Updated Cap numbers for all players counting against the Giants' salary cap as of Dec. 10, 2013

As of today, the Giants are $132,418 under the salary cap (as per the NFLPA's League Cap Report website). The NFLPA lists 71 players counting against the Giants' cap as of today, not including their estimated Dead Money total of $8,950,510 (courtesy of OverTheCap.com). The breakdown of the 71 who count towards the cap are as follows:

• all players on the 53-man roster
• the 8 on the Practice Squad
• and the 10 who are on season ending Injured Reserve

First, I'll list those who are on the 53-man roster:

• Note: the only player on this list who there is a discrepancy with with respect to the figures listed at OverTheCap.com is DT Markus Kuhn.
• Jason Fitzgerald has his cap number listed as being $429,003.
• I have the figures listed as $418,591.
• I wrote about how I got my figure for Kuhn in this post about a month ago on Nov. 12, 2013:
• Cap ramifications of placing Shaun Rogers on I.R., & adding Markus Kuhn to the 53-man roster

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Here are cap number for the 10 players who are on season ending Injured Reserve:

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Finally, here are the players currently on the 8-man Practice Squad:

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I'll list the Giants' Dead Money totals for 2013 and 2014 in a post later this week (see this link from overthecap.com in the meantime regarding those figures). Keep in mind that the players for each NFL team's Practice Squad change frequently. Some players are terminated and then re-signed several times over the course of an NFL season. The player currently on the Giants' Practice Squad who is an example of that is WR Marcus Harris.

Latest cap rankings for all 32 NFL teams as of Dec. 8, 2013

Here is an updated list for all 32 teams in the NFL, as of today (Sunday, December 8, 2013) according to the NFLPA's League Cap Report website.



The figures are listed below in order of most cap space to least cap space:

For the sake of reference, I'm also listing them in alphabetical order:

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As can be seen above, the Giants are $132,418 under the cap as of today. This ranks them 31st in the entire league. Only the Rams have less cap room than the Giants do (they are only $17,718 under the cap). If only one more player goes on I.R. for the Rams, then they'll have to make more room under the cap.

If the Giants sustained another two injuries at the present time that necessitated a player going on season-ending Injured Reserve, they could handle it cap-wise (provided that one of those two players who go on I.R. has a salary split like Brandon Jacobs or Terrell Thomas do). Another condition must be that the players who replace them have no accrues years of experience. This is why we see most in-season transactions that have to do with additions to the 53-man roster involve players with 1-3 accrues seasons of experience, especially for cap strapped teams like the Rams and Giants.

The Giants will have a healthy amount of cap room this coming off-season. This season's leftover cap room will carry over into next year's. We'll found out what that exact number is after the regular season, provided the Giants don't make the playoffs, which looks pretty likely to happen in the next week or two. Last season, the Giants carried over exactly $1,000,000 from their 2011 season "cap leftovers" into the 2012 salary cap pool.

This year's number promises to be significantly smaller than that. As mentioned above, the Giants are only $132,418 under the cap now according to the NFLPA's figures (keep in mind that the only truly 100% accurate figures are kept by the NFL Management Council, and they hardly ever are leaked). Incentives are going to factor in to the money left over at the end of the season to determine exactly how much is going to be carried over into the 2014 season's salary cap pool, so it's probable that even less than that $132,418 figure will carry over into the 2014 season's total.

Here are the 2013 cap numbers for the Giants' impending free agents

Here they are listed below:

• Note:
• Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs) are highlighted in yellow.
• The players with voidable years in 2014 are highlighted in orange.
• Restricted Free Agents (RFAs) are highlighted in green.
• I didn't include Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFAs) on this list because they aren't a big enough factor into salary cap decisions (certain players with 2 accrued seasons towards free agency). 

• As can be seen, out of the 33 players on this list above, there are 24 UFAs (highlighted in yellow).
• 5 of these players who are UFAs are on season ending Injured Reserve now.
• The only players who have realistic chances to be re-signed by the giants next year are Stevie Brown and Aaron Ross (Rogers is too old and injury prone, while Adams and Scott are nothign more than camp fodder at this point).
• There are 2 players (highlighted in orange)--Webster and Myers--who have voidable years.
• It's doubtful that Myers & Webster will be on the team next year (especially Webster), as not bringing them back will result in a total of $4.25 million in cap savings: $1 million for Webster, and another $3.25 million for Myers.
• There are 7 RFAs (highlighted in green); all of these players will have to be tendered by the Giants if they intend to keep them in 2014. Listed below are last year's RFA tender rates:

