For the second straight year, the Giants are protecting themselves from losing Leonard Williams in free agency.
On Tuesday, the Giants are expected to place the franchise tag on their star defensive lineman, a person familiar with the decision told NJ Advance Media. The news was first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. When players are franchise tagged in back-to-back years, the tag’s value must be 120% of the total from the year before. For Williams, he earned $16.1 million on the franchise tender in 2020, and that jumps to about $19.3 million this year.
The Giants and Williams have been trying to come to terms on a new deal, but it hasn’t happened yet so the franchise opted to tag him and restrict him from hitting free agency, at least for now. The Giants simply could be using this as a negotiation tactic to spur along the discussions on a multi-year deal.
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Williams is coming off a career-best season (11.5 sacks) and would likely command a salary in the range of the top defensive tackles in the NFL if he hit free agency, in the range of $20 million per season or more.
The downside of tagging Williams now is that the Giants will be forced to carry the tender as a $19.3 million cap hit, making it more difficult for the team to get anything done in free agency. As of Monday night, the Giants were only projected to have around $7.3 million in cap space on a projected $180.5 million salary cap, per Over the Cap. The actual cap could wind up being a few million higher than that.
The Giants choosing to tag Williams also could have implications for another key defensive lineman. Dalvin Tomlinson is also scheduled to hit free agency and the Giants opting to tag Williams makes it clear who is their top priority. The Giants can still re-sign Tomlinson, but it seems less likely if they intend to pursue any other free agents of note.
In order to clear cap space, the Giants had already cut wide receiver Golden Tate, wide receiver Cody Core and linebacker David Mayo before Monday and also restructured the contract of tight end Levine Toilolo.
In order to tag Williams, the Giants need to have enough cap space to carry that $19.3 million figure. That likely means the Giants will be making more moves soon, including cutting left tackle Nate Solder and making a decision on right guard Kevin Zeitler. Cutting Zeitler would save the Giants $12 million, which would be enough to get the job done.
The Giants can significantly reduce that $19.3 million cap hit by signing Williams to a new deal. They also could technically trade him now that he’s tagged, though that seems less likely.
If the Giants intend to do anything of note in free agency next week, though, they’ll have to move quickly on a deal with Williams. Otherwise, they’ll be in a holding pattern.
For a team with so many holes — especially at wide receiver, edge rusher and on the offensive line — they can’t really afford to sit on their hands this offseason.
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