Here's a logical pool of potential Practice Squad players for the Giants to choose from for today

The Giants made many moves in the last week to reach the 53-man roster limit yesterday. Here are 22 Practice Squad Eligible players who were with the team for the past few months who cleared waivers and make the most sense to re-join their former team. Two players have already returned to the team as of the time of this post:

I. CB Charles James has already been the first to return to the Giants after being off the team for less than 24 hours. He signed on to the Giants' Practice Squad a few minutes ago according to Ralph Vacchiano:

II. DE Matt Broha has also returned to the Giants after being waived yesterday at 6 pm:

Without further ado, here is the list of guys out of this pool from which the Giants are most likely to draw their 8-man Practice Squad out of:


These are the guys they let go of last Sunday who have cleared waivers who are P.S. eligible

These are the guys they let go of yesterday who have cleared waivers who are P.S. eligible. Charles James and Matt Broha, as noted above, have already returned to the Giants as of the time of this post:

Look for the remaining 6 spots to be filled today, and then adjusted as the season goes on according to need. Teams like the Steelers have already announced their 8-man Practice Squad, so this shouldn't take long.

These players will earn at minimum $6,000 per week over the course of 17 weeks for however long they are on the Practice Squad. If the Giants want to pay them more, then they can. Players on the Practice Squad will begin to count against the salary cap once the Top 51 Rule expires at midnight ET this coming Thursday, September 5th.

Clubs must be in compliance with the regular season Salary Cap rules by the close of business at 4 pm New York time on Wednesday, September 4th. The Giants will need to make a a move or two with regard to restructuring contracts before then (Snee, Rolle, Eli, or Weatherford), which I'll touch upon in an upcoming post tomorrow.

*****

UPDATE - Monday, September 2, 2013   |  1:03 PM ET

• The Giants have signed 1 more player to their Practice Squad.
• SS, Jawanza Jackson
• Jackson went undrafted this past April; he went to USC
• He spent time w/the Texans this summer; they waived him this weekend.
• Jackson's signing to the Giants' Practice Squad is their 8th and final addition.
• The members of the Giants' 8-man Practice Squad are as follows:
• CB, Charles James
• DE, Matt Broha
• WR, Julian Talley
• DE, Adewale Ojomo
• OG, Eric Herman
• OG/C, Stephen Goodin
• WR, Marcus Harris
• SS, Jawanza Jackson
• The Practice Squad can be, and almost always is fluid as the year goes on, so don't expect these names to remain the same throughout the year.
• Teams often alternate Practice Squad players by 3 week intervals since that is how long a player must remaining on it at minimum before being removed.

UPDATE - 5:24 PM ET

• The Giants have signed 4 more players to their Practice Squad.
• They are as follows:
• DE, Adewale Ojomo
• OG, Eric Herman
• OG/C, Stephen Goodin
• WR, Marcus Harris
• The other 3 who have already signed are as follows:
• CB, Charles James
• DE, Matt Broha
• WR, Julian Talley
• All 7 of the players on the Giants' Practice Squad so far have been with the organization at least through this summer.
• All 7 have also come from the second of the two lists that I have posted above.
• The Giants have 1 vacancy left to fill on their 8-man Practice Squad.
• Read about the players they've signed so far by clicking HERE.

UPDATE - 4:23 PM ET

• The Giants have signed two more guys from these two lists to their Practice Squad besides CB Charles James & DE Matt Broha.
• They are WR Julian Talley & WR Marcus Harris.
• This brings the total number of players signed to so far to 4.
• They have another 4 vacancies remaining.
• CB Terrence Frederick won't be joining the 4 aforementioned players though, since he opted to sign with Cleveland's Practice Squad after clearing waivers earlier today.

Giants' updated Top 51 list of cap numbers & roster designations

Here is the Giants' top 51 list of cap numbers that count towards the salary cap now:

Here are players 52 through 53. They don't count towards the salary cap---at least not yet. Starting at 4 om ET on Wednesday, September 4th they will since at that time the Top 51 Rule will cease. At that point all 53 players on the active roster will count against the cap, along with players who have received Injury Settlements, player(s) on IR, player(s) on the PUP list, and players on the Practice Squad.

