The NFL informed teams on Friday that the league’s 2026 salary cap would be set at $301.2 million per team. That is up $22 million from the 2025 salary cap, but on the lower end of projections that ranged from $301-305 million.
The news puts the New York Giants in an even tighter cap situation as NFL free agency looms.
On an estimated $303.5 million cap the Giants are shown by Over the Cap with $3.347 million in cap space. Subtract $2.3 million from that for the actual cap number, and the Giants come in with right around $1 million in space.
The Giants are spending the week at the NFL Scouting Combine assessing costs of there own free agents — like Jermaine Eluemunor, Wan’Dale Robinson, and Cor’Dale Flott — as well other players they would like to pursue.
General manager Joe Schoen said this week that once the Combine concludes the Giants will gather to assess how much cap room they need to create via cuts, restructures, and trades to have a chance to do what they want to do in free agency.
“We’ll get an idea what the values are for some of our UFAs and what type of room we’re going to need and then how we’re going to approach that,” Schoen said.
How much cap room would Schoen like to create?
“As much as we need,” Schoen said. “It depends what we need.”
I recently took a look at ways the Giants can create space. Here is the crux of it.
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 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.
