Contracts Giants Must Consider Cutting in 2022 Offseason

The New York Giants have a lot of things to fix in order to be competitive in the NFC again.

General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll need to figure out the best action plan to shed some expensive contracts and bring in the right players to begin the turnaround during the 2022 season.

New York's situation is aided by two top-10 picks in the 2022 NFL draft and the fact that it has a quarterback in place in Daniel Jones. The hope is for Daboll to work wonders with Jones after he achieved success with Josh Allen in Buffalo.

The Giants whiffed on their top free-agent signing last offseason, as Kenny Golladay was hurt for parts of the season, and he did not catch a touchdown when healthy. His contract is too big to cut, so the Giants may have to cut another player at wide receiver to free up some salary-cap space.

New York enters the offseason $10 million above the salary cap, per Over the Cap. It is one of 10 franchises heading into the offseason in the red.

The Giants will have to eat some dead-cap space, but a few releases could make their situation more manageable.

Sterling Shepard played in 28 games over the past three seasons.

The wide receiver's production dipped in 2021 because he was available for just seven games. He caught 36 balls for 366 yards and a touchdown in those contests.

Shepard is under contract until 2024, but the new people in charge may see him as expendable because of his injury history. He has not played a full campaign since 2018, and the Giants need to give Kadarius Toney an extended runout next to Kenny Golladay to see what they have in the young wide receiver.

A decision on Shepard could take some time to make. After June 1, Shepard's dead-money hit drops from $7.9 million to $3.9 million, per Over the Cap, so it may take some time for Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen to evaluate what they want to do at the wide receiver position.

Kyle Rudolph has not been as productive over the past two years as he was during his prime with the Minnesota Vikings.

The 32-year-old tight end has two touchdown catches in the past two seasons. He had one scoring play in his first season with the Giants.

Rudolph could be viewed as an expendable piece inside the Giants offense because of his age and the small salary-cap hit removing his contract would make. If the Giants cut Rudolph, it would cost them a $2.4 million cap hit and save them $5 million. That seems better than paying the veteran tight end $5 million to be a small part of the offense.

Daboll must revamp the depth at tight end, but he may not see Rudolph in his plans if he wants to bring in younger targets whom Daniel Jones can develop alongside.

James Bradberry should be a candidate for the Giants to cut because of his high salary.

Bradberry is scheduled to make $13.4 million in base salary during the 2022 season. He has $8.3 million in a prorated bonus that will paid to him as well.

The veteran defensive back has a $21.8 million cap number for 2022, and it will cost the Giants a decent chunk of change if they cut him. A release would leave a $9.7 million cap hit.

Still, the Giants would save $12 million by releasing Bradberry, but they may be better off restructuring his contract to keep him around and save money in the process.

A reconfigured deal would save the Giants $6.2 million and would allow them to keep around a veteran presence on defense.

However, if Schoen and Daboll want to rebuild the defense with younger players and more affordable contracts, they could shed the money owed to Bradberry.

Contract information obtained from Over the Cap.