*****

Here are the roster designations for the following 13 players, of which 11 will count fully against the cap, as indicated below, and one (Will Hill) counting partially if he is added back on to the 53-man roster in week 5 after he is eligible to return from his 4-game suspension. The only player below who doesn't count at all against the cap is Ryan D'Imperio. None of these players will begin to count against the cap until the Top 51 Cap Rule ceases, as indicated above.

More roster moves are going to be made in the next couple of days. Andre Brown being added on to the IR list, but designated to return, is a strong possibility. If that happens, it won't be possible until Tuesday, September 3rd. The numbers listed above only reflect the changes from yesterday.

Keep in mind that Injury Settlements for players who are designated as being "Waived/Injured" aren't known yet. The cap numbers listed next to the names of those 8 players are going to be used to help calculate their injury settlement amounts along with the amount of weeks that the team doctor and player doctor agree on the player missing before he can be healthy enough to play again (most likely elsewhere). To learn more about how they work click on the article below:

• What Exactly are Injury Settlements? - By Jason Fitzgerald of overthecap.com | August 29, 2013

Will Hill's salary ($480,000), which also happens to be his cap number, will only count on a prorated basis. If he return to the 53-man roster in week 5, then only 13/17ths of his contract--totaling $367,059--will count against the salary cap instead of the entire amount.

Here's a list of Practice Squad eligible players that the Giants waived today & the waiver wire order

These Practice Squad eligible players that the Giants waived today may very well be the group that the Giants choose from to form their 8-man Practice Squad by this time tomorrow if they clear waivers. Teams can begin to contact and sign players who clear waivers tomorrow at 12 pm New York time. Here are the guys who they waived today, & who they may very well contact and try to sign then:

1. Eric Herman
2. Matt Broha
3. Bryan Browning
4. Terrence Frederick
5. Stephen Goodin
6. Kevin Hardy
7. Marcus Harris
8. Matt McCants - He spent last year on the Giants' Practice Squad
9. Julian Talley
10. *Charles James
11. *Adewale Ojomo

Of these eleven players, nine are a pretty safe bet to clear waivers by 12 noon NY time tomorrow. The only two that will make me sweat a little are Charles James & Adewale Ojomo. It should be noted that teams who claim these players MUST add them to their 53-man roster for the first 3 weeks of the season. If they let go of them prior to that, then they will be paid as if they were going to be on the roster for 3 weeks. Bad teams like Kansas City and Jacksonville could use all the talent that they can get. The Waiver wire order that is in effect now until September 24th is as follows:

2013 WAIVER WIRE ORDER in effect until September 24, 2013:
1. Kansas City
2. Jacksonville
3. Oakland
4. Philadelphia
5. Detroit
6. Cleveland
7. Arizona
8. Buffalo
9. NY Jets
10. Tennessee
11. San Diego
12. Miami
13. Tampa Bay
14. Carolina
15. New Orleans
16. St. Louis
17. Pittsburgh
18. Dallas
19. NY Giants
20. Chicago
21. Cincinnati
22. Washington
23. Minnesota
24. Indianapolis
25. Seattle)
26. Green Bay
27. Houston
28. Denver
29. New England
30. Atlanta
31. San Francisco
32. Baltimore

If James and Ojomo clear waivers, then I think the Giants will jump at calling and offering them spots on the Practice Squad. It's going to be interesting to see if they last until 12 noon tomorrow ET. We can only wait and see at this point. To learn more about how the NFL's waiver system works click on the link below:

• How Does the NFL’s Waiver System Work? - Posted on August 23, 2013 by Brian McFarland

The minimum salary for players on the Practice Squad for 2013 is $6,000. Over the course of 17 weeks, that is a salary of $102,000. Multiply that by 8 players, and you get $816,000 (at minimum) that will start to count on the salary cap on Thursday, September 5th. Of course, teams can choose to pay their Practice Squad players more than the $6,000 minimum that is in effect for 2013. The last year two years it was $5,700. It will be $6,300 next year. Here's a graphic that depicts Practice Squad minimum salaries from the start of this latest CBA in 2011 through its end in 2020:

