Updating New York Giants' Salary Cap Situation After Draft

The New York Giants spared no expense this offseason in their attempt to improve a roster that not only vastly underperformed last season but also saw some of the Giant's roster depth holes, such as the offensive line, exposed.

But after beginning free agency with just over $43.8 million, the Giants’ current cap space has dwindled to $1.103 million and minus $9.357 million in effective cap space, putting them dead last in the league. 

New York spent over $237.92 million on 26 contracts this offseason, of which $145.094 million is guaranteed.

This means that restructures are coming so that the Giants, who are listed as having 80 players under contract (the max in the offseason is 90), can fit in their draft picks and undrafted free agents.

Outside linebacker Brian Burns, defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, and left tackle Andrew Thomas are among the top five highest cap hits for New York, which are likely to be restructured.

Linebacker Bobby Okereke and guard Jon Runyan round out the top five, but it would be surprising if one or both of those two players were to have their contracts touched since both are collecting the last bit of guaranteed money owed to them this year.

Burns's 2025 cap hit is $29.75 million, which includes a $22.25 million base salary. He is signed through 2028, and his $35 million signing bonus will run through that final year, though his guaranteed money will run out after 2026. 

Burns’s full base salary is fully guaranteed, so any restructuring of his deal this year would mean he’d have to get that full amount. 

Lawrence has a $23.664 million cap hit for this year, and like Burns, his full base salary is fully guaranteed. 

Thomas’s contract would seem to be the best one to restructure. He has a $21.087 million cap hit, of which his $16.4 million base salary is fully guaranteed. 

But Thomas’s prorated signing bonus runs out after 2028, which means if the Giants wanted to lower his base salary and convert most of it to a signing bonus, they could push some of the prorated signing bonus into that final year in 2029, a move that wouldn’t necessarily choke the Giants salary cap down the road.

Then, there are veteran roster cuts that could be made. Interestingly, the Giants didn’t make any salary cap-related moves at the start of free agency when it was thought that maybe defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches, who is in the final year of his contract and has a $5.033 million cap hit ($3.6 million of which is a base salary), could be among those salaries shed to increase the Giants’ space. 

That said, the Giants will need much more than $3.6 million to sign their rookies and still have money left over to get through the upcoming season. So we’ll have to see how general manager Joe Schoen approaches things in the coming weeks.

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