MYTHBUSTED: Why NY Giants’ Future Cap Space Isn't What It Seems

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1:01Oh, that's good. And participating locations for a limited time while supplies last trademark in copyright 2026. Jimmy Johns Franchise or SPV LLC. On today's Lockdown Giant's podcast, the biggest misconception fans seem to have as it pertains to the salary cap. I'm going to tell you what it is and why it's a misconception coming up next. You are Lockdown Giants, your daily New York Giants podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. Hello New York Giants fans and welcome to another edition of the Lockdown Giants Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network in America. I'm your host Patricia Trina, credentialed member of the New York Giants Media for Lockdown. This was from New York Giants on SI, which is where you can find all of my written work. And as always, welcome to our every dayers, our blue kook community members, our newcomers

2:06and everybody else in between. Thank you so much. We're spending part of your day with us here on the Lockdown Giants Podcast. And on today's show, you know, look, I am very active in social media, all right? I read my ex account, I read Blue Sky and Instagram and all the comments and stuff. It's important for me to get a feel for what fans want to know, what the hot topics are and all that stuff. But every so often, I come across a misconception. And despite my attempts to set the record straight, people argue with me, they're like, no, no, no, it's not this. And one of the biggest misconceptions that I want to talk about on today's show is it's something that involves the salary cap. Now, a question I always get a lot of, probably because, you know, I do a lot of cap work, is how much space do the Giants have?

3:08And I keep telling people that the space is fluid, especially this time of year. You look at over the cap and on any given day and by the way, this is on record over on New York Giants on SI, where I'll say, okay, an article that I wrote two months ago, maybe the Giants had five million in cap space. Well, now these days, the Giants have, you know, as I record this, one million, about, you know, just over a million in cap space. So the number goes down based on the free agent signings that they're currently making, which is basically your street free agents who are citing reserve future contracts. And the reason why the cap will, you know, fluctuate is because of the top 51. If we're looking at the top 51, which starts on the first day free agency, which is March 11th this year, the, the people that were previously in the top 51 are going to fall out of it as they get replaced by people with higher cap numbers. But that's not the biggest misconception at all.

4:08The biggest misconception has to do with future cap space, all right. Now, I happen to see on my ex account, somebody said the Giants are in great shape for 20 to 27. They're going to have all this cap space. All right. Let's look at the numbers and break it down, all right. According to over the cap in 2027, based on a $327 million salary cap, which by the way, I suspect is going to be higher, all right. Every estimate that over the cap is put out by no fault under their own, they do, they do a pretty good job in, you know, estimating the cap, but every estimate that they put out ends up being too low. That being said, the Giants are listed with 128.858 million in cap space for next year. And everybody is thinking, oh, wow, that's amazing.

5:12They're going to have so much room to do stuff with. Hold the phone, okay. Let's hold the phone. That cap space according to over the cap encompasses only 23 contracts, all right. So they have spent money or they have money tied up in 23 contracts, all right. That is why the Giants right now have all kinds of gobs of cap space. When you've got 23 guys under contract, yeah, you're going to have a ton of cap space. That cap space, ladies and gentlemen, for 2027 is going to go down as they sign guys to multi-year contracts as they, you know, restructure and, you know, manipulate the cap for example. Let's say they sign a blue chip free agent this year to a four year deal. As we know, the first year of any new contract is generally low.

6:14And the reason why it is low is because the player gets the signing bonus. So the team can say, hey, we're giving you this signing bonus up front, which by the way gets per rated over the life of the contract up to five years. But because you're getting to sign this signing bonus, you're going to get a low base salary. So that's how they manipulate the first year of the cap. That means in year two and year three and year four. And if there's a year or five, the numbers now go up. And that bites into the next year's cap space. That's why I tell people do not get excited about what the Giants have next year. Where are you about this year? And then we'll worry about next year once we get it feel for, you know, once free agency slows down. Now, there is another factor involved with regards to the seller cap and why you should not get excited about which I will tell you right after this.

