The New York Giants and safety Landon Collins are “not actively engaged” in long-term contract talks, and he apparently believes that extends to the franchise tag.
Collins cleaned out his locker in East Rutherford on Thursday, offering dramatic goodbyes to his teammates, assistants and coaches, Josina Anderson of ESPN reports.
However, Giants beat writer Ralph Vacchiano of SNY disputes the report, suggesting Collins’ locker remains full and that nothing has changed.
Collins is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in March, but many believe the Giants would designate him their franchise player.
Previously, Collins expressed his displeasure with the idea of playing on the franchise tag, but also acknowledged he would honor it and not hold out.
“My hopes are to be here, honestly. That’s my hopes,” Collins told reporters on Dec. 31. “Like I said from the beginning, I’ve been drafted here, I want to finish my career here. It’s a hope and it’s a dream of mine, and hopefully make it a reality.
“The process has not begun yet. Hopefully it begins soon. Gettleman announced it in the meeting today that guys that have contracts coming up, we’re going to talk about it when we have the chance to. So, it’s going to come down the line, and we’re going to have that discussion. I’m going to leave that up to my agency, and go from there.”
This week, the window opened for teams to tender franchise or transition tags, but as of Wednesday evening, the Giants have not designated Collins as either.
Ultimately, this could be merely a ploy presented by his agents to kick the Giants into gear, or it could be genuine. The team still has several weeks to make a decision on Collins before he becomes an unrestricted free agent, and short of confirmation that they informed him otherwise, this may be little more than a tactic.
Remember, Giants fans, this is free agency. There’s more smoke than fire.
