New York Giants offseason: Good signings and wasted money, reviewed

Who the Giants signed in 2020

Altogether, incredibly AWFUL!

Some are good but overpaid and some have been DISASTROUS. Specifically the bigger money signings. They have literally wasted millions of dollars in money.

All of the money/contract info is taken from Spotrac.com: Giants salary cap team page.

All numerical player ratings are taken from Lineups.com: Giants team page.

1. Leonard Williams: Player rating 79

Average salary per year: $16,126,000

This was a good and a bad move all at the same time. The Giants gave up a 2020 3rd round draft pick AND a conditional 2021 5th round pick for what could’ve been a rental player.

Williams was only signed through the end of 2019. So there may have been a chance that he played the remainder of the 2019 season (8 games), and then signed elsewhere during free agency. Atrocious trade.

Fortunately, they at least made sure they signed him, so that the trade wasn’t a waste. Unfortunately, they signed him to a franchise tag and super overpaid him.

Just because he’s the best defensive end on your team does not mean he’s one of the best in all of football. In fact, he’s far from it. So why pay him like it?

I’ve seen ratings for Willaims range from 79-83. Even with a grace ceiling rating of 86, he should be getting paid around $12M, NOT $16M. With his 83 rating, the highest I’ve seen him rated while with the Giants, he should be receiving about $10M.

At his current rating of 79, he should only be receiving about $6.5M. I think signing him for about $8.5M would have been more than fair. If you want to make the argument that he didn’t play to his potential because it is a new team, new chemistry, new playbook, new scheme, etc. Fair, but $10M per year — tops!

CAP SAVINGS: $6,000,000+  😐

2. James Bradberry: player rating 82

Average salary per year: $14,500,000

OK, don’t get me wrong, I think Bradberry is a great signing. A solid cornerback. Again, WAY OVERPAID!! He’s the 32nd ranked cornerback in the league but he’s the fourth highest paid! Bradberry’s price is approximately $5-5.5M per year!

What’s with New York teams overpaying players like this?! A fair price if we give him some leeway of a higher ceiling on his rating … maybe he gets $6.5M.

CAP SAVINGS: $9,000,000!!

3. Cody Core: player rating 66

Average salary per year: $2,000,000

I feel that Core was signed more as a special teams guy than a Wide Receiver. But why are they paying a special teams guy $2M?! $1M at the MOST.

CAP SAVINGS: $1,000,000

4. Austin Johnson: player rating 70

Average salary per year: $1,500,000

Not sure why they needed to sign this guy. At the time of his signing, they already had three Defensive Tackles on the roster and they were all rated higher than him (74, 75, 81). Yet somehow he was signed and is now the highest-paid defensive tackle on the team. The other two backups were making only about $610,000 each. Wha??? Talk about a head-scratcher.

CAP SAVINGS: $1,500,000

5. Blake Martinez: player rating 75

Average salary per year: $10,250,000

Even though his number show a lot of tackles and he seems like a solid starter, I feel he’s got 2 strengths: good head on tackling and good side line to sidelined coverage. From the tapes I’ve seen: He’s not good at dropping back into pass coverage, can get easily juked by an agile runner in space, and often gives up on plays when they aren’t around him. So even though he somehow has 100+ tackles a year, he definitely has his weaknesses. With a 75 rating his fair market value is only at about $3,000,000

CAP SAVINGS: about $7,000,000

6. Cameron Fleming: player rating 67

Average salary per year: $3,437,000

Unfortunately, right now Cameron is now the starting Right Tackle for the team. Yes, you read that right, a 67 rating is starting. This is likely due to Nate Solder sitting out the season. Otherwise, rookie Andrew Thomas would probably be here. Be that as it is, OVER $3M for a 67?!?!? His fair market value is literally more like $1.5M, $2M tops!

CAP SAVINGS: about $2,000,000

7. Nate Ebner: player rating 68

Average salary per year: $2,000,000

I don’t even know why this guy was signed. There are already 13 players signed to the secondary on this team. Most are ranked higher than him and he got signed for more than some of those ranked higher than him are. I would have just never signed him

CAP SAVINGS: $2,000,000

8. Eric Tomlinson: player rating 68

Average salary per year: $805,000

Another head scratcher. There were already 4 Tight Ends signed to the team and they are all rated as good or better than him. All but Engram were making less. I just would have never signed him.CAP SAVINGS: $805,000

9. Levine Toilolo: player rating 71

Average salary per year: $3,250,000

He was rated worse than three out of the four (88,73,74,68) Tight Ends already signed to the team but for whatever reason was signed to a contract that payed better than three out of those same four. If they really felt it was worth signing him, his fair market value should be at about $1,000,000

CAP SAVINGS: over $2,000,000