General manager Joe Schoen likes to point to the team’s salary cap health as one of the things the New York Giants should feel good about going into the 2026 season and beyond. At the introductory press conference for new head coach John Harbaugh, Schoen pointed to the “cap flexibility” the Giants have.
It is a statement that leaves some fans puzzled. The league last week announced that the cap is expected to rise from the $279.2 million cap in 2025 to somewhere between $301.2 and $305.7 million for 2026.
Salary cap-tracking sites like Over The Cap are using the rough midpoint of those two numbers, $303.5 million, to estimate team-by-team cap space for the 2026 season. Using that number, the Giants have $7.941 million in space. They are only $2.158 million over in “effective cap space,” the space calculated to include what the Giants are expected to need to sign their 2026 rookie class.
How can the Giants have salary cap flexibility if they have little to no cap space? There are many layers to the answer. I don’t claim to know the cap inside and out, but I will do the best I can to explain where the Giants are, why Schoen feels good about the situation, what they can do to open cap space, and where they could end up in March when free agency arrives.
Let’s start with a simple fact. More than a third of the NFL is in worse salary cap shape right now than the Giants. Twelve teams are over the $303.5 million mark for 2026 before even considering signing rookies. So, right away, it isn’t as bad as it may seem at first blush.
The Giants are 31st (or second-best) in the league in dead money with just $216,804. The New York Jets lead the NFL in dead money with $75.621 million. Dead money is money a team cannot spend because it has been allocated to players no longer with the team.
Schoen gets criticism for not adding void years to contracts. The result of that approach, though, is that whatever the final cap figure, the Giants will be able to spend all of it on the 2026 roster.
With Dawn Aponte now in the front office as the organization’s salary cap strategist and chief salary negotiator, it is fair to wonder how the team’s approach to the cap and contracts might change. Here are some thoughts on how the Giants can fairly easily clear a substantial amount of cap space before free agency.
Salary cap cuts
There are a couple of “obvious” moves, and a handful of “maybe’s.”
Obvious cuts
PK Graham Gano — Cap savings: $4.5M | Dead money: $1.25M
OT James Hudson — Cap savings: $5.38M | Dead money: $2.305M
RB Devin Singletary — Cap savings: $5.25M | Dead money: $1.25M
You might argue that Singletary could have a place on the 2026 roster. No chance he sticks as the No. 3 running back at his current $6.5 million cap hit, though. Taking a restructure or outright pay cut would seem to be his only chance to stay.
Cap savings from those three cuts: $15.13 million.
Total estimated cap space after those cuts is $23.071 million.
Potential cuts
There are two that would save significant cap space.
LB Bobby Okereke — Cap savings: $9M | Dead money: $5.463M
G Jon Runyan Jr. — Cap savings: $9.25M | Dead money: $2.5M
Based on the finances and a guess that Harbaugh might want to upgrade the interior of the line, I think Runyan is vulnerable. Those two cuts would add $18.25M in cap space to our $23.071 million.
Our total cap space: $41.321 million.
If the Giants wanted to drop wide receiver Jalin Hyatt, that would save another $1.517M with just $272,000 in dead money. That would bring us to $42.838 million in cap space.
Potential contract restructures
There are two ways to restructure NFL contracts: simple restructures and maximum restructures.
Per Over The Cap:
- A simple restructure converts payments into prorated signing bonuses within the confines of the remainder of the contract. Teams typically have the ability to unilaterally execute simple restructures without any action necessary from the player.
- A maximum restructure increases the amount of cap space via conversion into prorated signing bonuses by either extending the contract or by adding void years to a contract, years that do not extend the contract but are only used as placeholders for the proration. Maximum restructures are typically considered a renegotiation of the contract that requires the player’s consent to execute.
OTC has put together a chart showing the restructuring potential for each team. This chart was compiled before the league announced the 2026 salary cap would be between $301 and $305 million, so the amount of space the Giants would have after restructures is slightly off. The impact, though, remains the same.
- If the Giants executed a simple restructure of every contract they have that is eligible to be restructured, they would save $61.183 million under the cap, per Over the Cap’s calculations.
- If the Giants executed a maximum restructure of every contract eligible to be restructured, they would save an astronomical $126.743 million.
The players the Giants have who are eligible for contract restructures are as follows, per OTC:
- Brian Burns
- Dexter Lawrence
- Paulson Adebo
- Andrew Thomas
- Jevon Holland
- Darius Slayton
- Chauncey Golston
- Jamie Gillan
Moving Kayvon Thibodeaux in a trade, something I discussed in a post a few days ago, would save the Giants $14.751 million in cap space. When I made trading Thibodeaux one of my bold offseason predictions, I was thinking about the mid-round draft capital the Giants could gain. The cap relief would also be a plus.
What would I do?
In terms of restructures, I would not hesitate to do that with Burns. Using OTC’s cap calculator, a Burns’ restructure would save $15.5M in cap space, driving his cap number from $36.55 million to $20.3 million.
The next-biggest amount the Giants could save via a restructure would be $11.388M with Thomas. Instead, I think I would restructure Lawrence, driving his cap hit from $26.958M to $17.6M and saving $8.85M in cap space.
Final thoughts
I am not a capologist, and you may agree or disagree with any of these moves. The entire point here was to show that the Giants do have plenty of flexibility and can get to $60 million or more in 2026 cap space should they want to.
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