I’ve been impressed with Joe Schoen and his team in his short Giants tenure. They had a big test this off season, having to negotiate the Jones and Barkley deals, and it looks like they got the job done.
In my opinion, the bigger test is having to land two, maybe three, contract extensions that all have the possibility to be “reset the market” deals.
I expect Andrew Thomas to be the highest left tackle in NFL history when the time comes to reup his deal. They will have him for two more cost controlled seasons, but they probably don’t want to wait that long. The quicker they can do this deal the better.
Dexter Lawrence, playing on his 5th year option this year, could potentially become the highest paid DT in NFL history. He may not quite reach Aaron Donald levels, but I don’t think there is any doubt he’ll top the 4 year, $90 million deal signed by Darron Payne in Washington. I think he has the potential to go even bigger than Donald, but we’ll see. I’m sure the Giants will try to get in under that deal.
Last is Xavier McKinney. I believe Derwin James has the record deal at 4 years, $76 million. With McKinney you can’t point to him and say “that’s the best safety in the NFL” so it’s not obvious that he would get a record breaker. However, when guys like that… pedigree, youth, talent, etc. hit the market they tend to be the rising tide on positional value. He’s on the last year of his deal and again, the sooner they can get the deal done is probably for the best.
Schoen, Browns, Abrams and the whole front office had a challenging 2023 off season, and it doesn’t get easier in ‘24.
It’s as simple as that regardless of how complex a given contract might prove to be..Just enjoy the Schoen/Daboll ride. Hooefully, the best is yet to come
McKinney in 3 years has missed chunks of 2 of them. This past year he didnt record an int. This is a big prove it year for him, and he's an obvious tag candidate since safety is a cheap tag (unlike LT and DL). I'm not saying it would be cheap to get him to extend right now just that he's not resetting the market any time soon. safety as a position is getting treated like rb right now.
Also I don’t think Dex gets to Donald money, 4yr 100m is probably right off the Payne deal. Assuming you can get him done before QW and Simmons.
Otherwise it's an indictment of the quality of the back half of the roster (still true) and the valuation of the money we pay out to those so-called top guys (TBD...).
Thomas and Dex are must signs. McKinney? Not so much
Isn't resetting the market.
Dex and Thomas are going to get paid. Luckily we have the cap space in 2024 and beyond.
He is a solid player but not even close to other top safetys in the league.
For sure… but at 1-4-1 in the division, and a playoff no-show in the 2nd round, with the talent we supposedly have (that we’ll be paying at the top of the market for) we need to continue to ascend. I think the perception around the league, and even among Giants fans, is that we are at least as likely to regress this season as we are to build on last year with 10+ wins.
With the supposed quality of the roster, we need to keep climbing.
He is a solid player but not even close to other top safetys in the league.
He played 97% of the snaps the last 2 years, excluding the time missed from the hand injury. How is he not on the field often?