The question of many Giants fans and people around the league after the 2018 NFL draft is how will the Giants be able to afford all of Eli Manning, Odell Beckham JR, Landon Collins and now Saquon Barkley for the 2019 season and beyond. The Giants fans especially are concerned about this, but I’m hear to tell you that this is a myth, Odell, Collins and Barkley going forward will be three of the players the Giants build around.
The New York Giants going into next season, at the moment, have a projected 50 plus million dollars next season. Yes, its also true Odell Beckham JR should be getting a monster contract, and they have yet to sign running back sensation Saquon Barkley to his first NFL contract after drafting him second overall with the number two pick. The Giants would likely use the franchise tag on Odell Beckham Jr for the 2019 season if nothing else. What is more likely to happen though is that the Giants will sign Odell for a less cap hit than he would receive on a franchise tag and push the money back towards the 2020 season when the Giants will have a staggering 100 million plus in salary cap space. This would be the final year of Eli Manning’s contract. While its true that Landon Collins is a big part of the New York Giants, lets face it, he’s not going to get Odell Beckham JR money. The top safety in the entire NFL Eric Berry is making 13 million per season and while a very good safety in his own, Landon Collins is not in that class. He had a sensational 2016 season but a subpar 2017 season. Who didn’t on a 3 and 13 Giants team right? We will have to see which is the real Landon Collins before we get into what money he will make.
As we saw with the trade of Jason Pierre Paul, there are ways of creating cap space as well. The play of JPP did not warrant the contract that former GM Jerry Reese gave him. The same can be said quite frankly about their other free agent signings defensive end free agent signing Olivier Vernon and corner back Janoris Jenkins. These player had a great 2016 season but again like Landon Collins both struggled and had a subpar season in 2017. Who didn’t tho on a 3 and 13 football team?
It’s true that Saquon Barkley’s first contract will make him the fifth highest paid running back out of the gate in football. However, do people really believe that David Gettleman would draft him if he thought at any point it wouldn’t allow the Giants to keep Odell Beckham JR providing as an organization they want to? The Giants may not know who their quarterback will be after Eli Manning. Will it be Davis Webb, Kyle Lauletta the fourth round pick this year or someone else? Time will tell. However, I believe there’s one thing for certain, should management deem all three players as worthy the Giants are going to be built around Odell Beckjam JR, Saquon Barkley and Landon Collins and whoever their next quarterback will be for the foreseeable future.