The Giants made one of the more surprising franchise tag decisions in recent years last month, keeping Leonard Williams off the market. The former top-10 pick is now attached to a $16.1MM price — the second-highest cap number on the Giants’ payroll.
Coming off a season in which he registered a half-sack in 15 games, it did not appear Williams would fetch this kind of AAV on the market. While Williams was aiming for a big contract in free agency, the Giants’ decision to use the tag helped create a high floor for the one-time Pro Bowl alternate.
“Really what it came down to was we felt good about our cap space,” Giants GM Dave Gettleman said. “We felt for what Leonard brings to the table and for our team, it was more prudent to put the franchise tag on him.”
The Giants, who were 2-6 at last year’s trade deadline, made the surprising move to acquire Williams from the Jets despite the USC product being months away from free agency. Williams has done fairly well as a pressure artist, totaling the 12th-most quarterback hits (101) since 2015. However, his 17.5 career sacks are tied for 87th in that span. The Williams trade also came after the Giants had already built a solid defensive line featuring Dalvin Tomlinson, B.J. Hill and 2019 first-rounder Dexter Lawrence.
Although the Giants came into free agency with more than $70MM in cap space, they devoted a sizable chunk of their available funds to Williams, James Bradberry and Blake Martinez. They now hold less than $18MM in cap room and still have a need at edge rusher. They are unlikely to re-sign Markus Golden, and Gettleman indicated the team did not plan to devote much money to the premium position this year.
Big Blue has until July 15 to finalize an extension with Williams. And with the team perhaps not preparing to propose an extension that matches Williams’ tag salary, this could be a situation where the recent trade acquisition plays next season on the tag.
“You can’t guarantee anything in this life, but we have gotten to know Leonard really well and I feel really comfortable with the decision,” Gettleman said. “Contracts get done when they’re supposed to get done. So we’ll move along.”
Realistically have they build a solid defensive line? Who can they count on to get 5 sacks for them next season without a doubt? Nobody out of the names they mentioned
No, they definitely haven’t. Gettleman has been atrocious so far. They’ve spent a lot of money this offseason with very little to show for it. I cannot wait until he is gone.
It’s a 3-4 defense. Edge guys get the sack and lineman push the pick & stop the run. Problem is they have no edge rushers.
It’s still crazy that he even made the Williams move.
If Gettleman wanted him that badly, he could have saved the draft pick he traded and just signed Williams as a FA for less annual money than the franchise tag cost.
Mind-boggling that he even did this move when it had a zero percent chance of improving the team enough to make a run at the playoffs (2-6) at the time of the trade. One of the dumbest trades I’ve ever seen
Should’ve gone after ngaukwe not sure how to spell it but would’ve been the better trade
Don’t disagree with the Williams comments but the Jags wanted an arm and leg (and still do) for Ngaukwe (or hover you spell his name) and there was probably a zero chance the Giants would even have the draft capital high enough to make that happen.
What is gettleman going to do with those picks though. I highly doubt he’s drafting a player better than ngaukwe with whatever draft capital he gives up
Williams trade was terrible. Gentleman had no choice but to franchise, with that said he has not done a terrible job this offseason. Plus the Odell trade is a home run, look what the Texans got back. Need a DE that can rush the passer and another lineman.
The Williams trade was horrible and as a Jet fan i thank you for the extra pick as there was very little to no chance the jets look to resign him for anything close to 16M.
Regarding the Odell trade, i think it was a solid trade but to compare it to something that there is general consensus as a bad trade (possibly worst trade in the last few years) is not good … might as well say that trade is great compared to what ditka did to get Williams.
OBJ compared to what the Vikings got for Diggs though .. that is crazy.
What he got in return for odell was good but the picks he made questionable. Traded an elite run stuffing dt for a 5th rounder then drafted one 17 overall. That with the barkley pick show me he has no idea about positional value compared to the top gms