• What the Giants do with their 7 RFAs tender-wise is going to be fascinating.
• 2 of these 7 impending RFAs are on season ending Injured Reserve: Hynoski & Cordle.
• They may or may not be tendered.
• Hynoski will probably be brought back to have a training camp battle with John Conner for the FB position (the Giants will only keep one heading into the 2014 season opener); the odds are against Hynoski based on Conner's excellent performance at the position thus far with the club.
• I suspect that Hynoski might just be signed to a deal similar to to the one Bear Pascoe signed last year; Pascoe wasn't tendered as a RFA, even though he was eligible to be one. Instead, the Giants and Pascoe agreed to a one-year deal that was less than the lowest tender amount, but higher than his previous year's salary (click HERE to see). 
• If Hynoski beats out Conner, then the carrot at the end of the stick for him makes sense to be a roster bonus, if he doesn't the Giants just cut bait on him, and eat the small amount of bonus money that he would be signed for ($65 K to $80 K).
• The other 5 RFAs are not all locks to be back next year, as they would all have to be tendered by the team first.
• Right now, my guess is that of these 7 (Hynoski, Cordle, Jernigan, Brewer, Williams, Herzlich, & Paysinger) only Williams and Brewer will only definitely be tendered.
• It would make sense to tender them at their original round tenders--the lowest.
• Last year, this figure was $1,323,000.
• Jacquian Williams was drafted in the 4th round in 2011, and James Brewer was drafted in the 4th round that same year. A second round tender might be considered for Williams though (the 2nd round tender amount last year was $2,023,000).
• In my opinion, Herzlich isn't worthy of being tendered at all.
• Paysinger probably does though, but it's not a surety (a Pascoe type of deal might also make sense with him).
• Cordle is an interesting case; he battled and improved enough to warrant a roster spot next year, but do the giants feel that he's worthy of taking up about $1 million in cap room because of it (almost double his cap number of $555,000 this season); the Pascoe treatment also seems logical for him in 2014.

List of Giants' Free Agents going into the 2014 off-season

It's been 12 days since my last post. The Thanksgiving holiday ate away (pun intended) at my time, as well as my waist-line. I hope everyone enjoyed the time off. To kick off this post, I'll paraphrase something that Tom Brady once said regarding the regular season: it doesn't really begin until after Thanksgiving.

We're at the three-quarters pole of the NFL season, with only 4 games and weeks remaining (there are no more bye weeks left for any teams). The playoff picture is clearing up, and so is the top of the draft too. We can now see which teams are entrenched in the playoff race, and which ones are not. The Giants' victory in Washington last night keeps them in the race, but it'll take a minor miracle for them to get into "the tournament", as the great Bill Parcells terms the playoffs.



Here are the Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs):
*Source: New York Giants 2013 Salary Cap - overthecap.com

1. Hakeem Nicks (WR)
2. Linval Joseph (DT)
3. Jon Beason (MLB)
4. Andre Brown (RB)
5. Terrell Thomas (CB)
6. Stevie Brown (S)
7. Kevin Boothe (OG/C)
8. Justin Tuck (DE)
9. McKenna "Bear" Pascoe (TE)
10. Curtis Painter (QB)
11. Brandon Jacobs (RB)
12. Da'Rel Scott (RB)
13. Peyton Hillis (RB)
14. Louis Murphy, Jr. (WR)
15. Kris Adams (WR)
16. David Diehl (OT/OG)
17. Dallas Reynolds (C/OG)
18. Shaun Rogers (DT)
19. Mike Patterson (DT)
20. Keith Rivers (OLB)
21. Aaron Ross (CB)
22. Trumaine McBride (CB)
23. Ryan Mundy (S)
24. Josh Brown (K)

**Please Note: TE Brandon Myers and CB Corey Webster are going to be Unrestricted Free Agents in 2014 as well. I didn't list them wit the players above because of the difference in Webster's and Myers's contracts. Both players have voidable years in 2014. Webster won't be back, and Myers most likely won't be brought back either. The Giants stand to gain $4,250,000 in extra cap room by voiding their contracts: $1 million in the case of Webster, and $3.25 million in the case of Myers. Here's a great article on how voidable years work below courtesy of Jason Fitzgerald of ovethecap.com:

• The Voidable Year and the Salary Cap - by Jason Fitzgerald | March 8, 2013

From this bunch, the 3 who stand out are Nicks, Beason and Joseph. After that, the only players who merit realistic long-term consideration are injury prone types, like Terrell Thomas--provided T2 can stay healthy (which is a big "if"), Andre Brown (constant nicks--no pun intended--with his legs), and Stevie Brown (coming off of an ACL injury). Justin Tuck's an interesting case, but ultimately his price tag and the Giants' need to get younger and move on from players who may not be as hungry and who are 30 or older, is going to probably be too overwhelming to keep him, despite his 4-sack performance last night.

