New York Giants: Don’t expect Big Blue to use their franchise tag
The franchise tag is essential for teams that want to keep their top talent and buy more time for contract negotiations. However, thanks to player quality and cap constraints, it’s unlikely that the New York Giants will give any of their free agents a franchise tender.
With the franchise tag window quickly the approaching, the New York Giants will take a good long look at their current free agents to see if any player is worth the designation. Picking the right player to franchise is usually a tough choice to make, but when you take a close look at the crop of players the team could lose this offseason, the only choice the Giants have is not using the tag at all.
The Giants aren’t losing any elite players this offseason. According to Spotrac, most of the players no longer under contract are easily replaceable depth players and a lot of replacement level starters such as Keenan Robinson, Jonathan Casillas, and Orleans Darkwa. However, the two players you could make an argument for franchising are center Weston Richburg and guard Justin Pugh.
Both linemen have been the lone bright spots along New York’s awful offensive line the past couple of seasons and are definitely worth keeping around. However, using the franchise tag on either player would put the Giants in a tough position financially.
To sum up its basic concept, the franchise tag is a one-year contract that guarantees a player a predetermined salary for the next season. However, how that salary is set is where things get tricky. The money designated to a franchised player is set by either averaging the top five salaries of his position or by giving said player 120 percent of their previous year’s salary if doing so would pay more than that top-five-contract average.
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Considering Pugh and Richburg combined for a little over $3.2 million against the cap last season, a 120 percent salary increase to keep either player is off the table. This year’s top-five-contract average for offensive linemen hasn’t been set yet, but judging by last year’s set salary, it’ll cost the Giants a lot. Last offseason, franchise-tagged offensive linemen were guaranteed $14.271 million for the 2017 season, and that number is likely to increase this year.
Pugh and Richburg are both quality linemen, but it’s safe to say that they’re not the kind of players who should earn that kind of money. Even if the Giants do believe that either Pugh or Richburg is worth offering a franchise tender, New York has about $15.5 million of cap room going into the new league year and that contract would leave them with nothing else to work with.
There’s plenty of time left in the offseason for the Giants to cut the right players to give them enough cap room for a franchised player, but with an Odell Beckham Jr. extension looming on the horizon, New York simply can’t do it.
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Needless to say, the Giants would be better off trying to negotiate more team-friendly deals while their players test the free agent market. It’s a risky move, but it’s the only one the New York Giants can make.