The New York Giants are currently projected to have about $43 million in salary cap space this offseason. They are projected to have roughly $32 million in effective salary cap space, which is the cap space a team will have after signing at least 51 players and its projected rookie class to its roster.
While this might seem like a lot of spending money, it will dry up quickly once free agency kicks off in March. Thankfully, the Giants do have some moves they can make to create more cap space this offseason and fuel a spending spree.
The Giants can restructure contracts to create cap space
The Giants have several contracts that they could restructure to create a significant amount of cap space this offseason:
- EDGE Brian Burns ($16,185,000)
- DT Dexter Lawrence ($9,886,667)
- LT Andrew Thomas ($12,584,000)
- LB Bobby Okereke ($3,915,000)
- OG Jon Runyan Jr. ($4,040,000)
So, although the Giants’ current effective cap space projection ranks 12th in the NFL, they have plenty of room to balloon that total without even trading away or releasing any of their stars. Just by restructuring contracts, there is about $45 million in additional cap space that the Giants could create.
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There are drawbacks to restructuring contracts, though. Sure, it lowers the players’ cap hits and creates immediate cap space to utilize. However, it also pushes guaranteed money down the road, increasing the players’ cap hits in subsequent years of the contract.
If the Giants feel like they are a few pieces away from significantly improving their roster and winning more games in 2025, they could restructure these deals to bring in some new talent. But they will need to be careful not to tighten up their salary cap space in a significantly limiting way in the future.