New York Giants' Salary-Cap Breakdown by Position
Like all other profitable businesses, the New York Giants must formulate a working budget.
Members of the Giants front office have to take a look at all the contracts heading into the 2015 season, break them down by position and decide whether they're spending a reasonable amount on that group of players. The slides to follow will offer a rough analysis of the numbers sure to be crunched this offseason.
For this article, I've gone by the figures made available at Spotrac.com for cap hit, number of players and NFL rank in terms of spending at a specific position. Since some positional groups—most notably offensive line and linebacker—are flexible, so are the cap hits at those positions. Keep that in mind as you read this piece.
These estimates should paint a clearer picture of what the Giants should do financially in order to maximize the team's impact this offseason.
Quarterback
1 of 15
Cap Hit: $21,108,400 (14.85 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 3
NFL Rank: 5
The Giants have a ton of money tied up in the quarterback position, thanks to the two-time Super Bowl MVP they start on Sundays.
Eli Manning is entering the final year of his deal and is due nearly $20 million in 2015. To save money this year, the Giants can extend Manning and kick that huge payday a few years down the road. Dan Graziano of ESPN believes this is a "likely" scenario.
Running Back
2 of 15
Cap Hit: $7,092,787 (4.9 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 6
NFL Rank: 11
The Giants have a couple viable contributors at running back in Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams. Jennings has the position's highest payday ($2.8 million) approaching in 2015, while Williams is still working on a reasonable rookie deal ($623,400). These two complement each other well on the field, as well as in the checkbook.
Retired running back David Wilson is due $2.1 million, but the Giants should be able to save some of that total by removing him from the roster. With that extra cash, New York could bring in another ball-carrier to re-establish a three-pronged attack.
Wide Receiver
3 of 15
Cap Hit: $12,782,477 (8.99 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 9
NFL Rank: 16
The Giants rest right around the middle of the pack in terms of league-wide receiver spending. A huge chunk of the money being spent in 2015, however, is going to Victor Cruz ($8.1 million), who is coming off a serious knee injury.
Cruz's cap hit is the team's second-highest after Manning. Behind him, Odell Beckham Jr. ($2.4 million) and Rueben Randle ($1 million) are also slated to draw considerable amounts. To justify such a massive cap hit, the Giants need all three pass-catchers to produce in 2015.
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Tight End
4 of 15
Cap Hit: $756,413 (0.53 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 2
NFL Rank: 30
The Giants only have two tight ends under contract heading into 2015: Adrien Robinson and Jerome Cunningham. Neither player is drawing a hefty sum.
The team's top tight end from last season, Larry Donnell, will become an exclusive-rights free agent next month. New York can retain Donnell for cheap by extending a one-year tender worth less than $1 million his way, keeping the cap hit at this position relatively low.
Left Tackle
5 of 15
Cap Hit: $8,050,000 (5.66 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 2
NFL Rank: 14
The Giants aren't getting the most bang for their buck at the left tackle position. Will Beatty is making all of that $8.05 million, which is the team's third-highest cap hit in 2015.
Cutting Beatty will do no good. New York still needs his services (however unreliable), and the true savings won't kick in until 2016. This is the hump year of Beatty's five-year contract, so the Giants must tough it out and try to get over it. After all, he did show improvement last season.
Right Tackle
6 of 15
Cap Hit: $3,021,154 (2.13 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 6
NFL Rank: 13
The Giants have a bunch of tackles who probably aren't cut out for blindside protection. The only one making a significant amount in 2015 is starting right tackle Justin Pugh ($2.3 million).
General manager Jerry Reese says Pugh may end up playing guard next season, depending on what the team does in the draft and free agency, per Nick Powell of NJ.com. Because of this flexibility, the cap hit at right tackle has the most room to shift over the months to come.
Guard
7 of 15
Cap Hit: $7,403,635 (5.21 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 4
NFL Rank: 11
The Giants are doling out quite a bit of cash at the guard position. The determining factor as to whether this money is well spent will be the performance of Geoff Schwartz, who's in line to make nearly $5 million after appearing in only two games last season.
Weston Richburg's considerable cap hit ($1.1 million) also counts against the guard position, since he didn't play any center during his rookie campaign.
With the lineup the way it is now, right guard is the Giants' biggest offensive need. Not excellent news for a team that's already flirting with a top-10 payroll at the position.