Here is the salary cap impact of the players who didn't make the Giants' final 53 today

First, here's a list of the players who are no longer on the 53-man roster, as per Giants.com's "list of players not on the final 53":

1. DT Marvin Austin
2. WR Ramses Barden
3. LB Kyle Bosworth
4. DE Matt Broha
5. OL Bryant Browning
6. FS David Caldwell
7. OL Selvish Capers
8. QB David Carr
9. DB Terrence Frederick
10. OL Stephen Goodin
11. WR Kevin Hardy
12. WR Marcus Harris
13. OL Eric Herman
14. DB Will Hill
15. DB Charles James
16. DT Markus Kuhn
17. OL Matt McCants
18. DE Adewale Ojomo
19. DB Tyler Sash
20. WR Julian Talley
21. RB Ryan Torain
22. DE Adrian Tracy

*****

Different roster moves for the 22 aforementioned players listed above. They are grouped as follows:

I. CUTS (Sixteen were Waived/1 was Released)

WAIVED (16):

1. DT Marvin Austin
2. LB Kyle Bosworth
3. DE Matt Broha - P.S. eligible
4. OL Bryant Browning - P.S. eligible
5. FS David Caldwell
6. DB Terrence Frederick - P.S. eligible
7. OL Stephen Goodin - P.S. eligible
8. WR Kevin Hardy - P.S. eligible
9. WR Marcus Harris - P.S. eligible
10. OL Eric Herman - P.S. eligible
11. DB Charles James - P.S. eligible
12. OL Matt McCants - P.S. eligible
13. DE Adewale Ojomo - P.S. eligible
14. WR Julian Talley - P.S. eligible
15. RB Ryan Torain
16. DE Adrian Tracy

RELEASED (1):

1. QB David Carr

II. WAIVED INJURED (either with an injury settlement or without on)

WAIVED/INJURED (1):

1. OL Selvish Capers (an injury settlement will be reached with him very shortly in all likelihood, just as one was reached with Tyler Sash).

WAIVED/INJURED w/an INJURY SETTLEMENT (1):

1. SS Tyler Sash

III. PLAYER(S) PLACED ON INJURED RESERVE:

INJURED RESERVE (1):

1. WR Ramses Barden

IV. PLAYERS PLACED ON SPECIALIZED LISTS:

RESERVE/PUP LIST (1):

1. DT Markus Kuhn (he can return between week 7 and week 13, or the Giants can either place him on IR or waive him after he's healthy; if they add him to the 53-man roster then a corresponding roster move must be made to accommodate him then)

RESERVE/SUSPENDED LIST (1):

1. FS Will Hill (suspended for 4 games due to use of marijuana; eligible to return to roster by week 5; the Giants will either waive him at that time or make a roster move in order to add him then)

*****

Now, the question the becomes the following: which of these players will still continue to count against the Giants' cap? I'll list them below:

1. DT Marvin Austin - Waived
2. DE Adewale Ojomo - Waived
3. QB David Carr - Released
4. SS Tyler Sash - Waived/Injured w/an Injury Settlement
5. OL Selvish Capers - Waived/Injury
6. OL Eric Herman - Released
7. WR Ramses Barden - IR
8. *DT Markus Kuhn - PUP LIST

The cuts of the following ten players had no impact whatsoever on the Giants' salary cap:

1. LB Kyle Bosworth - WAIVED
2. DE Matt Broha - WAIVED
3. OL Bryant Browning - WAIVED
4. FS David Caldwell - WAIVED
5. DB Terrence Frederick - WAIVED
6. OL Stephen Goodin - WAIVED
7. WR Kevin Hardy - WAIVED
8. WR Marcus Harris - WAIVED
9. DB Charles James - WAIVED
10. OL Matt McCants - WAIVED
11. WR Julian Talley - WAIVED
12. RB Ryan Torain - WAIVED
13. DE Adrian Tracy - WAIVED

Players on the PUP List and on IR will count on the salary cap starting on September 5th. It should be noted that Markus Kuhn's salary will split. The amount of the split is most likely going to reduce his base salary from $480,000 to $303,000 (see below):

