The Giants are expected to assign the franchise tag to Leonard Williams (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). This marks the second straight tag for the defensive lineman, though the two sides intend to continue discussions on a multi-year deal. 
Per the collective bargaining agreement, Williams will earn a 20% raise on his 2020 tag. Last year, his tag was worth just over $16MM. This year, the tender would amount to $19.351MM.
The Giants’ decision to tag Williams was widely panned last year. Williams responded with a career-high 11.5 sacks, vindicating GM Dave Gettleman in the process. No one knew what to expect from Williams, but after setting a new watermark for sacks plus 14 total tackles for loss and 30 quarterback hits, he would have profiled as one of the most prized players in free agency.
Williams is said to be seeking a ~$20MM/year deal. That’s the figure he wanted last year and, this time around, it sounds like he’ll get what he wants. For his career, the Jets’ former No. 6 overall pick has 48 tackles for loss and 131 quarterback hits across six seasons. He also has 29 career sacks. Much to the Jets’ chagrin, he’s logged more than 30% of those for the Meadowlands’ other tenant.
This is terrible. So not worth the money. And if they can’t get a long term deal done by free agency it will hurt even more.
I just don’t understand why there is so much vitriol towards Williams. He’s a solid blue collar player that can be quite effective if you place some support around him. He doesn’t get arrested for robberies or assaulting women and his only crime seems to be wanting to get fair market value for his services.
Does this mean that Dalvin is not coming back?
had to fight with a dude that compared Suh to Richie Incognito the other day. simmilar thing.
Williams is solid but he’s overrated and not worth premium pass rusher money.
Wonder how the Jets would look if they kept some of the players they drafted happy, such as Williams and Adams. Jets just don’t know how to manage…anything.
Still don’t understand how this his performance last year ‘vindicates’ Gettleman. They traded a third rounder in a year were they were one of the worst teams in football to acquire him, even though he was an impending free agent.
Jets were not going to re-sign him or franchise him. If Gettleman wanted him so badly, he could have waited until the offseason to sign him with no loss of a pick.
And it’s possible that acquiring him helped them win one of their games against Miami or Washington, which cost them the chance to draft Chase Young.
It was a dumb move then and it’s still a dumb move now. Gettleman is not ‘vindicated’.
Its very easy. A free agent isn’t obligated to sign with a team just because they want him. There are 31 other teams that can outpay you for his services, or 31 other teams that have a better chance at winning. The Giants sucked BAD that year. Promise you, if they don’t trade and then tag (and tag again), he doesn’t sign with one of the worst teams in football when better teams have the opportunity to pursue him.
99.9% of free agents sign with whoever offers them the most. I don’t care that you’re ‘promising’ me that he would not have signed with them. If they offered more than anyone else, he would have signed with them.
Even a guy like JJ Watt, who wanted off of the Texans so he could sign with a winner, signed with the team who offered him the most money, the Cardinals, despite the Bills and Packers, who are much better teams, wanting him. So your ‘promise’ is utterly meaningless.
Further, he was already playing in NY with the Jets, so signing with the Giants would not have been a major shift.
I’m actually more upset still with the Jones pick.
I felt they should have traded back took Montez Sweat. Let Eli play all that final season and took Justin Herbert in this past draft. But I’m just a fan
Yep, definitely Herbert could have been had. In 2019 I would have take pass rusher Josh Allen over Jones. Sweat over Lawrence, and Lawrence maybe over Baker. I think Lawrence was a reach and would have been there at the backend. Giants haven’t had pass rushers in years.
I also keep thinking in 18 Nelson and Chubb over Barkley and Hernandez. Nelson will be the one wearing the gold jacket and DG likes to say.