Dave Gettleman Addresses Leonard Williams Franchise Tag

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.”

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