His cap number for this year is $491,474 for the year. I asked Joel Corry about Kuhn's situation and he wrote me that, "there are up & down splits where the player gets the lower amount when he's not on the 53 man roster. There are also splits that disappear after making the 53 man roster. Kuhn has an up & down or full split." He also said "the type of split is a function of team policy & leverage. Pre-season splits are most favorable for players." My guess is that Kuhn's base salary splits to $303,000 as I mentioned above, and this his 2013 signing bonus proration of $11,474 will still count though, making his cap number for 2013 $177,000 less than it was going to be. It'll change from $491,474 to $314,474. I'm not sure if this will still be in effect if he returns to the active roster though.

Ramses Barden's cap number of $620,000 will count fully on the cap now that he is listed on Injured Reserve.

This brings us to Dead Money. It is as follows for the following 5 players:

1. Marvin Austin - His dead money total is $623,018. Since he has two years left on his deal (including this year), and post June 1st cut rules are still in effect, his total will be split up over two years. $311,509 will count as Dead Money in 2013, and $311,509 will count as Dead Money in 2014.
2. Adewale Ojomo - Ojomo's dead money total is $1,000. Since he also has two years left on his deal (including this year), and post June 1st cut rules are still in effect, his total will be split up over two years. $500 will count as Dead Money in 2013, and $500 will count as Dead Money in 2014.
3. David Carr - His $65,000 signing bonus is all that will count against the cap as Dead Money. Since he signed a 1 year Minimum Salary Benefit (MSB) contract, all $65,000 will accelerate into this year's Dead Money total.
4. Tyler Sash - His Dead money total of $39,340 will be spread out over two years for the same reason as Marvin Austin and Adewale Ojomo (he has two years left on his contract as well). Sash's total will be split up over two years. $19,670 will count as Dead Money in 2013, and $19,670 will count as Dead Money in 2014. Keep in mind that Sash's injury settlement will affect the cap as well, but that won't kick in until September 5th. The Dead Money amount counts now.
5. Eric Herman - His Dead money total will be spread out over 2 years. He was drafted in the 7th round this past April. His signing bonus of 55,952 is prorated over 4 years. As a result, the first year proration of $13,988 will count this year, while the remaining 3 years totaling $41,964 will accelerate into next year's dead money total.

• The additional total amount of Dead Money as the result of these transactions for 2013 is going to be $410,667.
• The additional total amount of Dead Money as the result of these transactions for 2014 is going to be $373,643.

The dead money amount counts now on the cap. The injury settlements for Sash and Capers (I'm assuming one for Capers), whatever they may be (I'm guessing around $100K to $150K for each), will not count until Thursday, September 5th when the Salary Cap accounting rules change.

Here are the players who were waived/injured and are going to receive Injury Settlements:

1. Antonio Dennard

2. Jeremy Horne

3. Kris Adams

4. Chris DeGeare

5. Keith Carlos

6. Laron Scott

7. Tyler Sash

8. Selvish Capers

As mentioned above, their injury settlement totals will start counting on the salary cap in about 5 days. The same will apply to the players on IR (Stevie Brown and Ramses Barden), and Markus Kuhn on the PUP List. Will Hill is another case though.

Since Hill is on the Reserve/Suspended List, the Giants will get a cap credit for the amount of time that he is suspended. In this case, it will be 4 games. This means that if Hill is back on the team in week 5, then only 13/17ths of his $480,000 salary (which also happens to be his cap number; he doesn't have any bonus money) will count on the Giants' 2013 salary cap. In this case, it would be $367,059, thereby saving the Giants $112,941 in cap room during the time that he will be suspended.

