The New York Giants didn’t make an offer to free agent outside linebacker Markus Golden when free agency began back in March, figuring he’d be too expensive for their 2020 roster.
Instead, they signed Kyler Fackrell, formerly of the Green Bay Packers and will rely on the maturation of last year’s third round pick, Oshane Ximines, to pick up the slack.
But things don’t always pan out the way many see them panning out. Golden, who led the Giants in sacks with ten last season, was greeted by a cold marketplace. His $10 million per annum asking price scared off any team seeking out a bargain (including the Giants) and he sat idly by while teams signed other options.
Now, Golden is in a spot where he is almost certain to be ignored. The Giants, seeing that Golden could slip through the cracks this summer, placed the seldom-used unrestricted free agent tender on Golden this spring which means if he doesn’t find a new team by July 22, his rights will revert back to the Giants.
That’s three weeks from Wednesday, by the way, and with teams having other issues to tackle at the moment, it appears Golden will likely be back with the Giants again in 2020.
“The status of Golden is basically unchanged. He’s still a free agent and, since the Giants put the “May 5 tender” on him, he’s only got until July 22 (or the first day of the first NFL training camp, whichever is later – and that may turn out to be July 28) to find a new team, otherwise his only option is to sign a one-year, $4.125 million deal with the Giants,” writes SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano.
“It’s always possible someone has talked to him or his agent, of course, and that we just don’t know it,” Vacchiano continued. “But I think it’s clear that if someone wanted Golden for more than that amount he would’ve signed already. He’s been a free agent now for 3 ½ months and that red-line price of $4.125 million has been set for two of them. Everyone knows the deal, but no other team has stepped up…my sense is the Giants feel pretty confident Golden will be coming back to them.”
The Giants can certainly afford to re-sign Golden. They currently have an estimated cap space of $16.3 million but have signed just one of their 10 draft choices. That could leave them with about $6 million in space, enough to bring back Golden.
If they can’t, and Golden signs elsewhere, that will also help the Giants. By slapping the UFA tender on Golden, he is eligible to be counted towards the compensatory pick formula in 2021.
The Giants currently are not set up to receive any compensatory selections in next year’s NFL Draft and looking at the cancellation chart, losing Golden in free agency may not help them because they signed four rated UFAs this spring (James Bradberry, Blake Martinez, Fackrell and Levine Toilolo) while losing none.