NFL Sets $182.5MM Salary Cap
The NFL salary cap has been set at $182.5MM, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). This marks a sizable (though expected) drop from last year’s $198.2MM limit.
Teams will not be allowed to borrow cap room from future years, per the CBA, so teams are basically stuck with the hard cap and difficult choices ahead. However, teams do have other ways to navigate the cap, including rollover from 2020, post-June 1 cuts, and contract restructuring.
With the new salary cap, the league has also determined the values of this year’s franchise tag tenders (Twitter link):
- Quarterback $25.104MM
- Running Back $8.655MM
- Tight End $9.601MM
- Offensive Lineman $13.754MM
- Defensive End $16.069MM
- Defensive Tackle $13.888M
- Linebacker $14.791M
- Cornerback $15.06MM
- Kicker/Punter $4.482MM
Here’s the full rundown of this year’s franchise tags, including players on repeat tags who receive a 20% increase:
- Giants DL Leonard Williams $19.35MM
- Washington G Brandon Scherff $18.03MM
- Bears WR Allen Robinson $18MM
- Buccaneers WR Chris Godwin $15.98MM
- Jaguars OT Cam Robinson $13.75MM
- Panthers OT Taylor Moton $13.75MM
- Broncos S Justin Simmons $13.73MM
- Jets S Marcus Maye $10.61MM
- Saints S Marcus Williams $10.61MM
Giants Undecided On Saquon Barkley’s Fifth-Year Option
When healthy, Saquon Barkley is one of the NFL’s premier skill-position players. But the former No. 2 overall pick is coming off a season in which he suffered a torn ACL in Week 2. The Giants are factoring that into a key decision.
GM Dave Gettleman, who bypassed the team’s need for an Eli Manning successor by taking Barkley over the likes of Sam Darnold and Josh Allen three years ago, indicated team brass had yet to come to a final decision on the running back’s fifth-year option.
“I think [his health] part of the discussion,” Gettleman said, via SNY. “Obviously we’re gonna have to make a decision this spring whether we pick up his fifth-year option. But certainly, it’s unknown, and what you have to do is get your trainer and your doctors involved.”
Barkley’s draft class will be the first group of first-rounders eligible for fully guaranteed fifth-year options, which the new CBA mandates. Previous classes eligible for the option had their fifth-year salaries guaranteed for injury only, which allowed teams to cut bait ahead of Year 5 as long as the player passed a physical. That will not be an option going forward; the Giants have until May 3 to exercise Barkley’s option.
Barkley delivered historic rookie-year production in 2018 but suffered a high ankle sprain in 2019 and missed 14 games last season. While he is progressing well from the torn ACL, the Penn State product’s outlook is a bit less certain than it once was. New York not picking up Barkley’s option would make 2021 a contract year for Barkley. The team picked up Evan Engram‘s non-guaranteed option last year, and Engram has battled nagging injuries for much of his run. That points to the Giants picking up Barkley’s.
The option price is not yet known, since the new CBA introduced a multitiered setup that will involve to-be-determined franchise and transition tag costs. Barkley having made one Pro Bowl would make his option price equal to that of the running back transition tag. Kenyan Drake‘s transition tag came in at $8.5MM last year; anything in that neighborhood would be a bargain for the Giants, even with Barkley’s ACL rehab clouding his outlook slightly.
Giants To Tag Leonard Williams
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.
Latest On Giants, Leonard Williams
Unless the NFL moves the franchise tag deadline back, the Giants have less than 24 hours to use their tag on Leonard Williams. Multiple issues could stand in the way of that taking place. While the Giants would be taking a risk if they do not tag the standout interior defender, they have less than $10MM in cap space. The Giants want to keep Williams around long-term, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post writes, but they will have a tough time tagging him at $19.4MM. A counterargument would be that the Giants should tag Williams as a precaution, rather than risk losing him next week, and worry about cap issues between Tuesday and the March 17 start of the new league year. The sides were not believed to be close to a long-term deal last year. If the Giants pass on a tag, they will be entering a crucial stretch ahead of the March 15 legal tampering period. They also have defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson as a UFA-to-be.
However, the other part of this equation could cause the Giants to pay even more for a Williams tag. His grievance to be tagged as a defensive end is unresolved, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Should Williams win that grievance, his 2020 salary will balloon from $16.1MM (last year’s defensive tackle tag rate) to $17.8MM. That would bump his 2021 tag price to $21.4MM. Williams played more snaps as an inside defender in 2019, which would point to “defensive tackle” being the correct label for tag purposes. With the Giants up against the cap, this is not an insignificant difference.
- The Giants did do a little work on their cap situation Monday. They restructured tight end Levine Toilolo‘s contract, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The blocking tight end was set to earn $2.95MM next season. He will be back at a lower rate, with Schwartz estimating the Giants will save more than $1MM by making this move.
- Recently dismissed from his post as Lions VP of player personnel, Kyle O’Brien will join the Giants’ front office. The Giants are adding O’Brien as a senior personnel executive, the team announced. O’Brien spent the past few years in Detroit under Bob Quinn, but the bulk of his experience came in New England.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/8/21
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: P Dom Maggio
Las Vegas Raiders
- Re-signed: DB Dallin Leavitt
New York Giants
- Released: WR Cody Core
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Re-signed: DL Pat O’Connor
Contract Notes: Harrison, Hyde
Here are the details on several recently-signed contracts:
- Jonotthan Harrison, C (Giants): One-year contract, worth up to $2MM. Base value of $1.2MM, $300K guaranteed ($100K in guaranteed salary, $200K signing bonus). Up to $800K available in playing time incentives (Twitter link via Dan Duggan of The Athletic).