*****

To conclude, here are the players who made today's final 53 courtesy of this link from Giants.com below:

• Coach Coughlin discusses 53-man roster - by Michael Eisen | 8/31/2013

Let's see who makes it to Dallas 8 nights from tonight. I have a STRONG feeling that not all of these will (Andre Brown is a good bet to go on Temporary IR on Tuesday, September 3rd):

Offense (26)
QB (3): Eli Manning, Curtis Painter, Ryan Nassib
RB: (4): David Wilson, Andre Brown, Da’Rel Scott, Michael Cox
FB (1): Henry Hynoski
WR (5): Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, Rueben Randle, Louis Murphy, Jerrel Jernigan
TE (4): Brandon Myers, Bear Pascoe, Adrien Robinson, Larry Donnell
OL: (9): David Diehl, Chris Snee, Will Beatty, Kevin Boothe, David Baas, Justin Pugh, Jim Cordle, Brandon Mosley, James Brewer 

Defense (24)
DE (5): Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul, Mathias Kiwanuka, Damontre Moore, Justin Trattou
DT (5): Linval Joseph, Cullen Jenkins, Shaun Rogers, Johnathan Hankins, Mike Patterson
LB (5): Dan Connor, Keith Rivers, Spencer Paysinger, Mark Herzlich, Jacquian Williams
CB (6): Corey Webster, Prince Amukamara, Aaron Ross, Terrell Thomas, Jayron Hosley, Trumaine McBride 
S (3): Antrel Rolle, Ryan Mundy, Cooper Taylor

Specialists (3)
K: Josh Brown
P:  Steve Weatherford
LS: Zak DeOssie

The Giants have made 10 roster moves so far today; they have 12 more to go

The Giants are required to have 53 players on their active list by 6 pm ET today. Here are the roster moves that they have been reported to have made today thus far today according to various tweets from Giants' Beat Reporters and players:


This thread from BigBlueInteractive.com is a great place to go to check on moves too:
NY Giants cuts 8/31 - thread started on 8/31/13 by "BigBluePrestige" at 11:02 am




CUTS - WAIVED/RELEASED:

1. WR, Ramses Barden - RELEASED
2. SS, Tyler Sash - WAIVED   **Later reported to be WAIVED/INJURED; see update below**
3. FS, David Caldwell - WAIVED
4. DE, Matt Broha - WAIVED
5. CB, Terrence Frederick - WAIVED
6. OG/C, Stephen Goodin - WAIVED
7. CB, Charles James - WAIVED
8. OT, Matt McCants - WAIVED

RESERVE/PUP LIST:

• DT, Markus Kuhn (eligible to return between weeks 7 and 13, or he can be placed on Injured Reserve).

RESERVE/SUSPENDED LIST:

• FS, Will Hill (eligible to return in week 5 after serving a 4-game suspension for using marijuana).

UPDATE: 2:55 pm ET
Tyler Sash was actually waived/injured as a result of the concussion he received in the last preseason game in New Englanf according to this tweet by Ralph Vacciano below:

The only mild surprise of the 10 roster moves announced so far is the release of Tyler Sash. He suffered a concussion two nights ago in the last preseason game in New England on Thursday, August 29th. The resulting Dead Money of his release is $19,670 for this season, and another $19,670 for next season (2014). It could be interesting to see if Sash was waived/injured, possibly resulting in an injury settlement. We'll have to wait and see. Hopefully, it was just a one or two week type of thing. The only other Dead Money that has resulted so far is as a result of the release of Ramses Barden. The Giants will suffer an added dead money hit in 2013 for the amount of $65,000 due to releasing him (there isn't any dead money added onto the 2014 total as a result of this roster move). So far, the added dead money total for 2013 as a result of thew moves is $84,670 (Sash and Barden). The added dead money total in 2014 is only $19,670 (for Sash alone).

Sash, like the other players listed here, other than WR Ramses Barden who is a free agent as of now, will be available to be claimed by other teams on waivers. Teams have until tomorrow at 12 pm to claim them, otherwise they become free agents, and will be completely free to sign with the club of their choice. At that point, teams will start to build their 8-man Practice Squad. 5 of the 8 players who were waived are eligible to go on the Practice Squad (James, Broha, Frederick, James, & McCants). To see the list of Practice Squad eligible Giants, click HERE:

• The Giants have 12 more roster moves to make in roughly the next 4 and a half hours until the 6 pm ET deadline.
• I'll try and update them here as they are leaked via twitter, and/or one of the other various seemingly countless mediums of communication we have in existence today.

