Williams gets surprise tag
The Giants on Tuesday hit the deadline and placed the franchise tag on Leonard Williams, preventing one of their marquee players from hitting the open market and virtually ensuring he wll play for them in 2021. The Giants, though, have no intention or desire to see their ascending defensive tackle play on that tag this season.
For the second consecutive year, the Giants tagged Williams in order to keep him on their roster, with NFL free agency beginning March 15 with the legal tampering period. The franchise tag for defensive tackles is $19.4 million. It will be damaging for the Giants if Williams counts $19.4 million on the 2021 salary cap, which is why they want to sign him to a long-term deal — a deal that will likely come close to averaging $20 million per year, but would be far less onerous on this year’s salary cap.
It will not be beneficial for the Giants to move into free agency next week with nearly $20 million in cap space unavailable because it is tied up in Williams’ franchise tag.
“Well, obviously it certainly makes it a little more difficult, but we’ll operate and we’ll manage,’’ general manager Dave Gettleman said Tuesday.
The Post reported Monday the Giants were unlikely to use the tag on Williams. That was the thinking inside the building, but things change. The team always knew it was an option, as there was a commitment to keep Williams as a centerpiece up front for their defense. Negotiations are ongoing, and the hope — and expectation — from the Giants is a deal gets done.
Bringing back Williams makes it exceedingly difficult to also retain Dalvin Tomlinson, a four-year starter at defensive tackle and a team captain in 2020.
Tomlinson will hit the market next week, and no one should be surprised if he is offered more than the Giants can afford to match.
“We have a lot of love for Dalvin as a person and as a player,’’ head coach Joe Judge said. “I can’t say enough good things about him. There is a process every team has to go through this time of year through free agency, and all this will be addressed when the time comes.’’
The Giants have until July 15 to work out a new contract with Williams or else he will play for $19.4 million this season. That is not the way the Giants want to see this go.
The challenge of tagging a player is that the salary cap space must be available to do so. This means that by March 17 — the start of the new league year — the team must be at least $19.4 million under a cap of $180 million. Here is where the urgency comes in. The Giants need to have a longterm deal with Williams in place in order to maximize their available cap space to sign players in free agency. Having Williams on the books for $19.4 million digs into that space.
The Giants were believed to be around $10 million under the cap and, unless a long-term contract with Williams can be worked out before March 17, will need to do more roster slashing and house cleaning to accommodate his cap hit. They will need to clear about $10 million in the next week.
Williams turns 27 on June 20 and has been a remarkably durable player, first for the Jets, then, over the past year and a half, for the Giants. Williams in 2020 set career highs in sacks (11.5), tackles for loss (14) and quarterback hits (30).
“He’s a guy we really value in this building and we’d love to have him around here,’’ Judge said. “There’s no secret he’s a very good player.’’