Monday’s biggest Giants news was the retirement of Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce.
One of the best players and leaders on an NFC East rival that has won 13 of its last 16 meetings with the Giants has hung up his cleats.
Dexter Lawrence and New York’s defensive linemen have reason to smile.
The top question facing the Giants heading into Tuesday, though, is about their two most important internal free agents: running back Saquon Barkley and free safety Xavier McKinney.
Tuesday at 4 p.m. is the NFL’s deadline for teams to place either the franchise or transition tag on a player. Each team is allowed to use only one tag.
Giants GM Joe Schoen has said he’d rather not use the tag annually, but he also has it at his disposal to maintain leverage or retain a player he can’t (or won’t) otherwise re-sign.
Schoen also said last week that it’s still a possibility he could use the franchise tag on Barkley for the second straight year.
“I wouldn’t say the franchise tag’s off the table,” he said at the NFL Combine.
That’s partially because Barkley’s $12.1 million salary for 2024 if he gets franchise tagged is close to the market-value $11.9 million amount for RBs on their first tag this spring.
Schoen said the Giants were going to “recalibrate” their offseason plans after the NFL announced its salary cap was increasing to $255.4 million, as well. So it’s possible he would stretch a bit more than preferred.
It still doesn’t feel like Barkley will get tagged on Tuesday, though.
He wants to test his value on the open market after last year’s frustrating negotiation and tag. Kayvon Thibodeaux said recently that Barkley deserved to get paid by the Giants before Daniel Jones.
And it still seems more likely that Barkley will sign elsewhere rather than re-upping in New York.
He wants to be used more as a receiver and to win. Schoen only wants to pay a running back so much. And the Giants have been studying this running back draft closely.
Schoen consistently has noted the depth of the RB free agent market, too, including two of his former Bills picks, the Texans’ Devin Singletary and the Colts’ Zack Moss.
McKinney, meanwhile, told the Daily News last week that he does not want to be tagged.
He wants to stay in New York, but on a long-term deal that pays him like a top-five safety.
“I’m not the one for tags,” McKinney said on the Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard podcast. “I don’t really get into it because, mentally, I believe in my worth and have been able to be a highly productive player, to put up really good numbers, to show that I am a top safety in this league. And I’ve been able to show that I am worth every penny of whatever I’ll get paid.”
“But I’m not really into the whole tags, franchise tags, transition,” he added. “I don’t really know much about the transition tag anyways. But I don’t even wanna speak on it much, because I’m not even gonna put my energy [into] or entertain those things.”
Neither tag feels like it would bring a satisfactory resolution, either.
The franchise tag at $17.1 million would throw too large a number on the Giants’ 2024 salary cap, when a multi-year deal would allow them to spread some of the cost into the future.
The transition tag at $13.8 million would allow McKinney to negotiate with other teams and give the Giants a chance to match. But that would likely suppress his market, and that financial amount would put him way below the top 5 range at safety, which spans from $16-19 million.
Frankly, it feels like the Giants should be able to get something done long-term with McKinney in a reasonable but lucrative middle ground. And maybe they’ll keep negotiating with Barkley and take their chances on what he finds available on the open market.
Schoen has the tag at his disposal if he wishes, though. So now it’s time to find out if he’ll use it, one week out from the start of the NFL’s free agent tampering period on March 11.