- Micah Hyde, S (Bills): Two-year extension worth $19.25MM. Signing bonus of $7.5MM. Incentives of $2.3MM could increase extension value to $21.55MM (Twitter link via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.com).
As previously reported, Hyde’s extension will be added on to the one year he had remaining on his previous contract, keeping him under club control through 2023. Altogether, he is playing under a three-year, $24.4MM deal (excluding incentives).
Jaguars’ OL Andrew Norwell, Giants’ OL Kevin Zeitler On The Trade Block?
A pair of veteran offensive linemen are apparently on the trade block, but it’s sounding like there may not be any takers. Jason La Canfora is hearing that the Jaguars are shopping offensive guard Andrew Norwell, while the Giants are trying to move offensive guard Kevin Zeitler (Twitter link). The reporter adds that rival teams believe these two linemen will ultimately be released, at which time they’ll “generate significant interest” around the NFL.
Norwell parlayed his first-team All-Pro nod with the Panthers into a five-year, $66.5MM deal with the Jaguars in 2018. While the veteran hasn’t matched his production from that standout campaign, he’s still been a dependable presence on Jacksonville’s line over the past three years. The organization’s decision to shop (and, presumably, eventually move on from) Norwell is mostly financial; the veteran has a cap hit of $15MM in 2021 and $16MM in 2022, and cutting him would leave manageable dead cap hits of $6MM in 2021 and $3MM in 2022.
Zeitler, a former first-round pick, spent the first five seasons of his career with the Bengals, including a 2012 campaign where he earned All-Rookie Team honors from the Pro Football Writers Association. He inked a five-year, $60MM deal with the Browns in 2017, making him the highest-paid guard in the NFL. He spent a pair of seasons in Cleveland before getting dealt to the Giants as a part of the Odell Beckham trade.
The 30-year-old has played the past two seasons in New York, appearing in all but one game. The veteran has a $14.5MM cap hit in the final year of his contract, and the Giants would be left with only $2.5MM in dead cap if they decided to cut him.
Giants To Release Golden Tate
The Giants will release Golden Tate, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Expected to be a cap casualty for a bit now, Tate will become a free agent for the third time.
Tate’s Giants tenure started poorly, with the veteran wide receiver being suspended four games for a positive PED test. He posted just 388 receiving yards in his second Giants season in 2020. Additionally, Big Blue will cut linebacker David Mayo, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Together, these moves will create nearly $9MM in cap space for the Giants. Both contracts had two years remaining.
Tate and New York have clearly been headed for divorce ever since the team made him an inactive back in Week 9 for issues with his effort and performance. In a signing that proved to be an unmitigated disaster in hindsight, Giants GM Dave Gettleman gave Tate a four-year, $37.5MM deal with $23MM fully guaranteed during 2019 free agency.
In his first season with the team, he had 49 catches for 676 yards and six touchdowns in 11 games. Tate became a Super Bowl champion with the Seahawks, and made the Pro Bowl with the Lions in 2014. From 2014-17 he had at least 1,000 yards in three of four seasons, but at 32 is now on the tail-end of his career. He should be able to catch on with somebody, but won’t get much if any guaranteed money.
The Giants gave Mayo a three-year extension almost exactly one year ago, but he didn’t make it very far into that new deal. He had a breakout 2019 season where he started 13 games and graded out well, but he fell out of favor with the new coaching staff led by Joe Judge, and only started two games this past season. The 2015 fifth-round pick of the Panthers will now hit free agency at the age of 27.
Giants Hire Former Longtime OL Coach Pat Flaherty
- The Giants are bringing a familiar face back into the fold. Former New York offensive line coach Pat Flaherty will return to the team in an advisory role, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com tweets. It’s notable because Flaherty was such a staple of those Eli Manning era Giants teams, serving as their offensive line coach for all 12 of Tom Coughlin’s seasons as head coach from 2004-15. As such, Flaherty won two Super Bowls with the team. The Giants had a lot of drama in their offensive line room last year, and are probably hoping the seasoned vet Flaherty can be a stabilizing presence. He was the Dolphins’ offensive line coach in 2019.
Former NFLer Louis Nix Passes Away
Former NFL player Louis Nix III has passed away, as Ben Becker of Action News Jax was among those to report (Twitter link). Nix was just 29 years old.
Nix was reported missing earlier in the week, and yesterday evening, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office pulled a car from a pond that matched the description of the vehicle he was last seen driving (Twitter link via Becker). As Douglas Farmer of NBCSports.com relays, Nix was shot in December during an attempted armed robbery at a gas station, while he was attempting to put air in his tire. Nix survived the shooting and later said, “I know it sounds cliché, but more than anything, I’m happy to be alive.” There is no indication that the incident is related to Nix’s passing.
Nix was a three-year starter at Notre Dame, establishing himself as one of the top interior defenders in the collegiate game. He was at this best in 2012, when the Fighting Irish enjoyed an undefeated regular season. That year, even as he was absorbing double-teams for star linebacker Manti Te’o, Nix piled up 50 tackles — including 7.5 tackles for loss — two sacks, and five passes defensed.
He returned to school for his senior season in 2013, but that year marked the beginning of the knee troubles that would end his professional career before it really got off the ground. He underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in November 2013, and though the Texans selected him in the third round of the 2014 draft, he would need a another knee surgery before training camp. Ultimately, a third knee operation prevented him from playing a single game in his rookie season.
Houston waived him before the 2015 regular season, and he was claimed by the Giants. He would go on to appear in four games for Big Blue, but he was waived again that November and was later re-signed to New York’s practice squad. He spent time on Washington’s and Jacksonville’s p-squads in 2016, but his career was essentially over after the Jags cut him loose in May 2017.
We at PFR offer our sincere condolences to Nix’s family and friends.