March Will Teach Us A Lot About The 2023 New York Giants

The 2023 New York Giants will be without Kenny Golladay. What else the roster looks like is still in flux, but should be considerably less so at the end of March, as an illuminating meeting between Giants’ general manager Joe Schoen and the media at the NFL Scouting Combine revealed Tuesday.

Golladay, of course, was long understood to be a goner, having failed to produce after being signed by previous GM Dave Gettleman to a four-year, $72 million contract. By cutting him on March 15, the Giants will save $6.7 million — by waiting any longer, it simply would have delayed the inevitable, as Schoen looks to move on from the biggest mistakes of the Gettleman years.

But Schoen will need that money to help him secure two critical members of the 2022 Giants, quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley. And it sounds like Schoen intends to keep both of them, ideally through long-term contracts, rather than a one-year franchise tag.

“I would love to have them both back,” said Schoen. “They work well with each other. Their entire careers in the NFL, they’ve been together. I think they compliment each other well and the goal is ultimately to get something done.”

For Jones, a franchise tag would lock him in at one year and $32.5 million — for Barkley, one year and $10.1 million. There are still a pair of gaps to bridge, however.

Jones is the surer return of the two, and New York has had “productive conversations” with them, according to Schoen. Barkley, however, and the Giants have “gotten closer” on terms.

All of which makes it so interesting that Schoen has left no doubt he intends for Jones to be New York’s 2023 quarterback, while with Barkley, terms are often couched, still.

As for Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams — the former underpaid at just $12.3 million on his current deal for 2023, the latter someone who had already discussed a restructuring during the 2022 season — it’s a fairly sure bet that the Giants will give them what they need to retain both.

Not that Schoen is going to be satisfied with simply doing that. And he was clear on that front Tuesday as well.

Fortunately for the Giants, the math comes together once the team accounts for its nine picks in April’s draft.

How much money they’ll have to do it all will depend on what transpires with Jones and Barkley.

But one thing we know: they’ll have Kenny Golladay’s money to spend.