Giants Rumors: Wilkerson, Sanu, JPP, Ayers

The Giants will enter free agency hoping to land two New Jersey natives – Jets defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson and Bengals receiver Mohamed Sanu – CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reports.

[RELATED: PFR previews the Giants’ offseason]

The Jets will place the franchise tag on Wilkerson, a two-time second-team All-Pro, but La Canfora writes that they could trade the 26-year-old because they already have Sheldon Richardson and Leonard Williams under control along their defensive line and need help elsewhere. If the Jets do deal Wilkerson, the Giants are potential candidates to trade a first-round pick (and maybe more) for the Pro Bowler, per La Canfora, who opines that he’d be worth Big Blue’s 10th overall selection.

The Giants would also have to give Wilkerson a new contract, one that La Canfora estimates could be in Marcell Dareus territory. Dareus signed a six-year, $95MM deal with the Bills last year and is currently second among D-tackles (behind only Ndamukong Suh) in total value, yearly average ($15.85MM) and guarantees ($42.9MM).

Sanu, on the other hand, is coming off a less-than-stellar season in terms of productivity (33 catches, zero touchowns). Nevertheless, La Canfora argues that the 26-year-old would make a good complement to Odell Beckham and could merit $5MM per year.

Here’s more on the Giants:

• The Giants will try to re-sign pending free agent Jason Pierre-Paul, but they will not place the franchise tag on the defensive end or bring him back on a huge contract, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link). Cole adds that there’s a debate within the organization in regards to Pierre-Paul’s value.
• As we touched on earlier tonight, a USA Today report states that JPP’s time with the Giants is likely up.
• Like Pierre-Paul, fellow Giants defensive end Robert Ayers is also on the verge of becoming a free agent. There’s a good chance Ayers will re-sign with the team, however, according to Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. Raanan asked five league sources what kind of deal Ayers, 30, will get off a career-best 9.5-sack season, then averaged out their projections. The end result: three years, $18MM – including $9MM in guarantees.