The 2024 NFL league year and free agency begin on Wednesday. Even though free agency hasn’t started yet, beginning at noon on Monday teams were allowed to start contract negotiations with players who will be unrestricted free agents when free agency starts on Wednesday. On Monday many teams, including the New York Giants made moves. Let’s take a look at the Giants moves.
We begin with Saquon Barkley, who the Giants didn’t use the franchise tag on for the second year in a row. Barkley agreed to a three year, $38 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. Saquon isn’t the only player Big Blue lost as safety Xavier McKinney agreed to a four year, $68 million deal with the Green Bay Packers. The Packers had lost safety Darnell Savage to the Jacksonville Jaguars and their biggest offseason priority was at the safety position so getting McKinney is good for the Packers.
The Giants agreed to deals with running back Devin Singletary, guard Jon Runyan Jr., wide receiver/return specialist Gunner Olszewski, and linebacker Carter Coughlin. Singletary’s deal is for three years and $16.5 million and could be worth up to $19.5 million , according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. He finished last season with a career high 898 rushing yards with four touchdowns and also had 30 receptions for 193 yards.
Runyan has not missed a game in his four year career. Last year he allowed just 22 total pressures and two sacks. He had a 92.4 pass rush win rate which ranked ninth amongst all guards. While those are good stats, perhaps the most impressive thing is that he has allowed just seven sacks in his career.
Olszewski was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in the second to last game last season after a 94 yard punt return touchdown , which was the second longest punt return in Giants history. Since entering the league he ranks second in punt return yards(1,170) and punt return average (11.9).
Coughlin has played on special teams for the most part. He has career totals of 41 tackles (31 solo), one sack, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Big Blue also acquired pass-rusher Brian Burns in a trade with the Carolina Panthers and signed him to a $150 million contract. New York is sending a 2024 second round pick and a 2025 fifth round pick to the Panthers. In 2022 he had a career high 12.5 sacks and was named to the Pro Bowl for the second year in a row. Last year he had just eight sacks. In the last five years he has 46 sacks which ranks 13th in the NFL during that time span.
The additions that the Giants made on Monday were good moves for them. While there might be a need for improvement for some players, the players that they added are an improvement and will make the team better. Now the Giants need to figure out their quarterback situation and they could be a much better team in 2024 than they were in 2023.
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