I wonder if there is any NFL fan base that agonizes more over the contracts given to their players than that of the New York Giants. People worry about the Giants ledger relative to the salary cap, and just as often, react viscerally to a player getting as little as $3-5 million per year in a free agent contract, never mind one in double digits. Often the two are related, because even with a new head coach and a new senior VP of football operations (Dawn Aponte), the Giants continue to refuse to use the tools
available to general managers such as void years and option bonuses to exceed the salary cap. This makes every contract seem like a life or death situation, unlike teams that treat the cap as “just a suggestion” (looking at you, Philadelphia Eagles). Furthermore, the headline number (total or average annual value) of a new multi-year contract, which gets most of the attention, is less meaningful than the fully guaranteed part of the contract. Often the headline total value winds up never being paid to the player. Daniel Jones is a good example of that. Fans saw “$160 million,” but Jones only collected a little more than half of that.
There is some justification for that agonizing when the team you follow just went 4-13 and 3-14 in its previous two seasons. On the other hand, you get what you pay for. If we expect, or even hope for, the Giants to become a good team this year, there’s only so much magic a new coaching staff can perform. How do the Giants stack up against other teams in the money they’re shelling out for their players? Let’s look position by position and see where the Giants’ player contracts rank to get some idea of whether they are spending unwisely. I’ll use the annual average value (AAV) of the contract and the fully guaranteed (FG) amount over the life of the contract rather than the current year cap hit, which is subject to GM cap magic such as prorated signing bonuses and is therefore meaningless as an assessment of the overall player cost to the team. I include only starters or key depth pieces. All numbers are from Over The Cap.
I give details for those who really care, but this piece is more about general impressions of the Giants’ spending. If you do go into the details, here are a couple of things to remember to help make sense of the numbers:
- Rookie compensation is determined by the Rookie Wage Scale (RWS) as defined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Yearly increases in the RWS are determined by how the salary cap increases each year. Where you draft determines the rookie compensation of your picks.
- The AAV over the four-year life of the rookie contract contains a specified yearly increase which is typically 25%. Thus the AAV for the life of the contract is known as soon as the player is drafted.
- Fully guaranteed amounts have more room for negotiation, although these days first round contracts are almost all fully guaranteed.
- The fully guaranteed amounts cited below are for the length of the contract when it was signed, not the present remaining value, so a fourth-year player will have much less remaining money to be paid out than a rookie, whatever the listed fully guaranteed amount is.
Quarterback
Jaxson Dart: $4.2M AAV (41st), $17.0M FG (29th)
Jameis Winston: $4.0M AAV (43rd), $5.25M FG (39th)
There is nothing like a good quarterback on a rookie late first-round contract and a capable backup making similarly modest money. There are QBs making $64M AAV (Patrick Mahomes) and QBs with $230M fully guaranteed (Deshaun Watson). If Dart hits, as his rookie season suggests he may well do, and if Jameis is willing to run it back for another couple of years, the Giants will have one of the most enviable QB situations in the league for a while when ability + cost are considered together.
Wide receiver
Darius Slayton: $12.0M AAV (37th), $22M FG (37th)
Malik Nabers: $7.3M AAV (47th), $29.2M FG (30th)
Darnell Mooney: $3.0M AAV (73rd), $3.0M FG (84th)
Malachi Fields: $1.8M AAV (95th), $1.7M FG (91st)
Calvin Austin III: $1.5M AAV (112th), $0.45M FG (145th)
Fans love to complain about Darius Slayton’s contract number, but in a 32-team league it’s not even in the top 32, i.e., he’s paid like a WR2, which he has been for much of his NFL career even though last season was not a good one for him. Malik Nabers, of course still on his rookie contract, also does not make the top 32, and even the fully guaranteed value of the contract is more like that for a late first rounder than a No. 6 draft pick. The rest of the players listed are paid like 3rd or 4th stringers even though one or two of them may start in the opening game pending Nabers’ and Slayton’s health status in September. And this list doesn’t even mention the multitudes of other receivers the Giants brought in this summer, all of them even lower in AAV and with $0 guaranteed. This is absolutely a cheap group by NFL standards.
Left tackle
Andrew Thomas: $23.5M AAV (7th), $67.0M FG (1st)
J.C. Davis: $1.2M AAV (68yh), $0.29M FG (75th)
Andrew Thomas is one of the few “market value” players on the Giants roster. Even so, his contract is only seventh highest among left tackles in AAV. The regard in which he is held by the Giants shows up in his league-leading $67 million fully guaranteed contract amount. Unlike last season when the Giants paid James Hudson III $6 million to be the backup and immediately had buyer’s remorse, this year the backups are making chump change by NFL standards. I list draft pick J.C. Davis, who is second string on both the Ourlads and ESPN depth charts, but it’s anyone’s guess who’ll come in if AT is not ready to start the season. Probably Marcus Mbow, who’s listed as a right tackle in the depth charts.
