On Thursday, ESPN’s Josina Anderson dropped a report that Jadeveon Clowney would be interested in signing with another team if not brought back by the Seattle Seahawks and that the New York Giants “could potentially” be interested.
That report seemed to lack confidence, but Dan Duggan of The Athletic followed it up on Friday morning with a much more firm report on the same topic.
The Giants have interest in Clowney, according to a source. But it’s unclear if they’ll be willing to pay what it will cost to land the one elite pass rusher on the market.
If the Giants don’t get into the Clowney sweepstakes, they could try to fortify their pass rush from the next tier of free agents. One player in that group is their own Markus Golden, who had 10 sacks last season.
In addition to Clowney, Duggan reports that the Giants are also interested in re-signing Markus Golden, who led the team with 10 sacks in 2019.
The Giants are interested in re-signing Golden, according to a source. Of course, the price tag will determine their level of interest. One source projected a contract with an average annual salary in the $8-9 million range for Golden. But he could easily exceed that with pass rushers in demand and cap space abundant.
The Giants have an obvious need for pass rushers going into the 2020 season and if they address that in free agency, it would allow them to target other positions (see: offensive tackle) in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Of course, everything boils down to numbers and despite having a substantial amount of cap room, the Giants have maintained that they do not intend to go “hog wild” in free agency.
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