Is this the year Dave Gettleman, for the first time in his nine years as NFL general manager, moves into an NFL draft?
It could make sense, for several reasons.
- The giants have the general option no. 11, a place in the first round, where they will probably have a group of three or four players with similar grades, allowing them the option to move down a few places and still get a desired player, also adding capital project, in the form of a coveted additional election the next day.
- There may not be a defensive player taken in the first 10 picks, which means the Giants can move back a few places and land their best-ranked, certainly a position of need.
- Given the expenses with the free agency at a time when the salary cap has dropped unprecedentedly, it makes sense to win an additional choice on the second day of the project, adding value and cheap labor to the list for this season and also , for 2022, a year in which the Giants could be in trouble with their salary.
“Everything we do has an immediate horizon and one, two, three years, and we’re always on the lookout for how things affect us today and how they affect us next year and beyond,” Giants Deputy CEO Kevin Abrams said on Tuesday. . . “We are very aware of all these variables.”
Abrams, also the chief negotiator of the Giants contract, acknowledged that he had done “probably some capping practices that we normally try to avoid” during this free agency cycle, recharging and adding years that could be canceled to contracts over a period of time. expenses designed to immediately update the level of talent on the list. The results were appealing. Abrams worked on mega-offers for wide receiver Kenny Golladay (four years, $ 72 million) and defender Adoree ‘Jackson (three years, $ 39 million), while adding Kyle Rudolph and Devontae Booker. Not to forget, the Giants also opened the safe for a three-year extension, with 63 million dollars, for the defensive line Leonard Williams.
“I feel our roster is much better now than it was at the end of the season, and the off-season isn’t over yet, so we’ll have more opportunities to add players,” Abrams said. “I think we feel good about what we did. I think we are a deeper and more talented team. ”
Gettleman said he is confident that the first part of the players’ acquisition process has delivered the desired goods.
“It won’t be quantified until the fall and we will start playing in September, but we feel very good in what we have done, we feel very good about the direction the team has taken,” Gettleman said. “We really feel we are building a solid football team that fans can be proud of.”
Next: the NFL draft of 2021. The Giants currently have only six picks – one in the first four rounds, none in the fifth round, two in the sixth round and none in the seventh round. They would like to add at least one choice, and a down transaction is the way to do it. Of course, you need to locate a partner. The Patriots would be willing to move from number 15 to place no. 11, can take a defender? In 2018, the Raiders went from 15 to 10 in the first round and offered the Cardinals two additional options, one in the third round and one in the fifth.
As it stands now, the Giants hold general election no. 116 in the fourth round and then have no other selection until number 196 in the sixth round. This is a long time to watch the players coming off the board.
An additional choice gives the Giants an additional rookie contract, good for four years at a friendly price for the team. As a result of the global pandemic, the 2021 ceiling is $ 182.5 million, a decrease of $ 16 million from 2020. Gettleman and Abrams, with the blessing of property rights, were able to spend freely on free agency. The salary cap in 2022 may not increase to more than $ 200 million, but with the advent of new television money, it could expand to $ 230 million in 2023.
“I think 2022 could be a small challenge, depending on where the lid goes,” Abrams said. “Beyond that, I am more optimistic that nothing we did last year, this year puts us in a kind of precarious position. We will see.
“It could depend on science and the state legislatures and fans in the stands and many other variables that we will see how it goes. But I don’t think we are at a bad point, but next year could be a little more difficult than probably the years after that. “