Adoree’ Jackson‘s MCL sprain decimated the Giants at cornerback last season. Although the team made a surprising run to the playoffs, it spent much of the stretch run without Jackson and its other Week 1 starting corner (Aaron Robinson.)
Robinson has not returned to practice yet, remaining on New York’s active/PUP list due to the knee injury he suffered early last season, but first-round pick Deonte Banks now joins Jackson as a surefire starter. Banks’ presence, along with the host of big-ticket deals the Giants handed out this year, complicates Jackson’s Big Apple future. The former first-round pick is going into the final year of a contract the Joe Schoen regime did not authorize.
While a previous report indicated the Giants were not planning Jackson extension talks, the seventh-year defender said (via The Athletic’s Dan Duggan) conversations about a second agreement with the team have occurred. Jackson’s three-year, $39M deal calls for a $19.1M cap number this season. The team already attached a 2024 void year for cap purposes.
The Giants doled out a $40M-per-year deal for Daniel Jones, while Andrew Thomas and Dexter Lawrence are now respectively tied to $23.5M- and $22.5M-AAV extensions. Each contract will produce a significant cap spike between 2023 and 2024. Jones’ cap number rises from $21.75M this year to $45M in 2024. Thomas’ vaults from $9.3M to $23.7M, while Lawrence’s balloons from $6.7M to $21.9M. These changes will result in adjustments for the Giants, with Jackson’s future with the team in doubt.
Jackson, who is going into his age-28 season, became a more important Giants piece following the team’s May 2022 James Bradberry release. Pro Football Focus graded Jackson, a former Pac-12 long jump champion while at USC, just outside the top 30 at corner last year. Missing seven games due to injury, the 5-foot-11 defender still returned in time for the team’s wild-card win in Minnesota and accounted himself well against Justin Jefferson.
The Giants have experimented with Jackson in the slot during training camp. A strong second year in Don Martindale‘s system could create another good market for the ex-Titans first-rounder in March. Even with Banks in the fold, cornerback will be a key need for the Giants if they do not re-sign Jackson before the 2024 legal tampering period.
This offseason has revealed zero hesitation on Schoen’s part about committing to Dave Gettleman investments, with Jones, Lawrence and Thomas all first-rounders under the since-departed GM. Higher on the Giants’ 2023 payroll, Leonard Williams is also going into a walk year. Gettleman gave the 2019 trade acquisition a three-year, $63M extension shortly after applying a second franchise tag in March 2021. Williams holds the highest cap number among NFL defenders this year—by a wide margin. Williams’ $32.3M number jumps out on a Giants payroll that does not include another cap hit north of $22M.
A June report pointed to the Giants not eyeing an adjustment to bring down Williams’ monster cap number, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler notes the team remains unlikely to address the deal. No extension or pay cut should be expected here, with the Giants viewing the ninth-year veteran as an important piece in Brian Daboll‘s second season. Williams, 29, is not a 2024 franchise tag candidate, since the Giants have already tagged him twice. He is open to an extension with the team.
Williams fared well during his most recent contract year (2020), totaling a career-high 11.5 sacks and 30 quarterback hits. Jackson’s former USC teammate has not topped 15 QB hits in the two seasons since, but with the prospect of one final major payday in play, motivation will certainly exist for the ex-Jets top-10 draftee in 2023. With Lawrence’s contract running through 2027, however, Williams is no longer the Giants’ D-line centerpiece.
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