Xavier McKinney was selected by the New York Giants in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft. His four years suiting up in blue were up and down, but last season McKinney took his game to a new level.
And he knows it, which is kind of bad news for the Giants.
In a few short weeks, McKinney becomes an unrestricted free agent unless the Giants re-sign him or tag him. The option to place the franchise tag on players began on Tuesday, but it doesn’t seem the Giants want to use it just yet. And they haven’t re-signed him, either.
But there is one more option — one that is rarely used in the NFL. The transition tag. It’s an option that’s very much in play, reports Paul Schwartz of the New York Post.
They will negotiate with McKinney’s representatives and if a deal cannot get done — there is no reason to believe an agreement will be reached — they have until March 5 to apply the lesser-used transition tag on him. That is a possibility, the Post has learned.
McKinney’s franchise tag cost is $16.2 million, while the transition tag cost is $13.9 million. Essentially, what the transition tag does is give McKinney an offer. Then he can test the market to see what other teams will offer him. When he gets an offer he likes, he presents it to the Giants, who then have a chance to match.
If the Giants don’t want to match, or can’t, McKinney is free to accept that offer. The Giants receive nothing.
But, this tactic allows both sides to continue working on a long-term deal while McKinney looks for offers.
For McKinney, like many players, he just wants to feel appreciated.
“I want to be appreciated in every way for what I do and bring to the table. As a player and as a leader. I’ve stood by myself ten toes through the critics, the hate etc. sacrificing what those around me didn’t want too or were afraid too for those same people to make it a better situation for all of us,” McKinney posted last week. “May not always have been beneficial for me but it was for US. Don’t let that go over your head. And I’d do it 10 times over again.”
It’s already been discussed that re-signing McKinney has to be a priority, but whether the Giants feel that way remains to be seen.
McKinney looks to command a high dollar amount, and we saw this at the end of the 2022 season with Julian Love. He went elsewhere. Which, unfortunately, may be exactly what happens with McKinney.
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