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10:27Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem promo code L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N for $20 off. Download game time today. All right, giant fans, welcome back to Lockdown Giants, I'm your host Patricia Traina. Just real quick, before I continue on with the show, the Lockdown Giants every day or club is boomin', all right? We've got a great little community growing on our Discord channel where you can come in and you can talk Giants football in a toxic free environment. We've got other perks. We've got our weekly lunch hour calls. We've got one set for this week on Friday where listeners can come in and they can ask questions for a whole hour or they can talk about football or give their thoughts. It's a lot of fun and that's just some of the perks that we offer in our every day or club. And you can find out more by visiting Lockdown and my Giants.supercast.com

11:29and all this month for a limited time. You can try out the every day or club. You have two levels so you can try it out, absolutely free, use our promo code, free agency. That's all one word, all caps, free agency for a full month free membership in the every day or club. If you like it, you just continue and do nothing. If you don't like it, you cancel and that's it, that's all she wrote. So I hope you'll check it out again, that's Lockdown and my Giants.supercast.com. All right, now back to the salary cap. I mentioned that there is another factor that we have to pay attention to that will affect next year's cap. That ladies and gentlemen is the fifth year option on the rookie deals. All right, now this year, the Giants, they're not picking up Deontay Banks. They're not picking up that option. All right, that being said in the future,

12:31will leak neighbors after three years will be eligible to have this deal redone. Will he want it? Will he raise a stake about wanting it? It's possible. And the Giants, as I've said, on previous shows, a lot of times when a player has had a pro bowl or has made all pro, that has been Joe Shane's prompt, if you will, to extend the contract, even if they're in a rookie deal. That's what he did with Dexter Lawrence. That's what he did with Andrew Thomas. So there's always that possibility of extending the player, especially if they have a lot of cap money. You don't want to block these guys up. You don't want them walking away. Dexter Lawrence speaking of whom, I would fully not be shocked if Dexter Lawrence gets a bump in his pay this year, which carries over to 2027 and 2028. So there are other elements that are going to make that beautiful looking 128.858 million in cap space for 2027 drop.

13:40All right, so that is why folks, you don't want to get excited. You just don't want to get excited. And I get it, the cap is going to go up and everything like that. So to our player salaries, you know, the player minimum salaries are going to go up, the, you know, signing bonuses are going to go up. I mean, it's amazing. You look at what players made 10 years ago and a lot of those based salaries have doubled what they were. So, you know, it's the cost of inflation. It's like anything else that you will come across. And I get it. A lot of people are like, look, the future looks bright. You know, there's no dead money. There's no this, there's no that. All that's going to change. So that is why much like when it comes to player contracts, that are tech, even though they're like a five year contract, it's actually a series of five one year contracts. You got to take the salary cap one year at a time. And right now, the time is now 2026,

14:43which for those of you who need a refresher, as I record this, the giants have 2.778 million in cap space, total cap space. As far as they're top 51 figure, they're in the red. It's 7.320, okay? 7.230 million, which means they're going to have to cut guys. And they will. They might even have done it by the time this show airs, but they're going to cut guys. And, you know, I talked about the four that they're going to cut, or I think they're going to cut Bobby O'Karrickay, Devon Singletary, James Hudson, Graham Ginoe. That should clear out about 29.1 million in cap space. But even then, folks, that's not a lot for the giants to spend. I think they're going to be very, very limited in how they spend this year. Because, you know, the other thing is, you can't keep restructuring guys. You can't keep, you know, borrowing money for against future caps.

15:44It just catches up with you. It ultimately catches up with you. So, you can start working with voidable years and other mechanisms that we've talked about. Option bonuses and all that good stuff. So, you know, Donna Ponte, she's got to work cut out for her. Can't wait to see how she manages this seller cap moving forward for the New York Giants. All right, giant fans, that does it for this edition of Lockdown Giants. Again, thank you so much for tuning in, spending part of your day with us here on the Lockdown Giants podcast. And I'll see you tomorrow with an all-new set of episodes.

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