INDIANAPOLIS – More to spend.
That’s the enviable position the Giants are in after yet another addition to their spending coffers became available when they gained $11,193,231 in unused salary cap money from last season. That puts the Giants very close to having $60 million to use in the upcoming NFL free agency signing period, riches that can be used to reclaim some of their own players and improve the roster by signing impact players from around the league.
Based on the Collective Bargaining Agreement, every team has the option to carry over unused cap space from the previous year. Every team in the league opted to do so. The Giants have more unused cap space to carry over than all but five teams – the Jaguars (at $32,774, 928 the highest in the league), Browns, Raiders, 49ers and Titans. The league average for salary cap carryover money is $6.4 million.
The salary cap for now stands at $154 million. The Giants’ roster stood at $107 million – $47 million under the cap. Add in the $11 million in carryover money and the Giants have $58 million to spend. There is rampant speculation the salary cap for the 2016 season will inflate to as much as $160 million, boosting the Giants’ spending capability to $60 million.
This is far and away the most money the Giants have ever possessed heading into free agency. Their history is to steer clear of overspending to add players, but this is a situation where they have the money to spread around to augment the roster with several players to help at several positions.