Productive receiver Hodgins gets re-signed to exclusive rights contract
NEW YORK — The Giants re-signed wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins on Thursday to a one-year, $870,000 deal, according to sources.
Hodgins was an exclusive rights free agent. That is a player with fewer than three accrued NFL seasons who is eligible to sign only with his current team — as long as he is offered a one-year, minimum salary deal prior to the start of the new league year.
Hodgins, 24, was a revelation after the Giants claimed the former Buffalo Bill off waivers on Nov. 2. So GM Joe Schoen is getting great value by re-signing Hodgins to a reasonable one-year contract instead of a multi-year extension.
That was part of the point in claiming Hodgins, too: he wasn’t just a young and talented player with upside who knew Brian Daboll’s offense; he also had a contract that would allow the Giants to retain and develop him.
Hodgins caught 33 passes for 351 yards and four touchdowns in eight games once he joined the Giants. And he went off for eight catches, 105 yards and a TD in the Wild Card road win over Minnesota — before a one-catch, three-yard divisional loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Hodgins is the third exclusive rights free agent re-signed this week along with tight end Lawrence Cager and guard Jack Anderson.
The contract’s tender was determined by Hodgins’ credited seasons in the league (one), meaning a season in which he was on full pay status for three or more regular season games.
If Hodgins had held two credited seasons instead of one, he would have gotten a one-year deal for $940,000, instead.
A credited season is different from an accrued season, a season in which a player is on full pay status for six or more regular season games. Amassing accrued seasons is how players achieve free agency.
If this offseason goes according to Schoen’s plan, Hodgins will not be a primary option in Daboll’s receiving corps but rather a valuable complementary piece behind a new No. 1 wideout and maybe other new weapons, too.
Three other Giants receivers are also unrestricted free agents: Richie James, Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard.