Post by AmaniToomerToeDrag on Feb 22, 2020 6:15:39 GMT -5
Here's something that I thought was interesting. I was looking at this page: www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-york-giants/positional/ and I noticed that the Giant's salary cap spending is very skewed towards offensive spending. 45.55% of the cap has been spent on offensive players vs 20.65% on defensive players. I then looked at the best teams in the league and looked at their positional spending ratios and I noticed that they have a very balanced offensive/defensive spending habits.
If I'm GM I'd weigh certain positions as more valuable as others. Of course we know that Gettlemen doesn't believe in this philosophy completely since he drafted Barkley at #2 overall (that made him the 2nd highest paid RB in the league as a rookie... yuck). But lets say that Gettlemen sees the light and his "computer guys" drive him to better cap management.
What do you do this off season in free agency and in the draft? #1 is focusing your resources into defensive assets in free agency. That will balance out the positional spending to put it in better alignment for a balanced team. We can probably expect the Giants to sign Leonard Williams, but at least one other high end defensive player needs to be targeted too.
In terms of cap management the best position to draft would be either DE (Chase Young) or an OL player since these positions are among the highest paid in the league. Lots of bang for the buck with this philosophy with cap management, having a player at this position on a rookie contract. The salary at #4 in the draft is fixed so you lose value if you select a position that normally gets paid less money there. I think the chances that the Giants draft either of these positions is high. Since Nate Solder is the highest paid LT in football, if the Giants are drafting an OL talent at #4 its for them to play RT. RT's are among the highest paid players in football so there's value there. A RT selection at #4 overall would make that player the 10th highest paid RT in football. I think the chance the Giants spend big bucks on a RT talent in free agency is quite slim because of the already skewed positional spending right now.
The Giants are very young at CB, so I think the chances are slim that they draft a CB, even Okudah if he's available. They've invested a LOT of draft capital into CBs and I can't imagine them using a high pick to do more of that. Instead, signing a veteran CB talent makes a lot of sense. Look at this page: www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/breakdown/ the Giants are among one of the lowest in the NFL for DB spending. Notice the trend with the good teams in the NFL. They are spending their money into DB talent. The Giants are very young at DB, hence the VERY low salary positional spending. I tried seeing if the Giants could justify drafting Isiah Simmons at #4 overall and I think they could pull it off if they justify Simmons as a fluid positional player. The Giants currently have Peppers as Safety (strong) and he's in his final rookie contract year. He's getting paid peanuts. Simmons could migrate to strong safety in 2021 if they decide not to resign Peppers. Our free safety is Bethea and he's at the very end of his career (35 years old) and on his final contract year too. Kareem Martin, our OLB is on his final contract year too. Since Simmons can move to pretty much all three of these positions there's value selecting him at #4 overall. If he was selected to play strong safety he would be the 4th highest paid SS in football. That is a bit rich but if he's moving to OLB on plays too then his value is there since guys like Leonard Floyd are getting paid 13 million in 2020. He'd be about the 16th highest paid OLB in football which there's value there.
One of the biggest surprises looking at positional spending is the value of drafting a WR #4 overall. That player would be the 33rd highest paid player in the league. That's a TON of value. But the problem is that 1st round WR drafting is extremely risky. Look at past draft history and look at 1st round drafted WRs. Close your eyes because the failure rate is among the worst you will find. Besides, the Giants signed Sterling Shepard to a long contract and Slayton looks like the real deal.
If I'm GM I'd weigh certain positions as more valuable as others. Of course we know that Gettlemen doesn't believe in this philosophy completely since he drafted Barkley at #2 overall (that made him the 2nd highest paid RB in the league as a rookie... yuck). But lets say that Gettlemen sees the light and his "computer guys" drive him to better cap management.
What do you do this off season in free agency and in the draft? #1 is focusing your resources into defensive assets in free agency. That will balance out the positional spending to put it in better alignment for a balanced team. We can probably expect the Giants to sign Leonard Williams, but at least one other high end defensive player needs to be targeted too.
In terms of cap management the best position to draft would be either DE (Chase Young) or an OL player since these positions are among the highest paid in the league. Lots of bang for the buck with this philosophy with cap management, having a player at this position on a rookie contract. The salary at #4 in the draft is fixed so you lose value if you select a position that normally gets paid less money there. I think the chances that the Giants draft either of these positions is high. Since Nate Solder is the highest paid LT in football, if the Giants are drafting an OL talent at #4 its for them to play RT. RT's are among the highest paid players in football so there's value there. A RT selection at #4 overall would make that player the 10th highest paid RT in football. I think the chance the Giants spend big bucks on a RT talent in free agency is quite slim because of the already skewed positional spending right now.
The Giants are very young at CB, so I think the chances are slim that they draft a CB, even Okudah if he's available. They've invested a LOT of draft capital into CBs and I can't imagine them using a high pick to do more of that. Instead, signing a veteran CB talent makes a lot of sense. Look at this page: www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/breakdown/ the Giants are among one of the lowest in the NFL for DB spending. Notice the trend with the good teams in the NFL. They are spending their money into DB talent. The Giants are very young at DB, hence the VERY low salary positional spending. I tried seeing if the Giants could justify drafting Isiah Simmons at #4 overall and I think they could pull it off if they justify Simmons as a fluid positional player. The Giants currently have Peppers as Safety (strong) and he's in his final rookie contract year. He's getting paid peanuts. Simmons could migrate to strong safety in 2021 if they decide not to resign Peppers. Our free safety is Bethea and he's at the very end of his career (35 years old) and on his final contract year too. Kareem Martin, our OLB is on his final contract year too. Since Simmons can move to pretty much all three of these positions there's value selecting him at #4 overall. If he was selected to play strong safety he would be the 4th highest paid SS in football. That is a bit rich but if he's moving to OLB on plays too then his value is there since guys like Leonard Floyd are getting paid 13 million in 2020. He'd be about the 16th highest paid OLB in football which there's value there.
One of the biggest surprises looking at positional spending is the value of drafting a WR #4 overall. That player would be the 33rd highest paid player in the league. That's a TON of value. But the problem is that 1st round WR drafting is extremely risky. Look at past draft history and look at 1st round drafted WRs. Close your eyes because the failure rate is among the worst you will find. Besides, the Giants signed Sterling Shepard to a long contract and Slayton looks like the real deal.