Right tackle
Jermaine Eluemunor: $13.0M AAV (11th), $25.4M FG (10th)
Daniel Faalele: $1.4M AAV (54th), $0.69M FG (51st)
Marcus Mbow: $1.2M AAV (67th), $0.42 FG (55th)
Eluemunor’s new contract pays him like a marginal top-10 right tackle, which is a a fair assessment of his play. The elite NFL right tackles, Tristan Wirfs and Penei Sewell, make more than twice that, so Eluemunor’s contract is good value for the Giants. Backups Daniel Faalele and Marcus Mbow are paid near the bottom of the second-string tier, which is good value for two players who can be useful at several positions.
Left guard
Jon Runyan Jr.: $10.0M AAV (13th), $17.0M FG (16th)
Joshua Ezeudu: $1.3M AAV (43rd), $0.41M FG (45th)
There is a sense that Runyan is overpaid for the quality of his work, but his AAV is mid-range for starting left guards and only half or less than what the elite left guards in the NFL make, so if it is an overpay, it’s not by much. Josh Ezeudu, still trying to find a home (memo to John Harbaugh – guard is his position, not tackle), has little effect on the Giants’ salary cap situation.
Right guard
Francis Mauigoa: $7.7M AAV (15th), $31.0M FG (5th)
Evan Neal: $1.2M AAV (40th), $0 FG
Mauigoa’s AAV (which is set by the collective bargaining agreement) reflects the fact that using a No. 10 draft pick on a player who is going to play guard in the NFL is a bit of a reach based on positional value thinking; the fully guaranteed value rank shows that even more, but it is par for the course for highly drafted rookies. If he succeeds in the NFL no Giants fan will be bothered by how much he’s getting – there are three right guards making more than $20 million per year. Faalele is probably the actual backup at RG, but for the record, the Evan Neal experiment is costing the Giants almost nothing if he makes the roster, and zero if he doesn’t.
Center
John Michael Schmitz: $1.6M AAV (29th), $3.4M FG (22nd)
Lucas Patrick: $1.5M AAV (32nd), $0.3M FG (51st)
JMS has never quite lived up to his second round pick status, but he’s developed into a good run blocker and (barely) adequate pass blocker. His pay is consistent with his low-level starter status. Likewise, backup Lucas Patrick is costing the Giants fairly little. There’s no Tyler Linderbaum in this group, but then they’re making nowhere near the $27 million AAV that Linderbaum is.
Running back
Cam Skattebo: $1.3M AAV (67th), $1.1M FG (50th)
Tyrone Tracy: $1.1M AAV (121st), $0.3M FG (84th)
Devin Singletary: $1.3M AAV (72nd), $0 FG
Yes, running back is a de-valued position in today’s NFL…but that’s changing. Saquon Barkley is now making $20.6M per year, and there are 12 other running backs now making $10 million per year or more. In 2025, the Giants had the NFL’s 10th-best running game according to Pro Football Focus and finished 16th in yards per carry. They did this with a bargain basement set of running backs who perform more like Day 2 than Day 3 draft picks.
Fullback
Patrick Ricard: $3.8M AAV (1st), $3.5M FG (4th)
The Giants “splurged” on the most expensive fullback in the NFL in AAV, Patrick Ricard, this off-season. He is one of only 9 FBs in the NFL. He makes more than the three primary Giants RBs make combined, but if he enhances the Giants’ run blocking, he’ll be well worth the modest luxury of having a FB on the roster.
Tight end
Isaiah Likely: $13.3M AAV (4th), $20.5M FG (10th)
Theo Johnson: $1.2M AAV (106th), $0.8M FG (76th)
The Giants actually splurged a bit on this position in the off-season, signing Isaiah Likely to the fourth largest tight end contract in the league, which reflects his promise more than his production as a Raven. The Giants are banking on Likely shining now that he is not stuck as TE2 behind Mark Andrews. That said, Theo Johnson, who frustrates with his drops but had more yards than both Likely and Andrews and as many TDs as Andrews, is still here and at a bargain basement price.
Edge defender
Brian Burns: $28.2M AAV (12th), $76.0M FG (7th)
Kayvon Thibodeaux: $7.8M AAV (50th), $31.3M FG (25th)
Abdul Carter: $11.3M AAV (38th), $45.3M FG (18th)
Burns is the Giants highest paid player by AAV and one of only two paid more than $20 million (the other is Andrew Thomas). Edge defender is now a premier position in the NFL, with six players making $40M/year or more. The Giants instead have Burns at a reasonable price for the position, plus two solid players, one with perhaps untapped potential to become elite, far down in the salary rankings.