P.S. On a sidenote, there are two moves made so far today out of these ten that are out of whack with my final roster projection for today. they are the cutting of CB Charles James (waived), and that of SS Tyler Sash (also waived). I had projected them both to the 53-man roster today. I think that if James clears waivers at 12 pm ET tomorrow that he'll be the first guy the Giants call to offer a job on their Practice Squad. Sash might also get a call if they need numbers at safety for week 1 if he's still available.

*****

Click on the link to the article below to understand the difference between being waived and being released:

• How Does the NFL’s Waiver System Work? - Posted on August 23, 2013 by Brian McFarland

NYG Cap Central's final projected 53-man roster for tomorrow at 6 pm w/salary cap implications

Let me just say that this was very difficult to project. Last night did make a difference to me. I now think that the Giants will carry a 6th CB (McBride and James both looked like valuable backend roster players). I also wouldn't be surprised of the Giants stash TE Adrien Robinson on IR for the year in order to make room for Larry Donnell as a pure blocking TE. Robinson not being able to see more snaps seemed to tick off Coughlin.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see the Giants give a call to the agent of Jake Ballard. Paul Dottino basically confirmed this yesterday, when he expressed this notion. The Pats have released him today, and he is a Coughlin favorite. If they sign him, then I think Donnell is a goner, but I'm only going to use the players that are on the roster now for this projection (I have a funny feeling that Ballard is going to be a Giant, either in week 1 or in week 2 though). While I think Patterson and Trattou looked like money last night, I don't know if that will allow the Giants to put them on the 53-man roster by tomorrow afternoon's deadline.

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if one or both were dealt just so that the Giants don't get burned for seeing them come back to haunt them in the regular season. Patterson looks better than Austin, but Austin has his draft status, youth, and 2 more years of being under contract to the team in his favor over Austin. It's a really slippery slope to climb because on the field, Patterson just looks like the better player---plus he got more snaps last night than Austin did. We'll see what happens. Good players will have to be cut unfortunately, but this is life in the NFL.

I would be remiss to not mention the Andre Brown situation. I think the Giants use the temporary/partial Injure Reserve designation for him. This means that the Giants would be able to add him back onto the roster after 8 weeks. He wouldn't be able to practice for the first 6 weeks, and then wouldn't be able to play for another 2 weeks, making him eligible to return in week 9. The Giants happen to have a bye that week, with their next game being the following week (week #10) at home against the visiting Raiders. Brown's injury is supposedly of the 4 to 6 week variety, as per SNY Giants. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio also reported the same.

If this scenario unfolds, it means that Andre Brown would have to be on the Giants' 53-man roster tomorrow before actually being designated as the Giants' lone temporary IR player (teams can only do this with one player a year; they did it with Brown near the end of last year too incidentally). Brown can't be placed on this list until Tuesday, September 3rd next week. On that day at 4 pm New York time, teams are permitted to place a player on Reserve/Injured as "Designated for Return."

They'll have to release someone from the roster to make this move (perhaps other RBs like Da'Rel Scott or Ryan Torian?), but the Giants will have options out there in case they can' re-sign them shortly thereafter. Two guys who know the Giants' playbook and who are also solid in pass protection are still out there. I'm talking about street free agents Brandon Jacobs and Kregg Lumpkin (who spent time with the team at the end of last year). If the Giants can't reclaim Scott or Torain, then those two are very solid fall back emergency options.

To basically tie this all up, the Giants' 53-man roster that we will see tomorrow at 6 pm is probably not going to be the one we see later in the week, or the one we Dallas in all likelihood, or the one we see in week #2. Things are always fluid in the NFL. That, simply put, is the nature of the best, with the salary cap dangling over every team exec's head like the sword of Damocles. Without further ado, here's my projection for the 53-man roster TOMORROW (not at any other point, as I'm pretty sure it will change again):

First, is my breakdown of the roster by position:

Here is my breakdown of the players:

Listed in the table below are the 22 roster moves that I have projected to be made (including 19 cuts: 5 players released & 14 players waived). I've got Markus Kuhn going on the Reserve PUP List for the regular season, along with Will Hill being suspended, & Adrien Robinson going on IR (probably wishful thinking on my part I admit). Here are the rest of the cuts:

NOTE - I'm not including the move to Temporary IR for Andre Brown since that won't be necessary until Tuesday, September 3rd. This is just for tomorrow's 6 pm ET deadline.

