It was a matter of when and not if the New York Giants decided to restructure the contracts of cornerback James Bradberry and linebacker Blake Martinez, and that move came this week.
ESPN’s Field Yates reports that the Giants have converted the base salary of both Bradberry and Martinez into signing bonuses.
Others who had base salary converted into a signing bonus, creating cap:
Bills CB Tre’Davious White: $9.46M salary ➡️ $7.568M cap
Giants CB James Bradberry: $8M salary ➡️ $4M cap
Giants LB Blake Martinez: $7M salary ➡️ $3.5M cap
Texans LB Whitney Mercilus: $6M salary ➡️ $4M cap— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 24, 2021
With the salary-to-bonus conversion, the Giants save $7.5 million in salary cap space for 2021, but will add an additional $7.5 million hit in 2022.
Bradberry’s projected 2022 cap hit is now $20.5 million, while Martinez will carry an estimated cap hit of $14 million. As a result, it’s possible — even plausible — that the Giants extend the contract of each player sometime next offseason.
The good news for general manager Dave Gettleman & Co. is that an NFL dollar in 2021 will not carry the same value into 2022 and beyond. With the league’s massive television deal, the cap is expected to rise significantly in the coming years, making this financial shuffling far less impactful down the road.
With these two restructures, the Giants cleared enough space to cover the costs of signing defensive lineman Leonard Williams, wide receiver Kenny Golladay and cornerback Adoree’ Jackson.
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