Breaking Down New York Giants' Best, Worst Contracts
The old saying states "you get what you pay for." However, when you're talking about the NFL, that's not always true.
Sometimes a player will come in at a ridiculously low rate, while other times a guy will be making a boatload of money despite low production.
These and other factors are just some of what New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese looks at every year in determining who is a potential salary-cap cut and who is potentially worth the market value at his position, if not more.
Let's have a look at the best and worst Giants contracts for 2017. In determining the "best" and "worst" contracts, I've taken into consideration the player's anticipated role for 2017, his past production and his 2017 cap figure as provided by Over The Cap.
Best: WR Brandon Marshall
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2017 Cap Figure: $4.468 million (base salary $3 million)
The Giants picked up receiver Brandon Marshall, he of eight 1,000-yard receiving seasons, for literally a song and a dance.
OK, it was more than a song and a dance—Marshall's deal, worth $11 million total, includes $5 million guaranteed—his $2 million signing bonus and his $3 million 2017 base salary—but in the second year, there is no guaranteed money and only a $1 million dead-money charge if he doesn't make the 53-man roster.
When signing that deal, Marshall said he was at a point in his career where having a chance to win a championship was one of the biggest factors, which meant he was willing to take less money to get that chance.
For those who are concerned that the days of Marshall being able to rack up the 1,000-yard receiving seasons are gone, let's put his 2016 receiving yardage total (788) amassed despite his being banged up into perspective.
Had Marshall finished with that same yardage total as a member of the 2016 Giants, he would have finished second on the team in receiving yards, ahead of Sterling Shepard (683) and Victor Cruz (586).
Worst: LB J.T. Thomas
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2017 Cap Figure: $4 million (base salary $2.975 million)
When the Giants signed linebacker J.T. Thomas in 2015, they did so with an eye toward him being their starting weak-side linebacker.
Unfortunately for Thomas, injuries have been a problem. He's played in just 13 games since signing that contract, losing most of last year to a knee injury.
In the meantime, Jonathan Casillas stepped up to anchor the weak-side linebacker spot, leaving Thomas—if he makes the roster—as a role player in sub-packages and as a special teams contributor.
When you consider that Thomas' 2017 cap number is the highest of all the linebackers on the roster and the ninth highest on the team, unless he agrees to another pay cut as he did just before the start of the 2016 season, this is one of those bloated contracts the Giants might want to rethink carrying.
Best: WR Odell Beckham Jr.
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2017 Cap Figure: $3,311,063 (base salary $1,839,027 million)
When I say receiver Odell Beckham Jr.'s contract is among the best on the Giants, I'm talking about from a team perspective.
Seriously, how often can a team get a receiver who not only has, in each year of his pro career, finished in the top-10 league-wide in receiving yards but whose rank has risen in that same category every year for the mere bargain cap hit of $3,311,063?
That is less than what projected No. 2 receiver Brandon Marshall is going to count for against the 2017 cap.
That’s right, the rookie pay scale. Beckham is entering the fourth year of his rookie contract, which thanks to the last CBA, slots all the rookie draft picks into salary brackets.
Before anyone starts an online petition to get Beckham a raise, his salary next year will be more in line with the top receivers of the game.
That's because the Giants, having picked up his fifth-year option on his rookie contract, will owe Beckham $8.459 million, which will make him the seventh-highest paid Giant (in terms of cap hit) in 2018.
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Worst: DE Kerry Wynn
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2017 Cap Figure: $1.797 million (base salary $1.797 million)
As a rookie in 2014, defensive end Kerry Wynn—undrafted out of Richmond—opened quite a few eyes with his disciplined play against the run. He rewarded the team's faith in him by showing toward the end of the season that he had some talent to rush the passer and drop in coverage.
That first year, he finished with 17 tackles, 1.5 sacks, one pass defensed and one interception in five games and 60 run-game snaps.
That was all good enough for Wynn to see an increase in game appearances in 2015 and 2016; unfortunately, his play slipped each year. Per official league stats, he recorded just 32 run-game tackles in 2015 (in 270 run-game snaps) and three in 2016 (in 43 run-game snaps).
Despite his production falling off a cliff last year, the Giants still tendered Wynn—a restricted free agent—the minimum tender, $1.797 million. Perhaps they did so because they didn't know if they were going to be able to come away with a defensive end in the draft or on the back end of free agency.
