New York Giants take rare approach to lock in Markus Golden for 2020

The New York Giants recently took an unfamiliar route to retain last year’s Big Blue sack leader Markus Golden. The team’s free agent tender offer plus coach Joe Judge’s kind words about Golden during Tuesday’s media call makes a reunion in 2020 more likely.

New York Giants outside linebacker Markus Golden found his pass rush again last year and was an impact player for the Big Blue defense. After missing 17 games from 2017-2018 due to injury, as well as suffering through horrible coaching in 2018, Golden went back to his double-digit sack form with the G-Men.

So far, Golden has not landed the big payday he probably feels that he deserves through the first six-plus weeks of free agency. So the New York Giants decided to use the unrestricted free agent tender on the outside linebacker.

The tender means that if he has not signed with another club by July 22nd, he will play for the G-Men at 110% of his 2019 salary, which is approximately $4.125M next season. That is a very team-friendly salary for someone coming off of a 10 sack season.

Golden puts up strong numbers when he can stay on the field. In two full NFL seasons, the former Mizzou star played in; he’s had 12.5 and 10 sacks, respectively.

There’s a theory about Golden that questions the validity of last year’s 10 sack total. Doubters claim that the number is misleading, due to other players doing the dirty work, They drew opposing quarterbacks closer to Golden which created easy sack opportunities for him, and he isn’t really a double-digit sack, pass rusher. Not to mention

Whoever believes this theory is kidding themselves. Markus Golden not only led the New York Giants in sacks, but he also topped the team with 16 QB hurries, seven more than the next member of Big Blue. Additionally, he was fifth on the Giants with 72 tackles.

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Golden hasn’t been signed yet due to questions about the sample sizes of his great play. That’s fair to an extent. He did miss 17 games in the two seasons before joining the G-Men.  Despite his injury-prone reputation, the New York Giants signed him to a one-year prove-it deal last spring. And he showed what he could do when healthy.

Golden isn’t, however, unsigned due to who he is as a football player. The tender was the New York Giants first step toward locking him up for 2020. In a conference call with the media on Tuesday, new Giants head coach Joe Judge says he has been in contact with the free agent pass rusher. The coach has respect for Golden and is interested in him re-joining the team.

Do you think the New York Giants will sign Markus Golden for the 2020 season? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.