If you think Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones getting a free hand at the same time is giving the Giants a headache, take your eyes off 2024.
Next season marks the final year of the contracts of safety Xavier McKinney, left tackle Andrew Thomas, and defensive tackles Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence. In other words, general manager Joe Schoen faces a balancing act this offseason, negotiating with immediate unrestricted free agents and also having early-stage overtime talks with the other young cores of a playoff team.
“The UFAs will probably have priority early on, but we’ll include them, too,” Schoen said. “We’re not just planning for the 2023 off-season. We’re looking at the line at ’24 and ’25. What’s on the horizon? How will this affect our further development? We are going through a number of different scenarios.”
McKinney, 23, missed eight games this season after breaking his hand and severely weakening three fingers in an SUV accident during bye week in Mexico. The Giants haven’t withheld his breach of contract pay, but has that changed how the defensive co-captain is viewed as a cornerstone of the franchise?
Joe Schoen addresses the media on January 23. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
“Not for us,” Schoen said. “He’s a young man who made a mistake. At first it wasn’t about football. He was more concerned with his well-being as a young man. We all make mistakes and we have to learn from them. He fought to come back. I’m just glad he was able to play again. He is a great boy who we look forward to working with.”
Lawrence, 25, had a breakout season with a career-high 7.5 sacks and remained a dominant run stuffer. He made his first Pro Bowl and was a second-team All-Pro after the Giants were believed to have declined a deadline date trade offer for him.
Lawrence has signed a fifth-year option for next season for $12.4 million, but the defensive tackle market’s peak is forecast by experts and will skyrocket to $20-$25 million a year. Jets star Quinnen Williams threatened to skip all voluntary off-season activity if he has to go for his option instead of a lucrative extension.
“Dexter has done enough [to enter talks]’ said Beautiful. “Dexter played really well. Great person, great teammate, happy to have him here. We have a certain cap space and tools available, and we’re going to figure out how to use them.”
The Giants can be more patient with 24-year-old Thomas by exercising his fifth-year option (a no-brainer before the May deadline) to secure him for 2024 at about $14.5 million, which is about $3 million less than without a 2022 Pro Bowl nudge. Thomas was a second-team All-Pro.
Dexter Lawrence walks off the field following the Giants’ January 21 loss to the Eagles. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
The Giants may exercise the fifth-year option on Andrew Thomas. Getty Images
Williams, 28, is in a different boat to the rest, having already landed his huge second contract (three years, $63 million). The final year of that overtime is 2023, when he is scheduled to count $32.2 million (the third-largest charge among any NFL non-quarterbacks) toward the cap.
Williams suggested Sunday that he could be open to a pay cut from his $18 million salary, but quickly backtracked, perhaps confused with the alternative of a reorganization to lower his cap but add more years to the deal. The Giants could cut Williams for $12 million in savings versus a $20.2 million dead cap.
“We haven’t talked about that yet,” Schoen said. “I like his quote that he would be interested in a pay cut – [media] did a good job whoever asked him about it. He didn’t mention that in his exit interview. … If we have to tap money, I wouldn’t rule that out.”