Here are the Restricted Free Agents (RFAs):

See the following list of 2011 Draft picks (Giants’ Picks in 2011 N.F.L. Draft - The Fifth Down: NY Times NFL Blog (May 1, 2011). Players with 3 accrued seasons who are not 1st round picks are RFAs. Players who were signed as Undrafted Rookie Free Agents (UDFAs), are also RFAs after their third accrued season. The following 7 players are RFAs.

1. Henry Hynoski (FB)
2. Mark Herzlich (LB)
3. Spencer Paysinger (LB)
4. Jim Cordle (C)
5. James Brewer (OG/OT)
6. Jerrell Jernigan (WR)
7. Jacquian Williams (OLB)

I'll try and nail down who the Exclusive Rights Free Agents are (ERFAs) with more surety at a later date, but for now, the 31 aforementioned players are the ones who should be made note of (24 UFAs & 7 RFAs) as being definitely free in 2014. Listed below are the 36 players who are not Free Agents in 2014, as per overthecap.com:

• NFL Estimated Salary Cap Spending- 2014
• New York Giants 2014 Salary Cap

P.S. If anyone notices that I'm off with any of this information, please don't hesitate to post a comment, e-mail me (optimus2g@aol.com), or tweet me (@NYGCapCentral).

Latest league-wide team salary cap update as of Nov. 20, 2013

Here is the latest update for all 32 teams in the league with regard to available salary cap space (courtesy of the NFLPA's League Cap Report website). First I'll list them in order of most cap space to least cap space, then I'll list them in alphabetical order for reference purposes.


I. Most cap space to least cap space:

II. Alphabetical order:

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As can be seen above, the Giants are $251,536 under the cap. They are ranked 31st in the league in available salary cap space. Only the St. Louis Rams have less room under the cap now than the Giants do with $103,482 in available cap dollars.

As I usually state, these figures are the closest that we can possibly know of since the NFL Management Council is the only body that is truly 100% accurate. Those numbers are very difficult to get a hold of, as Jason Fitzgerald from overthecap.com has said over the past summer. The figures that the NFLPA shares on it's public website are sometimes subject to data entry errors, and slow processing of actual numbers that have already been put in with the league itself. For our purposes though, they are sufficient (knowing where teams stand in proximity to each other as well as themselves in the recent past).

Incredibly enough, we're coming up on week 12. There are only 5 weeks remaining in the regular season after this week's upcoming games. With the season being approximately two thirds of the way over, the Giants have enough room to barely skate by. If they have a rash of injuries that forces them to place three or more players on Injured Reserve in the next two weeks, then they'll have to make some more room under the cap. Hopefully that doesn't happen.

The least amount of cap space that a player would cost after this week, from week 13 through the end of the season (5 weeks) would be $119,118. This figure is the result of prorating the bare league minimum of $405,000 for 5 weeks (I'm not counting this upcoming 12th week). The most that a player could count is $185,294. This figure is obtained by prorating the amount of $630,000 over the 5 weeks between week 13 & week 17. This figure of $630,000 is the minimum paragraph 5 salary for players with 3 years of experience, as per the table below:

Players with 4 or more years of accrued service are also listed above. The reason they don't count at the rates listed above is because of the Minimum Salary Benefit (MSB). What the MSB does is that it allows vested veterans (players with 4 or more accrued years) whose minimum paragraph 5 salary figures are between $715,000 & $940,000 in 2013 to still receive their salaries if they sign with a team, but only count against the cap at rate of $555,000---the rate of a player who only has two vested years. That's why I didn't go above $630,000 when I was calculating the possible range of rates that the Giants would have to give players in week 13 if they were forced into signing someone due to injury to somebody on their active 53-man roster. For a more comprehensive look at how the Minimum Salary Benefit works. Please click on the link below:

• Explaining the Minimum Salary Benefit - by Jason Fitzgerald of overthecap.com | May 8, 2013

Teams don't give out bonuses to anyone at this point that they're bringing in off the street, or off of waivers after they've cleared it (a la Ed Reed and the Jets last week). If they happened to give a player a signing bonus of more than $65,000 then the MSB designation goes away. That's not happening until the off-season, but it's something to keep in mind as a general matter of fact regarding caponomics in the NFL. As transactions occur in-season, they almost always only are paragraph salary transactions, and usually involve players with less than 4 accrued season.

