New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman may or may not have committed the biggest folly of his career when he traded a 2020 third-round selection and a conditional 2021 pick to the New York Jets for defensive lineman Leonard Williams last October.
It is practically unheard of for a team at the bottom of the NFL standings to trade valuable draft capital for an impending free agent, which Williams would have become had Gettleman not slapped the franchise tag on him earlier this year.
Williams, 26 this week, is the type of seasoned “young” veteran Gettleman wants to build the Giants around — a solid locker room guy who can also lead on the field. Given Gettleman’s penchant for larger players, the trade for the 6-foot-5, 302-pound former USC star who was the sixth overall selection in the 205 NFL Draft.
Williams, if not signed to new contract this season, will earn the franchise tag salary of $16.126 million. That is likely higher than any deal the Giants would have given him would have paid, but not by much.
Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated wrote that Williams’ tag figure “may or may not have been higher than what Williams would have earned on the open market anyway (this is actually a pretty interesting question, looking at Robert Quinn’s $14 million APY and Dante Fowler’s $15 million APY alongside someone like DeForest Buckner, who netted $21 million APY from the Colts. Williams’s number is probably not unreasonable and within a few million of what the open market price would have been).”
The Giants have reasons to want to get Williams under contract long-term. First, it will lower his 2020 cap hit (by how much is still unknown) and second to set up their cap for next year since they plan on keeping Williams around.
But signing Williams before the season has its downside as well. That conditional fifth-round pick they sent to the Jets becomes a fourth rounder if the Giants get Williams under contract before the season.
Either way, there is a lot at stake for Gettleman here. He made a deal he didn’t need to make — or shouldn’t have made — and now must make the best of things.
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