him on your team and believe that everything will work. “
The judge is self-aware. He knows that his approach is not for everyone. Bradberry, Martinez and later Logan Ryan were signatures that aligned 100% with what the judge wants from the veterans who join the program. He does not seem to be the type of head coach willing to make leaps of faith or high risks, regardless of the player’s skill level.
“There are things we do here that we don’t make it easy for our players and coaches, by design,” the judge said. “The guys we have in this locker room bought themselves, we have a lot of fun doing this here, but we have a way of doing things. It’s not for everyone, to be honest with you. “
This year’s project – without a combination of research, limited in-person interaction with potentials and remote access knowledge – is, in some ways, an unexplored frontier, with teams less familiar than ever with the players to select. This is not the case with veterans in the open market, which could lead the Giants to try to sign en bloc for in-depth list purposes.
“Uncertainty doesn’t really go into an unlimited free agency,” Gettleman said. “These are players who are in the league, their research is not the problem.”
It’s hard to predict that the Giants will make a big run for their own free agent, defensive striker Dalvin Tomlinson, who, as prime-runer stuffer, could command over $ 12 million a year. This would be a loss, emphasizing the need for gains elsewhere.