With the New York Giants in a rebuild, one of the key elements will be cap space going forward. It is important to have as much pace available as possible in order to bring in the players they will need to help them turn things around.
In 2021, Over The Cap estimates the Giants will have approximately $48 million in available cap space that could potentially be $67 million with possible contract restructures. That number could climb to as much as $103 million with some strategic cuts.
Tier 3: 49ers, Giants, Panthers, Vikings, Texans, Packers, Lions, Rams
This is a more haphazard group as it consists of a few teams that will likely have their cap positon overstated in 2021 and a few that will have it understated. For the most part this group of teams have one primary avenue to added cap space- either restructures or cuts but not nearly as much flexibility with both as the teams in the tier above. The 49ers, Lions and Rams can benefit the most with the restructure strategy while the Vikings, Packers, Giants, Panthers, and Texans could slice away to gain room. This is also the group where one big extension could drop them a tier and have a ripple effect on the cap. Of these teams the 49ers have the most overall flexibility and are probably in the best shape.
Given the current state of things with COVID-19 hanging over our heads, no one is sure what type of season the league will have. If the NFL is forced to play without fans, it will cost the league a pretty penny. Billions in revenue will be lost.
That will certainly lead to an end of the current streak of rising salary caps. In fact, it could lead to salary cap cuts or restrictions, but that is a conversation for after the 2020 season.
The Giants will be in decent shape regardless of the league’s financial landscape. The Giants don’t have a load of free agents of their own to tend to. Leonard Williams, Dalvin Tomlinson and Aldrick Rosas are the three big names possibly headed for the open market along with some other players they recently inked to one-year deals this spring (Kyler Fackrell, Dion Lewis, Cam Fleming, Austin Johnson).
It is expected that the Giants will sign Williams and Tomlinson to long-term deals either during or before the season, so that will cut into their 2021 cap space a bit.
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