Kevin sent: Blue saves $12M by cutting G Zeitler
The Giants released starting right guard Kevin Zeitler on Wednesday afternoon, clearing $12 million in cap space and keeping an eye on the future.
Zeitler, 31, was scheduled to make $12 million in salary and carry a $14.5 million cap hit in 2021, the final year of his contract.
That wasn’t a cost the Giants could carry for a veteran guard during a rebuild with a shrinking NFL salary cap. They’ll eat $2.5 million in dead money, but they needed that $12 million in savings to continue upgrading their offense and roster.
Zeitler started 31 of 32 games in two seasons with the Giants, acquired by GM Dave Gettleman from the Cleveland Browns in a spring 2019 trade for edge rusher Olivier Vernon.
Former Giants receiver Corey Coleman called Zeitler “the human robot” for his business-like approach and his ability to play through pain. Coaches Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge both had a ton of respect for him.
But Zeitler played better in 2019 than he did in 2020, and the Giants couldn’t justify his cost.
Last season, Zeitler ranked No. 28 among guards who played at least 50% of their teams’ offensive snaps, per Pro Football Focus. His 65.9 grade was identical to the Dolphins’ Ereck Flowers, the Giants’ much-maligned 2015 first-round pick.
The free agent market will be flooded with affordable stop-gaps if needed, though, and Zeitler wasn’t a part of the Giants’ long-term solution.
This team is still in the early stages of truly rebuilding. Bringing Zeitler back in 2021 would have left them with the same need at guard in 2022.
Zeitler might not be the only veteran Giants lineman released this week, either.
Offensive tackle Nate Solder is scheduled for a $9.9 million salary and $16.5 million cap hit in 2021. Those are also unsustainable numbers for the Giants.
Solder, 32, a high-risk opt-out in 2020, didn’t sound on Wednesday like he was certain or confident he’d be back in New York.
“I’m in a place now where if I am offered another chance to play football, I’ll probably take it,” Solder wrote on the website theincrease. com.
It’s possible Solder and the Giants negotiate a pay cut to keep him in New York. Judge even alluded to that on Tuesday when he said “there are other areas of our building as well that are in conversations with Nate.”
But Gettleman said Tuesday that he’d be comfortable with second-year tackles Andrew Thomas and Matt Peart being his starters and that the organization wants the kids to play.
Gettleman was supposed to rebuild the line and the roster when he got here in 2018. But a win-now focus that year and continued half-measures in 2019 delayed a true commitment to the long-term. Now, center Nick Gates realistically might end up being the only starting lineman in 2021 who predates Judge.
The Giants are paper thin at guard and across the line. Shane Lemieux and Will Hernandez are actually the only two guards on the active roster following Zeitler’s release.
So expect the organization to continue drafting linemen, seeking value in veteran signings for 2021, and searching for more gem undrafted free agents like Gates.
Thomas started on the left as a rookie No. 4 overall pick last year. Cam Fleming started at right tackle last year, with the third-rounder Peart working in. Fleming is now a free agent.
Lemieux, a 2020 fifth-round pick from Oregon, struggled as a rookie but finished the season as the starter to the left of Gates. Lemieux replaced the benched Hernandez, a 2018 Gettleman second-round pick who did not start a game after Week 7.
Hernandez went on the COVID-19 list in Weeks 8 and 9 and fell out of favor dramatically thereafter, playing more than 20 snaps in a game only once the rest of the season.