Giants make 3 roster moves today that affect their team salary cap number

This afternoon the Giants made 3 roster moves, with one new player being added to the team, that slightly decreased the available space that they have under the cap. These transactions did not necessitate restructuring a player contract. The 3 roster moves are as follows:

These moves indicate that the Giants are in need of help depth-wise with respect to the Offensive Line, and that they're comfortable at RB going into the season finale against the Redskins since they didn't promote RB Kendall Gaskins from their Practice Squad.

Fortunately for the Giants, this decrease in cap space wasn't as large as expected. This was due to the Giants placing Safety Cooper Taylor on Injured Reserve (I.R.). Taylor's salary split actually gave the Giants an added $6,882 in cap space to work with. It may not sound like much, but considering where the Giants are with respect to the cap, it is definitely helpful. Since Taylor was a fifth round pick in this past year's draft, he had a salary split that kicked in once he was placed on I.R. This decreased the value of his overall 2013 cap number from $451,813 (as per OverTheCap.com) to $444,931. Here is how I arrived at that figure:

Salary Splits can help teams to lessen the blow of cap hits when roster moves are processed through the league office in certain situations, if needed. I should have pointed this out in my article yesterday, but it slipped my mind. Players who the Giants placed on I.R. this season who have salary splits are Brandon Jacobs, Shaun Rogers, and now Cooper Taylor. The Giants benefited from all of these moves cap room-wise. Team cap managers always have a list of these player who they know can lessen a team's overall cap burden if they're forced to put a player on I.R. at certain points throughout the season.

Markus Kuhn's cap number also changed as a result of a salary split when he went on the PUP list to start the season, giving the Giants extra cap room to work with (it went form being $491,444 to being $429,003 after he was placed on the PUP list). The splits correspond to a player's paragraph 5 salary (a.k.a. base salary). They are included in the media section of my Twitter account (@NYGCapCentral), as well as in the table below:

Taylor's split of $288,000 (down) corresponds to the $405,000 amount (up) for the 2013 season for players with no accrued seasons towards free agency. Taylor's cap number was adjusted to include the proration of the amount of $288,000 for this single week (1 divided by 17 multiplied by $288,000 added to the previous 16 weeks prorated at the full base salary amount of $405,000). If the Giants needed more help to make room under the cap without restructuring a contract, they would have placed other players on I.R. who have salary splits that are dinged up and are on the injury report now. CB Terrell Thomas & TE Adrien Robinson are players who fit into that category.

The odds are that they're probably done with placing players on I.R. though, as Patricia Traina points out, since they would have done so today if they needed to. As things stand right now, the Giants wouldn't have to restructure a contract in order to add another player to their 53-man roster after placing another player on I.R. and then signing somebody else to the Practice Squad (they have just enough to get by making one more move if it was necessary). This is probably all a moot point since It doesn't look like they will. Wednesday is "turn the page" day in the NFL anyway in terms of player preparation, so barring any unforeseen freak injuries in practice the rest of the week, these 3 roster moves will likely wind up being the final in-season adjustments to the Giants' final 53-man roster--and salary cap--this ill-fated season.

*****

In summary, and to reiterate, the cap numbers for (OG) Eric Herman, (CB) Travis Howard, & (S) Cooper Taylor are as follows:

• $23,824 for Herman (after being promoted to the 53-man roster)
• Herman is the 5th player to be promoted from the Giants' Practice Squad this year onto the 53-man roster.
• $6,000 for Howard (after being signed to the Practice Squad)
• Howard spent some time with New England on their Practice Squad after being released by Houston earlier this summer.
• $444,931 for Taylor after being placed on I.R.
• This was adjusted from being $451,813 before he was placed on I.R.
• It turns this roster move gave the Giants an extra $6,882 to work with.

The Giants' cap number, according to the figures reflected by the NFLPA's League Cap Report website, should decrease $16,942 as a result of these 3 moves. If my math is right, they should go form being $41,888 under the cap, to now being $24,947 under it. I'll update the Giants' players cap numbers and list them here tomorrow, after I've gone over them again.