With free agency and the new league year starting exactly one month from today, NFL teams will begin the painstaking task of trimming the fat off their rosters in preparation for the 2023 season.
Brad Spieberger of Pro Football Focus identified the top candidate for release for each NFL team heading into this process.
Buy Giants TicketsFor the New York Giants, the choice was an easy one:
Wide receiver Kenny Golladay
Salary Cap Details: $14,700,000 dead money, $6,700,000 cap savings
Golladay’s tenure with the Giants has been an unmitigated disaster to the point where fans sarcastically applauded when he recorded a catch at MetLife Stadium this season, which happened twice in all of 2022. Golladay hardly played all year and logged just six snaps over two playoff games despite a bevy of injuries to the team’s wide receiver group. After two seasons, Golladay will end up earning just under $1 million per reception.
Cutting Golladay is a must for the Giants. There is no way that will carry his $21.4 million cap hit and with Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley heading for free agency, they’ll need every penny they can get.
Purging themselves of Golladay isn’t simply a cut-and-run as there are downstream financial ramifications past this season. The Giants will incur a $6.8 million dead cap hit in 2024 and a $3.8 million hit in 2025.
Other initiatives they will pursue are the reworking of Leonard Williams’ $32.2 million cap hit for this season and Adoree’ Jackson’s $19 million hit. They want to keep both players and Williams has already stated publicly that he’s amenable to a pay cut.
