Before Tuesday’s deadline at 4 p.m., the New York Giants needed to make a significant move in order to stay within the $208.2 million salary cap. By the midnight ET cutoff time, they’ve already done it. Field Yates says the Giants have reworked defensive lineman Leonard Williams’ contract.
This was seemingly the best option for General Manager Joe Schoen to consider, as Williams’ cap hits of $27.3 million this season and $26.3 million next season were prohibitive.
According to Yates, the Giants have decided to pay Williams $17.88 million in signing bonus money rather than pay him his full base salary of $19 million in 2022. They are also going to add a year with no months, and that year will be 2024. According to Yates’ calculations, the transaction will free up $11.92 million in cap space.
The Giants’ $6.692 million salary cap deficit was the worst in the NFL. On Tuesday morning, Over The Ceiling reported that the Los Angeles Rams ($739,997) were the only other team to be in excess of their salary cap.
Earlier in the offseason, Schoen had claimed that renegotiating player contracts was a “last resort” for reducing costs in order to stay below the salary cap. Since then, the Giants have had to renegotiate the contracts of Williams and cornerback Adoree’ Jackson. They also had to let cornerback James Bradberry go and negotiate a pay cut for veteran wideout Sterling Shepard so that he could stay on the squad.
The Giants will likely save around $5.22 million in salary cap space as a result of this decision. It’s hard to imagine that being sufficient to keep the Giants afloat for the entirety of the 2022 season without further salary cap adjustments.
How Much Does Leonard Williams Make?
Leonard Williams earns an average of $21,000,000 per year. Williams will get a base salary of $1,120,000 and a restructuring bonus of $17,880,000 in 2022. He will also have a cap hit of $15,380,000 and a dead cap value of $35,600,000.