5 NY Giants thoughts on the eve of NFL free agency

How will Joe Schoen and John Harbaugh reshape the Giants this week? | Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images These are not your Brian Daboll, Joe Judge, Pat Shurmur, Ben McAdoo, Dave Gettleman New York Giants. They really aren’t even your Joe Schoen-led Giants. Things have changed with the arrival of Super Bowl

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What is the story about?

These are not your Brian Daboll, Joe Judge, Pat Shurmur, Ben McAdoo, Dave Gettleman New York Giants. They really aren’t even your Joe Schoen-led Giants. Things have changed with the arrival of Super Bowl-winning head coach John Harbaugh, and the power he has been given after 18 hugely successful years with the Baltimore Ravens to reshape the Giants.

The Giants certainly are not viewed the same way they have been for the last several years by free agents and their representatives.

Here is what one agent

told Matt Lombardo of ‘Between the Hashmarks’:

“We view the Giants as a soon to be top contender across the league,” a veteran agent who represents several of the top free agents about to hit the market tells Between The Hashmarks. “It for sure has become a more desirable destination.”

“Dawn may actually be an equally important, if not a bigger acquisition than Harbaugh,” the agent explains. “Her years of expertise in the front office for teams, and working for the league in their Park Avenue offices is unprecedented.

“At this point, the Giants have the chemistry to make a Super Bowl run every year in the not so distant future, at least in our opinion.”

Here is what one player rep told me when I asked how the perception of the Giants had changed since Harbaugh was named head coach.

“I think the Giants are looked at favorably as Coach has been a winner, a communicator, and a builder of unity and culture, and that’s exactly what the Giants need,” said Deryk Gilmore of Day1Sports. “Hopefully he’s the one who can bring the Giants back to where they were in the ‘80s and ‘90s.”

Tyler Linderbaum Sweepstakes

Are the Giants really going to commit a market-setting $20 million or more to a center? I don’t know, and everyone has a different take. For me, it is possible until it isn’t considering Harbaugh’s commitment to upgrading the trenches and being more physical, and the Linderbaum-Harbaugh Baltimore connection.

The market beyond the Giants is not what I thought it would be a few days ago.

The Los Angeles Chargers signed Tyler Biadasz.
The Chicago Bears traded with the New England Patriots for Garrett Bradbury.
The Patriots are expected to move Jared Wilson to center.

From here, it looks like the Detroit Lions, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, and Cleveland Browns might be the Linderbaum market outside New York and Baltimore.

The Baltimore sources I have contacted think it’s “50-50” that Linderbaum stays with the Ravens. Long-time NFL columnist Gary Myers said over the weekend he has been told Linderbaum could be “much too expensive” for the Giants.

Myers could be right. The Giants have released linebacker Bobby Okereke and offensive tackle James Hudson and gotten running back Devin Singletary to take a pay cut. At this point, though, Spotrac lists the Giants with $21.9 million in cap space applying the top-51 rule. That still isn’t really enough to play in the deep end of the free agency pool. I do expect more cap-clearing moves to come before Monday.

If it isn’t Linderbaum, I do believe the Giants will sign at least one major free-agent offensive. lineman beyond making a strong effort to bring back right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor. Could that be a guard like Wyatt Teller, Dylan Parham, or Alijah Vera-Tucker? Right tackle Braden Smith if Eluemunor moves on?

Your guess is as good as mine.

A wild, unpredictable week ahead

Everybody wants to know what the Giants are going to do this week Lots of people, some credible and some not, have been posting their guesses.

Thing is, nobody KNOWS.

There have been reports that the Giants have checked in on just everybody in free agency. As they should every year. That’s called due diligence, and it’s what teams are supposed to do. They find out who is interested in playing for them, what the price is, and make decisions from there.

Even some of the most well-connected media members aren’t sure what to expect.

Linderbaum? Future Hall of Famer Mike Evans? Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker? The Giants have been connected to all of them. Maybe they land one. Maybe they sign or trade for someone we didn’t see coming. In fact, I would bet they do. Trey Hendrickson, anyone? A wild trade for Myles Garrett, who seems to be ghosting the Cleveland Browns?

New head coach John Harbaugh isn’t rebuilding the Giants from scratch in some sort of multi-year, piece-by-piece long-term plan. He wants to contend. Now.

Buckle up. It’s going to be an entertaining, discussion-worthy week.

Did the Giants really bid on Trent McDuffie?

When the Kansas City Chiefs traded All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams the Giants were said to be the other team in serious negotiations with the Chiefs for McDuffie.

That might not be case.

From Myers:

Setting the record straight: Just heard from a trusted source that @Giants were never in the Trent McDuffie trade market. They never spoke to the Chiefs about him. The story came out of KC, so perhaps @Chiefs were trying to create leverage with Rams by claiming others interested. Besides, draft capital price was way too high. Rams of McVay/Snead have history of trading #1 picks.

That corresponds with Jordan Ranaan of ESPN saying the Giants’ interest in McDuffie was “overblown,” and that the Giants are “not looking at high-end cornerbacks” in free agency.

The price the Rams paid for McDuffie, four draft picks including a first-rounder, always seemed way above one the Giants should have been willing to pay.

One that got away

I was perusing The Athletic’s list of the top 150 free agents on Saturday, which I have done before, and a name I had not previously noticed jarred me. It brought a “didn’t the Giants have him on their practice squad for a while?” reaction.

Sure enough, when I checked center Cade Mays’ transaction history he spent about a month-and-half on the Giants practice squad in 2024 before being signed to the active roster by the Carolina Panthers, who originally drafted him in 2022.

Mays is No. 36 on The Athletic’s free agent list and is projected to get a three-year, $22.5 million contract. It just goes to show what can happen when a guy gets a real chance somewhere.