Center
8 of 15
Cap Hit: $3,625,000 (2.55 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 2
NFL Rank: 17
The only center on the roster for 2015 with a known cap hit is last year's starter, J.D. Walton ($3.6 million). The Giants signed Canadian Football League center Brett Jones this week, according to sources close to Dan Graziano of ESPN, but the contract details are not yet known.
As mentioned on the previous slide, this position will see a cap-hit bump when Weston Richburg assumes his intended position. If the Giants are confident in Richburg's ability to snag the starting role at center, perhaps Walton becomes a cap casualty.
Defensive End
9 of 15
Cap Hit: $11,283,813 (7.94 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 7
NFL Rank: 17
The Giants are spending over $11 million at the defensive end position, but that's still less than half of the teams in the league. Assuming Mathias Kiwanuka is not on the 2015 roster at his current price of $7.45 million (fourth-highest cap hit on the team), New York should be in good enough shape to re-sign Jason Pierre-Paul this offseason.
If retained, Pierre-Paul's 2015 cap hit could leap all but Manning's. The Giants must be cautious when negotiating with JPP this offseason, for it would be unwise to hamstring the rest of the cap for a player whose future health and effectiveness remain uncertain.
Defensive Tackle
10 of 15
Cap Hit: $5,393,389 (3.79 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 4
NFL Rank: 17
Not much of New York's money is tied up in the defensive tackle position, and even less could be if the Giants choose to part ways with 34-year-old veteran Cullen Jenkins.
More potential lies within the promising youngsters at D-tackle: Johnathan Hankins, Jay Bromley and Markus Kuhn. Of those three, only Hankins is slated to earn over $1 million in 2015. So long as Pierre-Paul doesn't eat up too much of the cap, the Giants may be able to bring in a valuable free agent at this position.
Inside Linebacker
11 of 15
Cap Hit: $11,426,666 (8.04 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 3
NFL Rank: 5
This positional breakdown exposes the spending at middle linebacker more than any other. How can the Giants justify shelling out upward of $11 million for the talent they currently have on the roster?
Jon Beason is a quality linebacker, but $7.4 million is a risky investment for a player with an injury history as concerning as his. And $3.4 million might be too much to be paying Jameel McClain, the linebacker who stood in Beason's stead last season.
Something must be done to rectify this pricey situation, as the Giants are currently top-five spenders when it comes to inside linebackers.
Outside Linebacker
12 of 15
Cap Hit: $1,131,140 (0.80 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 4
NFL Rank: 31
Unlike middle linebacker, the Giants have one of the cheapest payrolls across the league at outside linebacker. This could shift a bit, however, if McClain moves back to his original home on the strong side.
Even then, the former Baltimore Raven would likely be a backup for Devon Kennard. What New York really needs is a quality weak-side linebacker. With Spencer Paysinger and Jacquian Williams both about to become free agents, this is a position the Giants cannot afford to ignore this offseason.
Cornerback
13 of 15
Cap Hit: $17,664,250 (12.43 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 8
NFL Rank: 6
The cap hit at cornerback is sure to leave a mark, unless the coverage specialists New York currently has under contract live up to their full potential.
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is owed $7.25 million, and his counterpart, Prince Amukamara, is right behind him with a $6.9 million payday coming his way. These two must stay healthy and perform like the premier cornerback combo the Giants are paying them to be.
If the Giants believe he is expendable, cutting Trumaine McBride ($1.55 million) could help create some breathing room at the position.
Safety
14 of 15
Cap Hit: $1,190,013 (0.84 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 3
NFL Rank: 31
There is almost nothing written in stone when it comes to the safety position for the Giants. Of the three center fielders currently on the 2015 roster, not one is expected to make more than $650,000.
Antrel Rolle is about to become a free agent and can probably get more money on the open market than what the Giants are willing to offer. New York needs help at safety, but not enough to condone overpaying for an aging veteran. This may be a position the Giants address early in the draft.
Special Teams
15 of 15
Cap Hit: $6,210,000 (4.36 percent of total cap)
No. of Players: 5
NFL Rank: N/A
No New York special teamer makes more than punter Steve Weatherford, who deserves every penny of his $3.1 million cap hit in 2015.
Kicker Josh Brown ($1.3 million) and long snapper Zak DeOssie ($1.2 million) will both see a nice paycheck for their respective specializations, but neither player is crushing the cap. New York has a solid group of specialists; tampering with it would be a mistake.
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