Still, given the decline in his production in an area of a game that was supposed to be a strength, it was surprising that the Giants didn't take the same approach with Wynn that they did with restricted free agent running back Orleans Darkwa.
Darkwa didn't receive a qualifying tender and became an unrestricted free agent. The Giants ultimately ended up re-signing him for far less than the $1.797 million they would have had to pay had they tendered him at the lowest level.
Best: S Landon Collins
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2017 Cap Figure: $1,699,243 (base salary $991,414)
Like Odell Beckham Jr., safety Landon Collins is still churning through his rookie deal as his star ascends. Unlike his teammate, though, Collins' base salary in this—the third of his four-year rookie contact—doesn't even crack the million mark.
That won't happen until 2018, the final year of his contract. In the meantime, the Giants have themselves one of the best young safeties in the NFL, a player who took a huge step forward from his rookie season.
Per Pro Football Focus, Collins was the top-graded safety in the league, beating out Eric Weddle of the Ravens by a hair.
Among those safeties who played in 75 percent or more of their team's defensive snaps, Collins placed second in tackles (100), first in snaps (four), tied for sixth in passes defensed (five), and tied for first in interceptions (five), all while allowing just two touchdowns in 1,105 snaps played.
From the player's perspective, Collins is grossly underpaid. From a team perspective, his contract and 2018 cap figure make him a steal.
Worst: QB Geno Smith
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2017 Cap Figure: $1,087,500 (base salary $775,000)
The Giants surprised a lot of people when they announced the signing of former Jets starting quarterback Geno Smith to a one-year "prove it" deal.
Why the surprise? Smith has played just three games in the last two seasons due to injury, his latest being an ACL from which he's still rehabbing—an injury that will probably limit what he can do on the field this spring.
Also, when Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets were engaging in a battle of who blinks first during contract negotiations last year, it seemed Smith didn't manage to convince the Jets brass they could move on from Fitzpatrick and put their trust in him.
The Giants had also re-signed Josh Johnson, a healthy quarterback who spent one year in their system and who, by the end of last year, had quietly passed Ryan Nassib on the depth chart thanks in part to Nassib's season-ending elbow injury.
So, why add Smith? Head coach Ben McAdoo likes competition at every position, and the 26-year-old is supposed to be competition with Johnson this spring for the backup quarterback spot.
While no one can fault them for that line of thinking, what makes this contract a head-scratcher is that they could have instead devoted the no-risk deal to a veteran quarterback who wasn't coming off such a significant season-ending injury.
Best: CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
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2017 Cap Figure: $9 million (base salary $6.98 million)
Last year the Giants found a way to get the most out of cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and, boy, did it pay off.
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo moved Rodgers-Cromartie to the slot, a position that resulted in him taking his fewest defensive snaps (736) since signing with the Giants in 2014.
Per Pro Football Focus, Rodgers-Cromartie played 509 of those snaps in coverage and of those, 214 were played in the slot.
Not only did Rodgers-Cromartie have one of his best seasons in run support, coverage and rushing the passer, but given his rather modest salary-cap figure—which pales by comparison to the league's top-two highest-paid corners, Josh Norman and Trumaine Johnson—he's a bargain in light of the return on investment.
If that's not convincing enough, Rodgers-Cromartie in the slot not only allowed the coaches to get Eli Apple on the field, it also resulted in the Giants' defensive coverage giving up just 15 passing touchdowns all year, the second fewest in the league.
Worst: RB Shane Vereen
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2017 Cap Figure: $3,916,668 (base salary $2.15 million)
Although the Giants clearly missed running back Shane Vereen's presence last year on third down—they converted 46.5 percent third-down attempts with him versus 26.7 percent without him—his contract still seems a bit bloated for a role player coming off a 2016 season-ending injury (triceps) who has yet to play more than 38.5 percent of the snaps on offense.
Playing time aside, there have been other subtle dips in Vereen's game. In 2014, his final (and best) season with the Patriots, he forced 12 missed tackles on 102 rushing attempts. In his first two seasons with the Giants, he has missed a total of 11 tackles.
To be fair, where Vereen has been consistent has been as a receiver out of the backfield, where he has consistently averaged at least 8.4 yards per catch dating back to 2014.
Given the infusion of talent the Giants brought in this offseason on that side of the ball, would anyone really be surprised if his stats dipped even further?
Unless otherwise noted, all advanced statistics are from Pro Football Focus and all contract information is from Over The Cap.
Patricia Traina covers the New York Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.
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