These 8 would be the guys I project to the Practice Squad; however, I think at least 1 or 2 outside players will make the final cut. Since I have no idea of knowing who they are, I'm just going to list 8 guys who are PS eligible on the team who are strong candidates to make it onto this 8 man list:

Guys like CB Junior Mertile, LB Jake Muasau, and especially CB Charles James (who I have projected to the team) are strong candidates to make it onto this list as well. Click HERE for a list of 20 Practice Squad eligible players on the 75-man roster at the time of this posting:








Finally, here is my cap breakdown of the aftermath of this predicted mess of a 53-man roster projection:

As can be seen above, in this scenario the Giants will need to create more room under the cap to make up for the cap space number of -$1,592,750 listed above. This doesn't include the 6 players who are going to receive Injury Settlements on the Giants too, hence the question mark. Those 6 are as follows:

1. CB, Antonio Dennard
2. WR, Jeremy Horne
3. WR, Kris Adams
4. OT, Chris DeGeare
5. WR, Keith Carlos
6. CB, Laron Scott

To read an excellent article on Injury Settlements by Jason Fitzgerald from overthecap.com, click below:

• "What Exactly are Injury Settlements?" - August 29, 2013 (overthecap.com)

The players who are going to receive Injury Settlements might also go the grievance route, if their agents feel something shady occurred, but the Giants don't seem to be in that boat for any of those guys. My guess of the total mount Injury Settlement amount for these 6 players is somewhere between $500,000 and about $1,000,000. If you add that to the negative overall number of $1,592,750 listed above then that means the Giants will need to clear roughly 2 to 2.5 million dollars in cap space just to be even with the cap. They'll also need room for emergency expenses too, so you can add another 1 to 2 million bucks to that amount as well. This would bring this hypothetical cap space total that the Giants would need to clear to be 3-3.5 million dollars at minimum.

This total can be made up though through restructuring the contract of guys like Chris Snee or Antrel Rolle. Check out this article written on the subject of clubs that will need to clear more cap space in the coming week when the Top 51 Rule will cease at 4 pm ET on Wednesday, September 4th. It's also by Jason Fitzgerald from overthecap.com and was written yesterday:

• Nine Teams Need To Make Cap Related Moves - by Jason Fitzgerald | August 29, 2013 (overthecap.com)

Check out the contracts of Rolle and Snee below, along with the cap room for teams around the league as well as the contractual details of all players on the Giants below:

• NFL Estimated Salary Cap room - overthecap.com
• Contractual details for players on the Giants - overthecap.com
• Antrel Rolle - contractual breakdown and details
• Chris Snee - contractual breakdown and details

Rolle & Snee both have high base salaries that can be be restructured to give the Giants the added necessary cap room that they will be needing in about 5 days. I would include Steve Weatherford in this list, but the most that he can save this team in cap space is $738,750. They're going to need roughly 4 to 5 times that amount. Snee and Rolle can provide it. Eli's extension will be left on the table until next year in all likelihood, so whatever cap moves are made in the next week will very likely come from these two players.

It should be noted that Snee agreed to a restructure last year on September 8th. In some corner, it is thought that players have to wait a year to get restructured again, but that is not the case. I asked one of the best people out there that knows about this stuff: former agent and National Football Post writer Joel Corry. He told me that the one-year rule applies to salary increases. Snee's restructure didn't qualify as such. Joel mentioned to me that a player can restructure his contract several times in a season. He then mentioned the case of Matt Flynn. Joel said that Matt Flynn has restructured his contract twice since his trade to Oakland. For those that don't know, Flynn was traded to the Raiders from Seattle about 5 months ago near the start of April. Keeping this knowledge in mind, the Giants should have no issues to go back to Snee and Rolle multiple times during the season if they need to make added room under the cap.