The following five players currently on the the 53-man roster who were in-season acquisitions either claimed off of waivers, or signed as "street free agents" are as follows (only Bradofrd wa claimed off of waivers): Brandon Jacobs, Peyton Hillis, Dallas Reynolds, Allen Bradford, & John Conner. Only Jacobs and Hillis are vested veterans out of this group. Termination Pay is potential problem with only Jacobs though out of these two since Hillis will receive it from the league as a result of being released by Tampa Bay after being on their 53-man roster on week 1 of this season. Here is an article on the subject:

• Veteran Players and Termination Pay - by Jason Fitzgerald of overthecap.com | August 26, 2013

Jacobs would have less incentive than usual to use his one-time only claim to termination pay if the Giants waive him for some reason in the coming weeks (doubtful since he'd sooner wind up in I.R. first, and because he has a salary split in his contract). The Giants would probably go to a player that is on the cheaper side of the options they have open to them if push actually came to shove. This is part of the reason that you see Practice Squad players being lured to sign on with other teams in-season, joining their 53-man rosters. This is why the Packers paid QB Scott Tolzien as if he was a member of their 53-man roster when he was on their Practice Squad.

The Packers promoted him to their 53-man roster on November 5th, as per this article from two weeks ago on NFL.com. As indicated in that article, Green Bay also increased Tolzien's salary from the Practice Squad minimum of $6,000 per week to a base salary of player on the 53-man roster--$544,999 to be exact. This was done so as to make sure that he would not be tempted to sign elsewhere. If any more moves are made, they may very well be made with the Giants' pro personnel department looking at players who stand out on other teams first before bringing in a "name player" to fill a hole. Let's hope that the injury bug has taken a little vacation for this club for a while as they continue to try and climb back into the NFC East race.

Could the Giants still trade Hakeem Nicks if they franchise him?

The answer to this questions is yes. Jason Fitzgerald covered the steps in his latest podcast from overthecap.com (November 16th, 2013). You can listen to it by clicking on the link below:

• Nov. 16, 2013 - Podcast: Ed Reed, Franchise Players, Voidable Years, and NFL Picks
• Jason went over this issue for 5 minutes & 38 seconds.
• He started at the 23:29 mark, & ended at the 29:07 mark.

The kind of tag that I'm concerning myself with in this hypothetical situation is the non-exclusive franchise tag, the kind which allows the franchise tagged player to negotiate with other teams. Joel Corry published a fine article related to this subject below:

• Agent's Take: Ten players who could get slapped with a franchise tag - by Joel Corry | Nov. 19, 2013

In the article, Joel projects the projected Franchise Tag number for WRs in 2014 to be $11,539,000 (up $1,002,000 from this year's figure of $10,537,000). Here are the rest of the projected franchise tag figures:

Source: Agent's Take: Ten players who could get slapped with a franchise tag - Nov. 19, 2013

Here is a pseudo transcript of the part of Jason's podcast that focuses on the topic of Nicks and trading franchise players:

Trading franchised players in the NFL:

• You can't trade franchise rights to a player.
• If you eventually trade such a player, first, he must have the franchise tag placed on him.
• The earliest that a player have the franchise tag placed on him for the 2014 league year is February 17, 2014 as per this link (click HERE).
• Second, he counts fully against the salary cap on the first day of the league year after the tender is extended.
• As per this link, the start of the 2014 league year & free agency is 4 pm ET on March 11th.
• Nicks can go shopping as soon as March 8th if the franchise tag is placed on him (three days prior to when players can start to sign contracts with other clubs).
• In this hypothetical scenario, Nicks and his agent Peter Schaffer (also the agent for David Diehl pictured HERE) would find a team that wants him, and is willing to give him the contract that he wants.
• Nicks and his agent tell the Giants the terms, as per the Giants' request to them to come back to them if they find a club that is willing to give Nicks the contract that he wants.
• This is just my opinion here, but the Carolina Panthers seem like an ideal fit since they have an obvious need at the position, as well as the cap room to get such a deal done; there is also obviously a link to N. Carolina for Nicks since that is where he is from and went to college.
• The fact that Panthers G.M. Dave Gettleman has an extensive history with the Giants, since he worked in their front office for years is also helpful to him. 
• After Schaffer & Nicks go back to the Giants and tell them the terms of the contract that they've got on the table from a team that wants to sign Nicks, the Giants say they can't match that.
• Nicks's agent says this team won't pay the steep price of two #1 draft picks to sign him away from the Giants.
• The Giants and that team then can begin to talk compensation if the Giants want to get something for Nicks that isn't as high as the two #1 picks (say a 2 and a 4 as Jason pointed out in his podcast).
• The Giants and the team agree to compensation terms.
• Nicks then signs tender w/the Giants at this point.
• As soon as Nicks is a contracted player in the NFL, he can be traded---not before, as Jason states in the podcast.
• The Giants then trade him to the team Nicks wants to sign the new contract with for the compensation agreed upon (Jason used the 49ers as an example, which is fine; I think Carolina would make the most sense in this scenario).
• The Giants immediately regain the cap space for Nicks (about $11.5 million as per Joel Corry's projections linked above) and get the draft picks agreed upon in the trade.
• The team that acquires Nicks then gets him to hit their books at the franchise tag number.
• That same day that team can then  agree to new terms for the Nicks contract, even if they are over the cap once they acquire him that same day, which is interesting (Jason brought up this very interesting point, that I wasn't even remotely aware of).
• The league allows teams in this scenario a small window to reach new terms for the player.
• There is a provision in the CBA that allows teams that acquire players in situations like this to change contract terms (same day agreement to a lower figure), even if they are over the cap.

