NFL Free Agency formally begins on March 18 at 4:00 p.m. ET, but teams will be busy doing some housekeeping before the floodgates open. The New York Giants may make several moves before the league’s March Madness period begins.
Firstly, they need to make decisions on their restricted free agents by assigning tenders to them. They currently have four RFAs in house they either need to tender or release: center Jon Halapio, fullback Eli Penny, linebacker Devante Downs and placekicker Aldrick Rosas. Another player, wide receiver Amba Etta-Two, is an exclusive rights free agent.
Long snapper Colin Holba was scheduled to become a restricted free agent, but the Giants signed him to a two-year deal in November.
Odds are they tender Halapio and Rosas and let the others walk. That is, if the new coaching staff believes in both players. The Giants have been inquiring about centers this offseason and Rosas, after a Pro Bowl 2018 where he made 97% of his kicks and PATs, fell off slightly in 2019.
Penny is a player the previous coaching staff liked but, as we said, there’s a new sheriff in town (actually a Judge) and they may opt to either go with a different player or no fullback at all.
As for the unrestricted free agents, it makes little sense to sign Leonard Williams to a deal before the new league year. That would make the 2021 pick they traded to the Jets a fourth-round pick instead of a fifth, so they’ll likely wait.
There’s also no rush to sign any of the others until after March 18. They want to go into free agency will every available penny and if they have designs on bringing any of these players back (Michael Thomas, David Mayo, Mike Remmers, Cody Latimer, Russell Shepard, Scott Simonson, Corey Coleman, Cody Core), they’ll do it with the leftover money or not at all.
