What NY Giants GM Joe Schoen’s free agency moves tell us about his approach this offseason

The New York Giants have added 11 players since the start of free agency, which provides enough of a sample to reveal some trends about general manager Joe Schoen’s approach to his third offseason.

Shifting priorities

A year ago, Schoen was focused on keeping the roster together after a playoff win and a trip to the divisional round of the playoffs. Retaining quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley were the top priorities. The two-year, $12 million contract safety Julian Love signed with the Seattle Seahawks was the biggest free-agent departure.

Schoen has been far more willing to shake things up coming off a 6-11 season. Barkley represented the most obvious reversal, as the Giants didn’t make any effort to re-sign the 27-year-old, who landed with the Eagles on a three-year, $37.8 million contract.

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Although Barkley’s departure made the biggest impact, he wasn’t the most expensive player to exit New York. Safety Xavier McKinney inked a four-year, $67 million contract with the Packers.

The Giants gave cornerback Nick McCloud the lowest restricted free agent tender of $3 million for one year. Otherwise, every player the Giants have retained signed minimum contracts.

A constant is Schoen’s willingness to take big swings in trades. Last year, he sent a third-round pick to the Raiders for Darren Waller, inheriting the four years and $52.1 million remaining on the tight end’s contract. Schoen made an even bigger trade investment this offseason, sending second- and fifth-round picks to the Panthers for outside linebacker Brian Burns. As part of the trade, the Giants gave Burns a five-year, $141 million contract, which makes him the second highest-paid edge rusher in the league.

Schoen was willing to take injury risks last offseason. That approach didn’t pay off, as durability concerns for Jones, Barkley and Waller resurfaced during the season.

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There’s a clear focus on targeting players with track records of durability this year. Burns has only missed three games in five seasons. Guard Jon Runyan, who signed a three-year, $30 million contract, has never missed a game in four seasons. Running back Devin Singletary, who signed a three-year, $16.5 million contract, has only missed five games in five seasons. Offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor, who signed a two-year, $14 million contract, has appeared in every game the past two seasons.

The Giants’ activity has skewed heavily toward offense aside from the massive investment in Burns. The only other defensive player added is defensive back Jalen Mills, who signed a one-year, minimum contract worth $1.4 million.

Meanwhile, Schoen has made eight-figure commitments to Runyan, Singletary and Eluemunor. The Giants have spent more on backup quarterback Drew Lock (one year, $5 million) than any defensive player aside from Burns.

Contract analysis

Viewing an Eagles contract is like trying to decipher advanced calculus. For instance, Barkley’s cap hits over the next three years are $3.8 million, $5.9 million and $10 million. Those numbers don’t add up anywhere close to $37.8 million because the Eagles use void years and option bonuses to push salary cap charges deep into the future.

As someone tasked with analyzing the Giants’ salary cap, I’m grateful that their typical contract structure is much simpler. The Giants have used void years sparingly in the past, but none of the contracts handed out this season include the “dummy” years used to spread out cap hits.

The Burns contract is a good example of the Giants’ straightforward structure. The average annual value of the contract is $28.2 million. The cap hits throughout the deal are consistently in that range after a reduced hit in the first year.

The “flat” structure of Burns’ contract gives the Giants flexibility year-to-year. The Giants will have the ability to restructure Burns’ contract each year if they need cap space. But they won’t be forced to restructure his deal if they don’t want to since there aren’t prohibitive cap hits in any year.

The Giants used a similar flat structure in extensions for left tackle Andrew Thomas and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence last year. Thomas signed a five-year, $117.5 million extension that has cap hits ranging between $20.4 million and $23.3 million from 2024-2029. Lawrence signed a four-year, $90 million extension that has cap hits ranging between $21.6 million and $26.6 million from 2024-27.

The way the Giants structure contracts means the average annual value is typically legitimate. Some teams inflate the overall value of contracts by inserting larger, non-guaranteed salaries in later years that will never be earned.

But Burns’ will earn $43.5 million in the first year of his deal, $66.3 million by the end of his second year and $90 million by the end of his third year. So he’ll have made $30 million per year by the time the guaranteed money expires in his contract.

Even though Burns has been exceptionally durable, his contract includes per-game roster bonuses worth up to $1 million in each of the final three years of his contract. The Giants included the same $1 million per-game roster bonus in each of the four years of Lawrence’s extension despite his track record of durability.

The per-game roster bonuses provide a mutual benefit. The team gets some insurance as its high-priced players age, while the players can earn an additional $1 million per year by staying healthy.

As is customary in all significant deals under Schoen, the high-priced newcomers’ contracts contain workout bonuses. Burns has a $500,000 annual incentive to attend at least 84 percent of the entire offseason program and 100 percent of OTAs. Runyan, Singletary and Eluemunor can earn $250,000 for meeting the offseason program participation thresholds.

Big spenders

As always, Giants ownership hasn’t been shy about opening its checkbook to fortify the roster. The Giants have spent $206 million in free agency, which is the fourth-most in the league, according to Over the Cap. Their $123 million in guarantees ranks third. The bulk of that spending went to Burns, who received the third-most lucrative contract of the offseason behind Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins and Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones.

The spending spree comes on the heels of the Giants dishing out contracts worth a total of $422 million last offseason.

Future in focus

Compensatory picks are awarded based on a complex formula that boils down to how many players a team loses compared to how many players it adds in free agency. The additions and losses are cancelled out on a chart. If a team loses more players than it gains, it is awarded a pick at the end of rounds 3-7. The round is determined by the size of the biggest contract not canceled out.

The Giants received comp picks in the fifth and seventh rounds of the 2023 draft due to the loss of tight end Evan Engram and cornerback Keion Crossen during the 2022 offseason. The Giants didn’t receive any comp picks this year after spending more than they lost last offseason.

The Giants could be back in the mix for a comp pick in the 2025 draft depending on how the rest of free agency plays out. As of now, the Giants have lost as many players as they’ve gained (players must earn a minimum level of compensation to factor into the comp pick formula). But if another player — cornerback Adoree’ Jackson is the top candidate — signs elsewhere at a salary high enough to cancel out an addition, the Giants could secure a fourth-round comp pick for McKinney’s departure.

It’s a fluid process, so the Giants could lose that comp pick if they sign a player who cancels out Jackson’s contract. That could factor into Schoen’s decision-making, especially since players who were cut don’t factor into the comp pick accounting. For instance, signing cornerback Tre’Davious White wouldn’t count against the Giants’ comp pick formula because he was cut by the Bills this offseason. White reportedly is set to visit the Giants later this week.

Traded players also don’t count in the comp pick equation, which is why the Burns contract doesn’t impact the Giants’ chart.

O captain! Bye captain!

The Giants were mocked for naming a whopping 10 captains last season. It may have been wise to appoint so many leaders because that group has been thinned out.

Defensive tackle Leonard Williams was traded during last season, while Barkley and McKinney left in free agency. Jackson is a free agent, and there’s no indication the Giants plan to re-sign him. Meanwhile, Waller is contemplating retirement.

That leaves Jones, Thomas, Lawrence, linebacker Bobby Okereke and kicker Graham Gano as the captains assured to return. There’s still a void to be filled, however, because Barkley and McKinney were the two most vocal leaders on the team. It will be interesting to see who steps up to take on a bigger leadership role next season.

(Photo of Joe Schoen: Kirby Lee / USA Today)