SUMMARY:

• Giants must have cap room to franchise Nicks first.
• Nicks finds team.
• Giants work out trade compensation w/said team (draft picks).
• Nicks signs tender w/the Giants.
• Nicks gets traded, and the Giants get the franchise cap space/money off of their books in addition acquiring the agreed upon trade compensation.
• Nicks immediately hits the acquiring team's books at the franchise rate for WRs.
• Nicks's new team has small window (same day) to renegotiate lower cap figure for him once they acquire him (even if the team is over the cap once they get him they can do this provided it is the same day).
• The league allows the acquiring team this leeway, as per the CBA during this small window.
• Nicks then gets his contract, and the team fits him under their cap.

I e-mailed Jason about this topic, and he was nice enough to take the time to answer my question. I brought up the Matt Cassel trade in 2009 from New England to Kansas City for comparison's sake (click HERE to read about that deal). Cassel led the Patriots to an 11-5 record in 2008 after Tom Brady was knocked out for the season in their first game of the year.

Cassel played well enough to be considered an asset by the Patriots. Scott Pioli left the Patriots' front office to become the G.M. in Kansas City. The Chiefs needed a QB, and Pioli knew what Cassel could do--or so he thought--from his days in New England. They then agreed to terms on a deal for Cassel after the Patriots had slapped the franchise tag on him. I compared this situation to the Nicks situation for many reasons. One of them in this scenario would be the familiarity between the front offices of the Giants and the Panthers. They've already done business with each other this season (see the Jon Beason trade).

Another would be that both the Panthers and Giants will have cap room this off-season to make some moves (see HERE). Thirdly, is that there is a need at the WR position for Carolina. Finally, Nicks is form the area and seems like a natural fit to go there in light of all the other factors that I mentioned. Panthers G.M., formerly the Giants' Pro Personnel Director, is intimately familiar with Nicks's abilities from his time in the Giants' front office.

It is a process, as Jason points out, but it is not one that is necessarily unlikely to happen, especially if the ingredients for a potential agreement and deal are there for all parties involved. Nicks hasn't exactly handled his time in free agency limbo this season well, and hasn't endeared himself to the fans and the team with his lackluster effort on more than a few plays, as well as his mediocre conditioning relative to past years.

A trade like this might be best for all parties involved. The way Jason described it, it is possible. Thanks to him for explaining how the process works. Try listening to his podcast every week as he covers all sorts of interesting topics related to the NFL Salary Cap. He's great about answering questions too, so feel free to contact him via Twitter (@Jason_OTC) or e-mail (jason@overthecap.com). He often covers topics in his podcast that are based on the questions people ask him. Enjoy.

Cap hits for all players on the Giants as of Nov. 17, 2013

As of today, and as per the NFLPA's League Cap website, the Giants are $251,536 under the salary cap. This ranks them 31st out of 32 teams in the league. Only the Rams have less cap room (they are $103,482 under the cap). The NFLPA lists 70 players as being on the team's cap payroll, not counting Dead Money. As per OverTheCap.com, the Giants have $8,860,510 in Dead Money this season. Their Dead Money total for next season so far is $389,298:

Here are the cap numbers for the 70 players that count towards the Giants' 2013 salary cap as of today. 53 are on the active roster, 8 are on the Practice Squad, and 9 are on season-ending Injured Reserve. To start off, here are the 8 players that are presently on their Practice Squad:

Here are the 9 players who are on season-ending Injured Reserve:

Finally, here are the cap numbers for all the players presently on the 53-man roster: