Where Giants' Salary Cap Stands After Martinez, Shepard Restructures
The New York Giants, who sought to clear about $40 million off their grossly bloated cap, have done so with a small series of moves that have combined purging the contracts of those players no longer in the plans with finding a way to retain players who are part of the team's 2022 plan but at a lower rate.
Here's a breakdown of what the Giants have done and where things stand ahead of the start of Monday's legal tampering period. Please note that NFL teams' salary cap pictures will be fluid, meaning they are likely to change quite frequently over the next several weeks.
TE Kyle Rudolph - Cut
$5 million savings
The Giants were hoping to get "Rudolph the Red Zone Threat Tight End" when they inked him to a two-year deal last off-season. Instead, they landed a veteran who had a bad foot requiring surgery that cost him all of the spring and summer, an ailment discovered during the team administered physical given before signing the contract.
The Giants decided not to back out of the deal or amend the terms of Rudolph's contract to reflect the injury discovery. They'll have to swallow $2.408 million in dead money as a result.
TE Kaden Smith - Cut
$2.54 million savings
Smith showed some promise as an inline blocker and occasional receiver, but not enough to steer the Giants clear of going after Rudolph. Still, Smith, who was also a solid special teams contributor, was one of those underappreciated blue-collar types of players who gave his all until a knee injury brought everything to a screeching halt.
With Rudolph and Smith, who carried no dead money, both now ex-Giants, and Evan Engram likely to follow the money out of New York, the Giants need a tight end.
RB Devontae Booker - Cut
$2.125 million savings
The Giants viewed Booker as an every-down back, and sure enough, he had to do just that when Saquon Barkley had to miss multiple games due to an ankle sprain. Booker finished with the same amount of rushing yards as Barkley.
In the end, new Giants general manager Joe Schoen decided that keeping Booker and Saquon Barkley ($7.2 million) for a combined $10.325 million or roughly four percent of the total cap just wasn't a smart allocation of financial resources.
More Giants-related Content from Giants Country
P Riley Dixon - Cut
$2.8 million savings
Dixon initially looked to be a steal for the Giants who acquired him from Denver via trade. However, the 28-year old regressed in terms of his consistency in the last two seasons.
The handwriting was on the wall for Dixon when the Giants signed Jamie Gillan, aka "The Scottish Hammer'' and gave him a $100,000 guarantee. That doesn't necessarily mean Gillan will be the punter in 2022, but it was a sign that Dixon likely wasn't going to be long for the roster.
WR Sterling Shepard - Restructured
$6.225 million estimated savings
At the start of this process, I thought for certain Shepard might be a cap cut given that the Giants drafted Kadarius Toney to be their future slot receiver. However, Shepard's late-season Achilles injury meant that he'd be eligible for injury protection of roughly $2 million (assuming his agent filed for it by the January 31 deadline, which I'd be shocked if that wasn't the case).
So while Shepard probably won't be ready for training camp and his availability for the start of the 2022 season would appear to be in jeopardy, the Giants decided to keep him anyway on a reduced salary by restructuring his contract.
Shepard's new deal will allow him to hit free agency sooner (he was originally signed through 2023, but that now becomes a voidable year). Meanwhile, the Giants get to keep a good, solid veteran leader who just so happens to be one of quarterback Daniel Jones's favorite targets.
ILB Blake Martinez - Pay Cut
$5.924 million estimated savings
Martinez, who is coming off an early-season torn ACL--he should be ready to go by the start of the 2022 season--was in a different place than Shepard regarding his contract's timeline. Unlike Shepard, who originally had one more year to go, Martinez was set to enter the final year of his contract this coming season.
The Giants trimmed Martinez's $8.425 million base salary to around $2.25 million. As they reportedly did with Shepard, they gave him a chance to earn back some of what was taken away in the form of incentives (probably "not likely to be earned" incentives, which won't count against the 2022 cap).
As is also the case with Shepard, the Giants retain an important veteran leader in the defensive co-captain and a guy who, once cleared by the medical staff, will be a key player in Don Martindale's new defense.
Tallying It Up
The moves made by the Giants have cleared an estimated $24.616 million off their 2022 salary cap. Before making any moves, the Giants, as of March 2 data posted on Over the Cap, were listed as $12.204 million in the red in overall cap space and $24.779 million in the red in effective cap space.
(Effective cap space, per Over the Cap, is the space the team will have after signing at least 51 players and its projected rookie class to its roster.)
Based on the projections, the Giants now have $12.409 million in cap space and are only $165,036 in the red in Effective Cap Space. There is still more work to be done, and as others have noted, one of the contracts to watch is cornerback James Bradberry, who has a $21,863,889 cap hit and will have $2 million of his $13.4 million base salary guaranteed on March 17.
If the Giants cut or trade Bradberry before June 1, they will save $12,136,111 off their cap, putting them in much better shape. If they designate Bradberry as a post-June 1 transaction, the savings bumps up to $13.5 million, roughly a $1.464 million difference that's probably not worth it to kick the can down the road.)
Removing Bradberry's number would bring the Giants' estimated cap savings to $36,750,111, still a few million shy of the $40 million goal Schoen identified, but still, without question, a big piece of the puzzle where still more work needs to be done.
Join the Giants Country Community
- Sign up for our FREE digest newsletter
- Follow and like us on Facebook
- Submit your questions for our mailbag
- Listen and subscribe to the daily LockedOn Giants podcast.
- Subscribe and like the new LockedOn Giants YouTube Channel
- Sign up for our FREE message board forums