Interior defensive line
D.J. Reader: $6.2M AAV (47th), $5.2M FG (76th)
Roy Robertson-Harris: $4.5M AAV (59th), $5.3M FG (75th)
Shelby Harris: $3.0M AAV (73rd), $2.7M FG (88th)
Darius Alexander: $1.7M AAV (107th), $1.6M FG (95th)
With Dexter Lawrence (third-highest AAV) gone, defensive tackle is now manned by a bunch of lesser but solid players on very reasonable contracts. Admittedly this group is a stopgap solution for one season, but from a financial standpoint, not a single IDL is in the top 32 in AAV and not a single one is even in the top 64 in FG pay.
Off-ball linebacker
Tremaine Edmunds: $12.0M AAV (14th), $23.7M FG (9th)
Arvell Reese: $12.0M AAV (15th), $47.8M FG (1st)
Micah McFadden: $3.8M AAV (46th), $2.9M FG (60th)
Suddenly, the Giants are devoting significant financial resources to the linebacker room. Micah McFadden, a starter until his season-ending injury last season, is well down the compensation list. However, free agency addition Tremaine Edmunds was signed to the 14th-largest AAV linebacker contract in the league, and Arvell Reese, selected at an early point in the draft typical of edge defenders, has a rookie contract that reflects that even though he is designated by the Giants as an off-ball LB. It will be interesting to see how often he rushes the quarterback from the edge.
Cornerback
Paulson Adebo: $18.0M AAV (14th), $34.8M FG (14th)
Greg Newsome II: $8.0M AAV (37th), $3.0M FG (81st)
Colton Hood: $3.2M AAV (66th), $12.8M FG (45th)
Andru Phillips: $1.5M AAV (114th), $1.2M FG (108th)
Deonte Banks: $3.4M AAV (63rd), $13.6M FG (42nd)
Among Giants cornerbacks, only Paulson Adebo is paid like a veteran starter. The rest of the cornerback group is paid modestly. None of that means that the players listed above are going to be the answer for improving the defense in 2026, but if they’re not, you can take comfort in knowing that not a lot of money is being poured into the position by the Giants. The total AAV of the group above is about the same as that of the NFL’s highest-paid CB, Trent McDuffie.
Safety
Jevon Holland: $15.1M AAV (9th), $27.4M FG (7th)
Tyler Nubin: $2.0M AAV (60th), $5.4M FG (39th)
Ar’Darius Washington: $3.0M AAV (47th), $1.5M FG (62nd)
Jason Pinnock: $1.4M AAV (93rd), $0.2M FG (130th)
Jevon Holland is not only paid like a starter, he’s paid like a borderline elite starter (four safeties make $20 million or more). It’s hard to say that he was worth the cost last season. Perhaps in Dennard Wilson’s defense he and the other safeties will shine. If not this contract was a bad deal. The rest of the Giants’ safeties play for relatively little cost. The total cost of this group is a few million less than what the Chargers pay Derwin James.
Special teams
Punter – Jordan Stout: $4.1M AAV (1st), $6.3M FG (6th)
Kicker – Dominic Zvada: $1.0M AAV (31st), $0.1M FG (23rd)
Long snapper – Ben Mann: $1.0 AAV (29th), $0.01M FG (29th)
John Harbaugh went big at punter, bringing Jordan Stout in from Baltimore and giving him the most lucrative contract in the NFL, although it’s only sixth in fully guaranteed money. The kicker situation continues to be in flux, but Ben Sauls had problems in minicamp and Dominic Zvada seems to have a path to a job, as does long snapper Ben Mann. Both of them have little fully guaranteed money.
The bottom line on all of this is that the Giants, heading into training camp, have made very few big bets on players other than their first round draft picks, and even some of them make modest money by NFL veteran standards. They only have two players making more than $20 million per year and none making $30 million or more. At numerous positions (quarterback, wide receiver, guard, running back, tight end, edge defender, IDL, safety), the entire Giants room makes less money than the highest paid player at that position in the league. That’s how they have avoided void years and option bonuses.
The glass half full reaction to that comment would be that the Giants have a lot of young talent at low cost and are in tremendous position to make moves on big players in the future (or even this season at the trading deadline) if/when they decide that this team is ready to compete for a ring.
The glass half empty view of the situation would be that the Giants just don’t have enough talent to seriously compete and that part of the reason they don’t is because the team – whether that be the owners or Harbaugh or Joe Schoen (who seems no longer to have the power to make that call) – is just not willing to use the financial tricks available to them to push costs into the future.
There is no way to decide between those two possibilities from our vantage point on the outside. If the Giants compete this year and they make a big move at the trading deadline to go for it all, then we’ll have our answer. If they compete but refuse to make a move to address a glaring weakness, then we’ll have the opposite answer.
What do you think of the Giants’ financial situation?
